Knowing how to place the Feng Shui Bagua Map on your home or office is one of the most important skills you can learn to create good Feng Shui in your space.
Here are my top tips for placing the Bagua on your home.
1. Turn your architectural floor plan “upside-down.”
Have you ever noticed the key difference between a Feng Shui floor plan and an architectural one?
Architectural floor plans are great for many reasons but oddly (to my mind), many of them place the front door at the top of the plan, not the bottom as we do in Feng Shui.
- So the first thing to do is turn your floor plan around so your front entry is at the bottom as you look at it.
As you’ll discover, this positioning feels completely right because your own personal Chi energy seems to flow more naturally into your space.
Matching your floorplan with the way Chi energy flows in nature brings you into better harmony with your space.
2. Everything that’s structurally connected to your home needs to be included within the Bagua Map.
There’s a common misconception that areas outside your main living area are also outside the territory that’s covered by your Bagua Map.
But just as your fingers and toes are part of your body, anything that is structurally attached to your home is part of its Feng Shui.
Your porch or deck, balcony or garage: if it’s built in to the construction of your home, it’s part of your Bagua Map.
Even if you must walk outside to reach your attached garage from inside your home (as was the case with a recent client), the fact that it is attached means it gets included in the Bagua.
You usually won’t spend as much time in these parts of your home as you do “inside.”
- The good news is that these kinds of structural attachments can provide you with opportunities to create good Feng Shui: see my articles about garage Feng Shui, for example.
Features like patios, which are usually on the ground and not structurally connected to a home, would not be included in your Bagua Map.
3. Use your “real” front door to place the Bagua Map.
Many homes have a front door that is seldom, if ever, used.
In fact a few of my clients live in homes where the front door has been sealed and can no longer be used at all. Instead they enter their homes through a different front door that was decided on later in the home’s life.
But your house was originally designed with the architect’s purposeful intention in mind. From a Feng Shui perspective, this is the spot that attracts Chi energy most strongly.
Take a look at more of my Feng Shui tips about working with seldom-used front door, one of the most important spots to pay attention to in Feng Shui.
My apt is kind of an L shape and the one room on the right of my entrance is leased to someone else. How do I approach this?
Hello Julia,
This is a complex question which would be best answered through a Feng Shui consultation as there are many different aspects to the adjustments you may need to make. Please let me know if you would like to schedule one. Here’s to good Chi!
What a gorgeous gorgeous site you have! So I’ve been doing my own feng shui projects and I did this one on our front door. I’ve found that making my front door gorgeous makes me happy and helps me get grounded every time I walk in the house.
Thanks so much Emily! Glad you like the site 🙂 Best of luck with your Feng Shui projects.
If I put the map over my floor plan the garage which I use as a utility is in the relationship corner, and to be honest my partner and I fight like cat and dog. It’s pretty run down but intend to smarten it up. Us there anything I can do in the meantime to improve that area?
Hello Emma,
The sooner you can smarten up your garage, the better, there is no real substitute for that. Clear the clutter, make it a place you like to be in (even if that’s not very often), and be sure to place objects or art there that represent a positive sense of connectedness between you and your partner.
Hi Ann
Great article. If I include my balcony, then the majority of my love/marriage square actually sits over my balcony and my money square is actually the majority of the master bedroom. Is that not slightly contradictory? i.e. shouldn’t I be trying to fill the bedroom with more love/marriage elements?
Thanks!
Hello Jon,
Thank you for writing. If your balcony is structurally attached to your home, it needs to be included in the Bagua map. I’d suggest that your balcony might have a pair of chairs on it to represent Relationship, and your bedroom a beautiful piece of art to represent Wealth & Gratitude. Also, your bedroom is always considered a “relationship area,” so decorate accordingly 🙂 Thanks for a good question.
How do you “fill” in the missing parts of your Bagua? My garage juts out about 10_ 15 ft from my front door. And my wealth corner is in the garage!
Any small tops would be greatly appreciated!
Cheers,
Holly
Hello Holly,
Please take a look at my post on Compensating for a Missing Bagua Sector to find advice about this exact situation.
Hi Ann,
My house is an attached duplex, two houses joined in mirror image down the middle. The front door faces the road. My unit is on the left hand side, it is L shaped with the relationship corner missing. How do I remedy this? Or do I need to take into account the attached neighbours unit, which makes the whole building a U shape. Thanks, Bronwyn
Hello Bronwyn,
It’s a little difficult for me to picture your floorplan, but if the missing area is outside of your house altogether, would it be possible to do something outdoors, where your Relationship area is located? If you would like to send a floorplan for me to take a quick look, please use my Ask Ann page to send your information.
Our home is flag shaped (like an upside down L, but the majority of the house is in the base). Our front door is in the “pole” with the bulk of the house (the flag) to the right. Do I place the base of the bagua exactly where the front door is or do I place it at the bottom of the rectangular portion of the house & consider the pole as an extension? This has been very puzzling to me and I would appreciate it if you could set me straight. Thank you very much.
Hello Christina,
This is a good – and very important – question but it’s not possible for me to answer unless I see the exact dimensions of the layout. Please use my Ask Ann page to send your floorplan, and then I will be able to tell you how to position the Bagua.
Wonderful site! I have a question, I place the bagua map in my apartment , the door is on the bottom right (SE) the south part of the Map is North to me. Is that right? The main entrance to the building is West! Help!!!
Hello Mercedes,
The front door to your apartment will always fall into one of the three “bottom” areas: Knowledge, Life Journey, or Travel/Helpful People. To begin with, do not bother about the entry to the building, only to your own personal space…. eventually you can expand your vision but start with only the place that is under your direct control.
Hello Ann I had a question about compatible Chinese signs Me and my husband supposedly are highly incompatible Me Ix Husband Tiger
We were happy but always have had ups and downs Now it’s getting really bad
Is there any cure for. In compatibility?
Thanks for your time
Hello Nisha,
You may want to speak to an expert in Chinese astrology about this. There are always ways to bring your energies into harmony but it is usually a complicated question and deserves your full attention with an expert. I wish you the best of luck.
I’ve surfed through many of your pages and again, I don’t know what to do as the info I was given doesn’t match yours. I was told by an expert that if the balcony is attached to my suite(building) but doesn’t have a roof or enclosure to it, it does not need to be included in the Bagua map. Mine is an open balcony. I’m on the top floor of my building with no type of covering or over hang. So would you include it or not in this particular situation?
I’ve also read that if I do have a balcony, I’m to use that as the facing direction instead of the building front door or the door to my apt….
Alana, anything that is structurally attached to your home counts as part of the Bagua map, whether it has a roof or not. Continue to use your front door to orient the Bagua.
I’m so confused. In so many books (Katie Webber) it states that you direction can be based on either the door of building, the door of your suite or if you have a large window or balcony doors to use that as you opening which I do have. If I do use the door to my suite, when I look from inside out,it faces east. The door to the whole building would face south of So I just adjust the Bagua map for the east side to lay over the door area. But first I must extent map to include the balcony?? It’s doesn’t cause any missing sections. Just makes them smaller.
Hello Alana,
It sounds as though a mini-consultation is called for since your question goes beyond the basics. Please let me know if you would like to schedule one over the phone or via Skype. Thank you.
What about an inground pool that is screened in ?
Hi Keri,
I am not sure what your question is. Please re-send to my Ask Ann page along with a sketch of your property so that I can give you a proper answer.
Hi Ann,
Sigh! Ann, I am so distraught that my house’s narrow rectangular floor plan is missing these areas: Abundance & Prosperity, Fame & Reputation, Relationship & Love. My previous residence was missing the Relationship & Love as well. Now, I understand why my relationship with my spouse & children is so sour. It is so hopeless. Please help me find the cure for this area.
To help you visualize – my house faces East, the entrance door is North of my Garage (Skills & Knowledge area) separated by a little closet and stairs. On the North side of the entrance door is the long Living room with fireplace on the north wall. I split that LR and consider the half as the Helpful People and Travel. West of the LR is the Kitchen and North of that is the Dining room. From the entrance door on the East, theres’ a short & narrow hallway that leads to the Kitchen on the right side and on the left (South) is the Family and Elders. The Kitchen & the Fam/Elders are separated by a powder room.
There is an attached open deck (SW) or west of the Family & Elders area. This deck could then become my Abundance & Prosperity area.
The 2nd floor consists of 3 bedrooms. Above the long LR are my kids room. Above the DR is the Master bedroom. There is a full bath on the right side of the stairs. The laundry area, linen closet, the Master Bedroom’s bathroom are all above the Kitchen (in the middle).
The basement is an open area that has a large sliding glass door on the west side that opens to a large deck. There are no rooms down here except for storage under the stairs, a utility equipment inside a little closet. Basically the open space is below the hallway, kitchen, and living room. Just below the Family & Elders is another room which I’d consider the F&E area for the basement. That’s my little house’s floorplan. I hope it’s not confusing.
Would you please be kind enough to share how to “cure” the missing areas? We will be moving to this house this weekend. We could have moved sooner, but I lost my enthusiasm bec it appears the house does not have a good feng shui. Please help. Thank you.
Hello Marie,
This is a very complex situation which I cannot answer in this blog. Please let me know if you would like to schedule a consultation.
My attached garage takes up the whole love/relationship area! I can just fit my car in there. Also two rows of storage bins for my business. What would you recommend to enhance this area? Thank you !!
Hello Lindiana,
You are right to wish to enhance this area as it is critical to your relationship happiness. Please take a look at my pages about the Relationship area to get ideas; if you still need advice you may contact me via my Ask Ann page for specific advice.
Aloha Ann,
Our home has 3 level but at the moment we move to the basement the main entrance is at the basement and the other entrance is in the second floor through a lanai. We rent the half mile part of the house and the upstairs. They all have their own entrance. However, we still consider the whole house as our home. Now, should I go and base all the organization of the new area with a gua only for this area we are going to be using as a family. The rented area not included.Please help Much Mahalo for your time.
Hello Sofia,
The only part of your home that you should Feng Shui is the part you are living in, and the surrounding grounds. These are the parts of your home over which you have control right now. When the renters move out and you take over that part of the house, it will be time to re-do the Feng Shui of the entire home.