“I adore the look of open shelves.  I have a whole Pinterest board devoted to them.  And, yet, I read on your blog and in other feng shui resources, that open shelves are like knives that cut the residents of the home.  Ouch!

“Do I have to abandon my dream of open kitchen shelving surrounding my one kitchen window?  Or is there something I could do to diminish the cutting effect of the open shelves?”

Indeed Krys’s fear’s are valid. In fact open shelves create two Feng Shui issues:

• The knife-edges of open shelves create “sha chi,” or poison arrows, aimed right at you.

• Open shelves invite dust and clutter, violating the #1 rule of good Feng Shui, to keep your space clean and clutter-free.

For instance in these two photos you can see that things are stacked behind other things on the shelves, making them inaccessible at best.

Your Feng Shui goal is to blunt the edge of the poison arrows.  You’ll create good kitchen Feng when you:

• Build the shelves so they’re just deep enough to hold one later of kitchen supplies. 
• Pull things to the front of the shelves to create more of a blunt-edge to the look of the shelves.
• Design the shelves with rounded edges to reduce their sharpness.
• Avoid using Metal for the shelf material.
• Keep the shelves clean and tidy.

Here’s an example of open kitchen shelving with good Feng Shui:

The shelves have been build just deep enough for the spice jars so you’re hardly aware of the sharp edges of the shelves at all.

Here’s another positive Feng Shui example, with dishes:

(Photos: tessituracrafts, collarcitybrownstone, bhg.com)

Feng Shui issue #2: Does the ceiling fan have a built-in light?

As you can see in the photo, these fan lights glare down, filling the room with a vague, general sort of light.

In Feng Shui, overhead lighting is to be avoided as much as possible for a few reasons:

• Overhead lights provide a poor quality of light — too dim for task lighting and too bright for comfort.
• Overhead lights are uncomfortable, shining down on our heads and causing us to squint. In fact when I’m beneath one I usually wish I was wearing a visor!
• No one looks good under the glare of an overhead light   They inevitably create unflattering shadows and angles of light on any face.

For true comfort and productivity — and good Feng Shui — every room needs adjustable ambient and task lighting such as table lamps, sconces and torchieres.

(photo courtesy of seagulllighting.com

Can it be true that their circular motion and blades create “killing chi,” harming us with their downward spiraling energy?

No — in fact, quiet, unobtrusive ceiling fans keep healthy Chi circulating and create good Feng Shui in homes and offices around the world, with the additional benefit of helping reduce the need to over-cool or -heat your space.

But you do need to be aware of two issues when comes to the Feng Shui of ceiling fans.

Issue #1: Feng Shui & Ceiling Fan Height

This fan hangs too low in the room:

From a Feng Shui perspective, when a fan hangs too low it creates unseen pressures, similar to those of beams or a slanted ceiling overhead.

Just looking at the above picture you feel that your head might be cut off if you walked underneath the fan!

By contrast, this large fan is mounted nice and high in the space: the occupants will never feel threatened by its twirling blades.

I heartily recommend the installation of ceiling fans in your home or office, asking you first of all to make sure it can be hung high enough to be unobtrusive.

Next up, Feng Shui & Ceiling Fans, Part 2: Built-In Lighting

(top photo courtesy of ehow.com)

Now let’s evaluate the floorplan from a Feng Shui standpoint.

The first thing to notice is that all four of the apartment’s bathrooms have been placed along its center hallway.

From a Feng Shui standpoint, a strong river of water rushes from the front to the back of the apartment, dividing it in half and creating tremendous instability along its spine.

Centrally-located bathrooms create Feng Shui problems for a few reasons:

• Bathrooms are often small and relatively crowded, the opposite of the open, clear feeling Feng Shui desires in the Tai Chi, or center, of your space.
• Powerful bathroom drains create extreme downward-moving energy. This is particularly de-stabilizing in the center of your home, which needs to be as stable and balanced as possible.
• Bathrooms are used for the elimination of waste and other toxins, not exactly ideal for Bagua sectors that are related to your Health and your Fame &  Reputation (more on this in the next article in this series).

If I were consulting with the owners of this apartment (assuming I couldn’t persuade them to move!), I would start by bringing as much stability to the center line as possible.

Using the Five Elements and other Feng Shui adjustments, the goal would be to make sure their Chi energy was not “going down the drain”

Only after doing this would we move on to focus on any other Feng Shui challenges this apartment may face.

Please move on to the next and final article in this series to see what other Feng Shui challenges this apartment has.

For example, here’s the floor plan of a large apartment in an elegant upscale Manhattan building. The plan was published in an ad for the building and caught my attention for a number of reasons.

To begin with, from a Feng Shui perspective this floor plan was originally published upside-down.

Apparently this is standard practice in architectural circles, but it gives a distorted view of the Feng Shui of the home.

To see how Chi energy flows through this space, and where the Feng Shui challenges may lie, we need to turn the plan around.

Here is the plan from a correct Feng Shui point of view with the entry at the bottom of the plan:

From this angle you can instantly see how the Feng Shui Bagua Map lays out on the apartment, and notice missing sectors if there are any.

In this particular luxury apartment, notice the rather alarming Feng Shui implications of this floorplan.

The first thing you may notice is the “missing” segment of the home in the upper left-hand part of the floorplan.  This is where the Wealth sector and a large portion of the Fame & Reputation area located on this home’s Bagua map, so Feng Shui adjustments will be necessary to compensate for the missing areas.

There are other Feng Shui problems with this luxury apartment as well. Check out Part 2 & Part 3 to find out what these challenges are, how they can be corrected — and whether it might be best to just keep looking if you’re in the market for a new apartment!

Feng Shui doesn’t like king-sized beds, but what about this one?

Click to enlarge.

The caption reads:

“As I recall, you’re the one who insisted on a conquistador-sized mattress.”

The couple is soooo far apart in bed — and in life, it seems — that they even need two separate pieces of art over their heads!

It’s an exaggeration, but really isn’t so far off from what can happen to a relationship in a king-sized bed*.

Do you agree that is cozy always better?

(Cartoon courtesy of The New Yorker magazine. The cartoon spread over two pages — my apologies for the visible tear down the center!)

* Find out more here about the Feng Shui of king-sized beds.

If not, a few simple Feng Shui adjustments to your bedroom may be all it takes to make romance blossom and thrive.

Here are three key questions to ask yourself.

1. Does your artwork create good Feng Shui?

Bedroom art can make or break the sensual mood.

Bad Feng Shui!

Check to make sure the imagery in your art isn’t overly violent, juvenile or otherwise clashing with your Romantic Intention. Every signal you send counts.

The best art for your bedroom includes pairs — of people or beautiful objects, for instance — in loving connection with one another.

2. Is the Primary Purpose of your bedroom clear?

If you desire a bedroom that supports romance and a healthy love life, ask yourself what purpose it’s really serving right now.

Is it functioning as a storeroom, office, exercise area, kids’ playroom? If the answer is yes, it’s time to recall your Intention and give your bedroom a Feng Shui makeover.

3. Do your bed linens and furnishings look worn and frayed? 

Threadbare sheets, blankets with pulled threads, a chair that’s so worn out you removed it from your living room: all these send the message that your bedroom is a low priority in your life.

A small investment in beautiful bedding — and a beautiful, comfortable place to sit — will warm up your bedroom and transform it into a place of love and joy.

And for the best Feng Shui, don’t forget to make your bed, every single day

(Poster image courtesy of allposters.com)

The vibrant primary colors here are too Yang for any bedroom, especially a child’s.

These types of colors make better sense for a playroom where activity is encouraged, but bedrooms need a quieter mood that encourages rest and relaxation.

This bedroom uses soft Yin colors and Five Elements theory to create for much better Feng Shui in a child’s bedroom.

The soft green shades, symbolizing the Wood element, encourage growth and development.

At the same time the soft yellows, representing Earth, create a sense of stability and groundedness for an active child who is starting to explore the world.

photo thank you’s: Ikea and ElizabethBrownrigg.com

Here’s an extreme example of the problem Feng Shui has with bedroom mirrors.

 The giant mirror beside this bed creates a Feng Shui problem because it reflects everything that goes on in the bed. 

There might be times when this is desirable (!) but for the most part we all feel uncomfortable seeing our own reflections when it’s time to rest and relax.

The cold, hard surface of the mirror brings far too much Yang energy into the bedroom. Bedrooms need to be more Yin than Yang in order to nourish you best.

The mirror also reflects and magnifies light and sound in the room, no matter how small. You can fully relax only when light and sound have been minimized as fully as possible.

Here’s another example of a giant mirror in a bedroom, only this one has slightly better Feng Shui. 

The curtains around this bed improve the bedroom’s Feng Shui because they can be drawn to protect sleepers from the mirror’s hard energy and create a cozy Yin sanctuary all night long.

If you’re not sleeping well, or are experiencing stress in your relationships, try removing the mirrors from your bedroom for better Feng Shui.

You’ll feel more relaxed and get a better night’s sleep, I guarantee it.

(Photos from World Of Interiors magazine)

Do  footboards on beds affect the Feng Shui of the bedroom?

Feng Shui-wise, here are two sides to the footboard coin.

On the downside, footboards can make you feel as though you’re trapped, and they can block your view of the door at certain angles, preventing you from having visual command of your space.

Over time the limitations of a footboard can make you feel as though your entire life is constrained: bad Feng Shui indeed.

And I personally don’t like footboards because I’m tall: it feels like I can never fully stretch out.

But footboards create good bedroom Feng Shui in a couple of specific situations as well.

• If your bed can only be positioned directly facing the door, rather than in the Command Position that Feng Shui recommends, a footboard will blunt the force of Chi energy coming through the door straight at you, and cause it to flow around you instead.

• And kids prefer footboards, too, because they add to the child’s feeling of safety and security during the night.

Does your bed have a footboard? How does it make you feel?

(Photo courtesy of trendir.com)