Day 5 of 5 Entry Way

I am writing about Feng Shui tips for your entryway last, but it is actually one of the most important areas of your home. It is how you come home to your place of refuge. When guests enter your entryway this area gives them the first impression of your home and the people who inhabit this space. And, it is the gateway to everyone and everything that comes into your home and you probably would like only wonderful, nourishing, things that are life-giving to enter your home. So, let’s create an entryway that encourages positive Feng Shui chi energies, good fortune, and good health to flow into your home.

• Create a feeling of openness and light in your entryway
• Make sure the entry-way has good light, either natural light or overhead light.
• If your entry way is a bit dark, paint the walls a soft pastel lighter color like apricot or peach, and try to stay away from darker colors that enclose the space.
• If your entryway is small, to expand your space, hang a painting that has dimension like a landscape of the horizon or the ocean.
• Make sure the front door can open freely and doesn’t have anything behind it that obstructs it. Also keep your front door in good condition. Repaint it when necessary and keep the hinges from squeaking and keep any part of the door from grinding on the door frame. An ill-kept door will attract bad chi energy, whereas a beautiful door will attract positive chi energy.
• Keep the outside of your front entryway, clean, well groomed, and free of broken or defective objects to let good chi energy flow freely into your home.
• If you have a garage entries that opens to the kitchen work area food will be on the mind immediately. Likewise, if the home office is at the entry, work will be the first thing on the mind when returning home. Counteract this by placing decorative live plants or bookcases near the entry.
• If your entryway opens directly in front of a staircase the chi energy is funneled directly up the staircase and it will not circulate in the main living area. Place a plant or bookcase in front of the staircase to block the chi from leaving. Or hang a crystal chandelier to gather the chi energy around the crystals.
• Create a clutter-free area so chi energy can enter and circulate freely.
• A mirror is a good choice in this space because mirrors reflect the image of a larger space. Just make sure the mirror reflects something beautiful and not something sharp like stairs. Also don’t put the mirror across from the front door because energy will reflect right back out the front door
• Place meaningful objects in your entryway that make you feel welcome as you come home.

A note about balance in your home:
If you are deciding what to do with that item you love but one that is also creating an energy imbalance (i.e. like an active yang red painting in a yin room like your bedroom) you have two options: keep the item and add another item that will encourage good chi energy (like a bold dark brown wooden frame), or trade in that item for another that enhances positive energy (like a pair of soothing candles). The choice is yours.

This ends my week-long Easy Feng Shui Fixes For Your Home series. To read my other posts click on the links below.

Feng Shui Tips for Your Living Room

Feng Shui Tips for your Kitchen

Feng Shui Tips for Your Master Bedroom

Feng Shui Tips for Your Childrens’ Bedrooms

A Feng Shui Introduction and Tips for the Bathroom

I almost forgot about my bathroom reveal! So here is the white-box-with-random-stuff-in-it before bathroom. And here is the after picture.

I added red paint to increase the active energy in our bathroom because it is located at the center of our home, or in the area that represents prosperity and wealth. To further enhance the fire element in this room, I added wood touches because wood feeds fire. I added a wood framed mirror, wooden wicker basket, and wood shelves with wooden dishes holding green pillar candles (yet another fire element.) The metal tea-light holder actually diminishes fire but it was a circle piece which I really liked because it has no pointy edges which helps the free flow of good chi energy. I also added some orange fire element candles, and spa-like creams, body sprays, and wash clothes. Anyway, the bathroom is 90% done, as there are a few more elements I’d like to add, but overall I love my new space. I told my husband that he might not be able to get me out of there!

There is so much more to learn about the ancient art of Feng Shui, so I encourage you to Google some sources. But most importantly, I want you to listen to how you feel when you are living in your home. I am a plan-ahead-every-moment-of-everyday personality and I rarely slow down and take note of how I feel. Then, I wonder why I have trouble falling asleep in my grey-box master bedroom or why I am unproductive and distracted when I writing in my living room facing a humongous television. If I actually stopped to smell the roses then I’d realize that my environment impacts the way I feel and the way I act each day. Writing this series has inspired me to take a pulse more often and do some more decorating to continue creating a life-giving home for my family. I hope you are inspired to do the same.

Sources:
http://www.expertvillage.com/video/121664_feng-shui-entrance-hall-colors.htm
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/healthy-home/feng-shui-organizing
http://quamut.com/quamut/feng_shui/page/feng_shui_for_the_entryway.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/811205/how_to_make_your_front_entryway_inviting_pg2.html?cat=6