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Home & Garden readers might also want to read Keep it Green, a gardening column by Michael Womack.

Saturday, February 10, 2001

The Art of Feng Shui
Furnishing a home for harmony
By Leanne Libby
Caller-Times

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

After David Powell returned home from a two-week Feng Shui course, he and his wife rearranged their home. Here, the furniture is arranged to face the entryway and a rectangular rug was replaced with an easy-on-the-eyes round one.

A visitor can't help but relax upon entering the courtyard leading to David Powell's front door. A fountain burbles in a tiny pond and the wind chime plays a graceful melody. Potted flowers to the left of the door and a decorative green turtle atop a matching barrel to the right invite guests to enter.
   It's a simple, tidy look, but it's a purposeful one. For David Powell is a feng shui aficionado, and his studies have led the local dentist to place his furnishings for optimal homeowner harmony.
   A growing number of homeowners are opening their minds and pocketbooks to improve their surrounding energy, also called "qi," or "chi," with feng shui (pronounced "fung schway"). Thousands of years after the Chinese began using the ancient art and science of placement to determine the best spot to bury their elders, Americans are summoning it to add life to conformist suburban homes. Feng shui translates to "wind and water" - and it sounds like an art tailor-made for the Coastal Bend.
   Beyond welcome mats

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

With Feng Shui inspired 'greeters' such as potted flowers on the left and this whimsical green turtle on the right, the Powells' door beckons visitors.

   While the potted plant and the decorative turtle look pretty, their positioning is no accident. Powell said feng shui guidelines suggest placing "greeters" near the door to make guests feel welcome. This area also falls under the "career" section of the home, according to feng shui charts, so the green turtle does double duty as a symbol of wealth, prosperity and longevity.
   The fountain used to flow toward the opposite side of the courtyard. When Powell learned that the water's chi should be directed toward the house, however, he took it apart and rebuilt it. The wind chime looks innocent enough, but closer examination reveals its placement to take full advantage of a southeast wind.
   When Powell and his wife, Esther, bought the house three years ago, he talked to the contractor about incorporating some feng shui principles into the renovation. He requested subtle touches, like rounding the corners of the kitchen's island counter and the edges of the kitchen cabinets.
   After reading about feng shui for about 10 years, Powell flew out to California last year for a two-week course with feng shui guru Terah Kathryn Collins.
   Powell said feng shui really begins with clearing the clutter out of your home. Once that is accomplished, one can create a clean look.
   "The main thing is common sense," Powell, 47, said. "This is not mystical hocus pocus. It's about human comfort and safety.
   "(Asian people) say chi should be moving into the home, not away from it. It should flow through the home and the body. Nothing should be in its path. That would make you feel uncomfortable."
   The feng shui way

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

The fountain in this courtyard pond in front of the Powells' house sends water, considered as positive energy, or 'chi,' flowing toward the house. It originally ran sideways, but Powell had it rebuilt to adhere to Feng Shui guidelines.

   "People are really hungry for it right now," said Laurelyn Baker, of Boulder, Colo.-based Visions of Home Multicultural Feng Shui. "We see our resources being gobbled up by cookie-cutter developments, and it is killing our natural qi."
   While the tools of the trade differ among feng shui practitioners, the goal is the same: to balance all the different life energies the Earth throws into a space into one balanced flow of good qi. To achieve it, placement is key.
   The right mix of the five elements - water, wood, fire, earth and metal - and the right balance of active energy (yang) and passive energy (yin) can do wonders for work and home life, they say.
   In contrast, a bed placed in the wrong spot can interfere with sleep; a desk in the wrong corner can slow productivity or heighten stress.
   Powell incorporated feng shui touches into every room. Darker colors, he learned, have a calming effect, so the house is full of muted tones except for some flashes of pink in his daughter's room. Then again, she has trouble sleeping in there, so maybe there's something to this.
   More than interior design

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Kevin Powell, 6, has the bedroom that falls in the 'health and family' Feng Shui sector, which suggests using muted blues and greens. Rounded edges are preferred to right angles, so the cabinets and bed were designed accordingly.

   While Powell has an eye for color, he says he's not a dentist-cum-decorator.
   "This is not about interior design," he said. "It's about arranging things for comfort."
   Feng shui frowns on sharp edges. They aren't safe and they aren't soothing. Powell moved the living room furniture from the traditional right-angle positions to a semi-circle facing the entryway. The rectangular rug under the coffee table was swapped for a circular one. Fake ficus trees add an impression of life. The TV was sent into a cabinet.
   "Otherwise, you are immediately drawn to it, and we don't want to be told what to do by an electric appliance," Powell said.
   According to feng shui charts, the Powell's living room is the center for children and creativity, so the family has a host of framed photos as well as drawings created by their children.
   Every nook and cranny counts. Since the garage falls under the area of "helpful people and travel," it's decorated with a world map and framed photos of places the couple traveled to run marathons. It's also cleaner than the average kitchen.
   "Since this was done, we have been inundated with people offering to help us," Powell said. "I'm not one to think like that, but so many things happened, that it was really weird."
   It's hip to be shui

Feng Shui resources

In town Alternative Resource Center: 225-4484 Angel Light Healing Arts and Yoga Center: 854-6563
Online World of Feng Shui Web site: www.wofs.com Western School of Feng Shui Web site: www.wsfs.com
In bookstores "The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room," by Terah Kathryn Collins "Easy-to-use Feng Shui: 168 Ways to Success," by Lillian Too

   While the concept may seem a bit ethereal to the uninitiated, it is catching on.
   Nationwide, the International Feng Shui Guild, a membership group for practitioners, boasts 430 members. Feng shui candles and chimes can be found at Target, and at least one Web site offers a feng shui tip of the day.
   While happy to see the word getting out, longtime practitioners stress that their trade is much more than a glorified version of interior decorating.
   "I am creating my life using my house as a template," Baker said.
   Baker guides her consultations with a Ba Gua, an ancient template placed over a home, lot or room to point out which portions should be devoted to which life emphases, such as "health and family" or "wealth and fortune." Then she makes recommendations on how to optimize the qi for each emphasis.
   "She knows I'm crazy," Powell said of his wife, Esther, who has been supportive of his feng shui habit.
   "He's always had a knack for putting the right colors together," Esther, 39, said. "When he got back from the conference, we spent a whole day moving everything around. We just moved things; we didn't have to buy anything. It immediately felt so clean and open, really comfortable."
   For all the charts and guidelines, Powell said feng shui is not complicated.
   "It can be something simple like bed placement," he said. "You want to place the bed so you can see who is entering the room. With all of this, the easier the better. You want to go with the flow and be in tune with nature. Western culture is going too fast."
   And listen up, men. Powell noted one other feng shui principle for peace and happiness in the bathroom: Lids down for good chi, please.

   Top 10 DO NOTs of bed placement

DO NOT place your bed under an exposed beam.
  Sleeping under a beam causes ill health, bad luck and relationship problems, i.e. back-stabbing and jealousy.

DO NOT place your bed under a window.
  If your bed is placed immediately under a window, then support is sorely lacking. The rush of chi from the window also causes restless sleep.

DO NOT place your bed between two doors.
  Anyone sleeping between two doors will be attacked by huge amounts of harmful shar chi that rush in one door and out the next.

DO NOT place your bed with the head or foot pointed at a door.
  This is known as the "coffin position," and it drains away all your good luck and energy.

DO NOT place your bed against the lavatory wall.
  The harmful yin energy from the toilet will bring about ill health and loss of opportunities for success.

DO NOT place your bed below a bathroom/toilet bowl.
  Having the toilet above you when you sleep causes loss of money and opportunities and also poses danger to health and relationships.

DO NOT place your bed above the kitchen stove.
  Bedrooms located above the kitchen or dining room are afflicted with immense bad luck. Sleeping above food that is cooked for the family is bad, but having the fire below is disastrous.

DO NOT place your bed above the garage/storeroom.
  A bedroom located above a garage or a storeroom lacks a base and is dreadfully affected by the bad luck of emptiness and lack of substance. Success will be elusive and things will not go according to plan.

DO NOT place your bed opposite a mirror.
  Mirrors in the bedroom which reflect the sleeping couple, suggest the intrusion of third parties encouraging infidelity thereby causing much stress between husband and wife.

DO NOT place your bed facing open shelves.
  Shelves constitute poison arrows, which send out a lot of shar chi thus causing misfortune, ill health, quarrels, loss of money and opportunities.
  Source: World of Feng Shui Web site

   Feng shui your way to a love nest

The southwest corner
   This segment of your house is where love reigns. It governs the luck of love, romance and family happiness.

Mandarin ducks
   A pair of mandarin ducks is a symbol of love and romance. Place a pair (not wooden) in the southwest corner of your bedroom to get your love life activated. And place a vase with a rose behind the ducks. Be sure the sex of the ducks reflects your love preference.

Double happiness emblem
   If you are already married, it enhances your married life; if you are single, try it out. Paint this symbol in red on a rock or boulder and place it in the southwest corner of your home.

Chandelier
   Hanging a chandelier in the southwest corner of your home is wonderful for activating the chi energy that stimulates romance.

Soft lighting
   Pastel-colored lampshades with muted lighting in the southwest creates an ambience of romance.

Candles
   Candles in all shapes, sizes and colors are suggestive of love.

Crystals
   Natural crystals are one of the best symbols of mother earth. Rose quartz and yellow citrine work to bring you love and luck. Place them in the southwest corner of your living room.

Pink bedsheets
   Pink sheets raise subtle yang energy, which enhances feelings of love and romance.

Love symbols
   The heart shape is the universal symbol of love. Place one in the southwest corner of your bedroom to invite love onto your life. Speaking of love symbols, do not to hang too many paintings, pictures or caricatures depicting the gender in which you are not interested in attracting.

Lovebirds
   A pair of cranes or lovebirds are symbols of love that represent devotion and togetherness. Romance blossoms when you have a picture of these in the southwest corner of your bedroom.
  Source: World of Feng Shui Web site


Caller-Times wire services contributed to this report. Staff writer Leanne Libby can be reached at 886-3615 or at libbyl@caller.com

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