As promised in my last post, I thought I’d continue on the subject of Feng Shui since this seems to be a topic that readers find interesting. Some of the Feng Shui principles carry over into redesign and staging. We’ll examine a few of these today.
Pictured here is my front door – freshly painted – I even cleaned the windows! Staging tip – if you are going to paint your front door, use a gloss or high gloss paint to really accentuate it. Buyers will always remember the house with the beautiful front door.
According to the book I’ve been reading 10-Minute Feng Shui by Skye Alexander, “Present an image of harmony and hospitality to your visitors by hanging a circular wreath on your entry door. Change the wreath each season to connect the occupants of your home with the seasons and the cycles of the year.” I always have a wreath on my front door usually circular in shape. In my opinion, it gives a cheery welcome to my visitors. I always include a wreath on the front door of a home I'm staging since I'm trying to extend that feeling of harmony and hospitality to a potential buyer.
Decor PadAnother excerpt from this book states, “..to strengthen symbolically the bonds among members of your household, place a large area rug in your living room. Make sure all seating pieces in this room touch or rest on the rug. The rug serves as a unifying element, tying all of the individual furnishings together. This decorating technique also enhances connections with friends and neighbors and can improve your social life in general.” I remember this tip from my redesign classes - when using an area rug, make sure that at least the front two legs of the sofa as well as the chairs are resting on the rug.
Decor PadIn staging and redesign, good traffic flow in a room is of the utmost importance. In her book, Skye Alexander writes,“ Keep walkways through your living room free of clutter and obstacles. Chi (energy) moves around your home much the same way you do. If the passageways through your living room are obstructed by furniture or clutter, chi will have a hard time circulating. The blocked energy can adversely affect relationships with family members or friends. "
Decor PadHere is an interesting tip from this Feng Shui book, “For your living room, choose artwork that depicts people. An empty landscape isn’t the best choice for your living room. Make sure there are people in the pictures you display in the social areas of your home – otherwise, you’re sending a message that you prefer a solitary existence.” Look around your home. I’ll bet that most of us don’t have artwork depicting people, do we? Would love to hear your comments on this. In home staging, I think it would be a nice touch to have an occasional “people-depicted” artwork to add interest.
Decor Pad“If you’d like to attract intelligent, literary companions or emphasize learning and communication among family members, place a bookcase in your living room.” I’d love to have a built-in bookcase and they are quite in vogue right now. However, a regular bookcase also serves the purpose. Notice how these books are arranged on the shelves horizontally instead of vertically. This is a nice touch since the bookcase has many vertical lines. When staging or redesigning bookshelves, we like to include decorating accessories and greenery sporadically throughout the display of books. Bookshelves are also a great place to capture your accent colors with your decorative accents. When stacking books vertically, start with the tallest book on the outside and graduate inwards to the smallest. Likewise, the horizontally placed books should start with the largest on the bottom and graduate up to the smallest.
I hope you have enjoyed these two posts on Feng Shui. I find this concept very interesting and am amazed at how many times it echoes itself in elements of home staging and redesign which also stress harmony and balance.
~"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful."~ William Morris
