Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese art of placement to enhance your life by bringing it into harmony and balance with its surroundings, is making a resurgence in home architecture and design. The single most important objective in creating Feng Shui is allowing for the flow of good energy, or chi, throughout a home. According to Feng Shui master and architect, RD Chin, “Feng Shui is like acupuncture for your space. With acupuncture, needles are placed into the body to help move the energy within the body. Feng Shui uses the furniture and furnishings like artwork and plants – to help enhance the flow of energy within your space.” Followers of Feng Shui believe that chi brings good health, wealth and luck.
The basic principles of Feng Shui are the natural elements of fire, earth, metal, water, air, space and wood – each distinguished by a characteristic shape, color, texture and set of attributes. Feng Shui balances all of these elements to create positive energy.
If you are lucky enough to have the opportunity design your own home from the ground up, there are many factors to consider to ensure your home is designed to Feng Shui principles. In fact, Feng Shui advocates the land surrounding a home is even more important than the interior. The backyard should be higher than the front yard to provide abundance and access to the front door; a mountain behind your home is considered a Feng Shui optimum; the left side of your home should be higher than the right; the kitchen should be located at the back of the home; the front door should open in, not out, to allow chi energy to enter easily and flow from outside. These, and scores of other Feng Shui principles, are believed to create harmony and health.
For the majority of us, incorporating Feng Shui principles is accomplished through interior design and furniture placement. A living room that is clean and clutter free is the foundation for good Feng Shui. According to Feng Shui consultant Rodika Tchi, “a necessary Feng Shui requirement is to clear the old energy residues and create a strong and clear energy foundation.” There can be no solid and good Feng Shui energy in a space that is infected by clutter because they cannot co-exist. Stale air and poor lighting are enemies of good Feng Shui, so give your room as much natural light and good air as possible. If you only have a few small windows, decorate with mirrors to bring in more natural light.
Layered lighting is critical. In addition to a ceiling fixture, use a floor lamp and several table lamps, for example. If you limit your living room to a ceiling or floor lamp alone, this can create a sad and potentially depressing quality of Feng Shui energy in your room. And to keep air flowing, open your windows as often as possible. Living rooms can also benefit from an aromatherapy diffuser and the healing power of pure essential oils.
When it comes to furniture placement, Feng Shui advocates believe following Feng Shui principles can invite energy, movement, compatibility and family harmony. The best furniture arrangement is one that promotes conversation with chairs and sofas facing each other as opposed to right angles. Contrary to the living room, the bedroom is a place where having good, solid support behind the bed helps to improve health and more sound, secure sleep. The bed should always be positioned so that the occupants can see the view of the door from the bed. And for home offices, desks should be pulled out into the room executive style to be more welcoming to new opportunities.
In the award-winning master-planned community of Summerlin that frames the western edge of the Las Vegas valley, Feng Shui is evident in many of the community’s neighborhoods and homes. According to Yolanda “Yoli” Landrum of Yolanda Landrum Interior Design, Feng Shui principles are abundant at Pardee Homes’ Terra Luna neighborhood.
“An elevated and open bench with balanced night stands allows chi to flow around the bed occupant while sleeping,” said Landrum. “The bed is placed in the ‘power position’ where you can see the entire room without directly facing the door, and the solid headboard is placed under a solid wall. Plus, the color of the head wall represents a water element.”
In another Terra Luna model home, the kitchen has earthy colors of soft grey and is orderly with clean countertop space. According to Landrum, the half-glass kitchen cabinet doors create open focal points with orderly contents, and the kitchen has inherent natural elements in the stove representing fire. “The elements of Earth were added in the flooring, counter stools and natural woven wood shades. “
To invite good energy into your home, consider learning more about Feng Shui. It’s fun, it’s fascinating and its followers swear by it.
About Summerlin
Developed by The Howard Hughes Corporation, Summerlin began to take shape in 1990 and has ranked in the country’s top 10 best-selling master-planned communities for nearly two decades. Located along the western rim of the Las Vegas valley, Summerlin encompasses 22,500 acres with approximately 6,000 gross acres still remaining to accommodate future growth, including infrastructure, open space and common areas, all within the master plan. The community is currently home to nearly 100,000 residents who enjoy an unparalleled list of amenities. These include more than 250 neighborhood and village parks, more than 150 completed miles of trails, 26 public and private schools, 14 houses of worship, ten golf courses, shopping centers, medical and cultural facilities, business parks and dozens of actively selling floor plans. Homes are available in a variety of styles – from single-family homes to townhomes– priced from the $300,000s to more than $2.5 million. For information on custom homesites in The Ridges please call 702.255.2500. Luxury apartment homes offer monthly rents starting from the $900s.
About The Howard Hughes Corporation®
The Howard Hughes Corporation owns, manages and develops commercial, residential and mixed-use real estate throughout the U.S. Our properties include master planned communities, operating properties, development opportunities and other unique assets spanning 14 states from New York to Hawai‘i. The Howard Hughes Corporation is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as HHC with major offices in New York, Columbia, MD, Dallas, Houston, Las Vegas and Honolulu. For additional information about HHC, visit www.howardhughes.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
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