Feng Shui or "the art of placement" was all about Energy Flow and our experience of Rooms. Although the interest in Feng Shui has largely passed there are some ideas from this discipline that are gems and worth keeping in mind.
So much of the practice gave us guidelines on how to make rooms feel bigger and more comfortable to inhabit.
The cardinal rule is to organize spaces so that people can flow freely and easily through them to improve the energy ( and the fortunes of the people ) in a room. This principle ensures that we feel good and at ease in the space. It resonates with us on both a physical and a psychic level.
This may sound obvious but it is often ignored and so many times we impede movement in a room without thinking about it.
The first application of this critical principle is to move all furnishings out of traffic paths. There is nothing that will make a room feel smaller than furniture blocking movement through it.
When we have to squeeze by a chair or detour around a cabinet, to move forward we have a sense that the room is too small to hold everything in it, and allow us to "be" freely in it too. We feel the space is cramped and somehow that we are too big and clumsy navigating around the room.. and it simply makes us ill at ease.
A second crucial practice is to leave some open areas in a room. This applies to wall and floor space.
Open space allows us, very importantly, to breathe and to relax....so called "negative" space lets us take in what is there without feeling overwhelmed.
You can imagine the difference in feeling between being on a city street in a high density area, with buildings lining both sides of a road, versus a street with buildings but also a park that offers a break and a sense of expansiveness between the buildings.
Our natural need for openness is why we crave green space in the city and why we need to have some empty space inside our homes too.
Keeping counter tops clear and leaving visual breaks on walls has the same effect as a park between buildings it balances what we see by opening up our visual space.
If you have bookcases ensure that they are not jammed to capacity. Place a plant or small picture on one shelf , and perhaps a vase on another to give visual relief from all of the books.
An uncluttered and ordered environment allows our gaze to meander easily from area to area delivering a calm, peaceful experience.
Unobstructed "flow"... both visually and physically ...is a crucial key to making our spaces feel bigger and better.
Information by Sheila Doris of A Home You Love Designs, Toronto.
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