Home Style Decorating

Does your room offer you a peaceful retreat for rest and romance and come out from it feeling revitalized and refreshed? If not, a little feng shui might do the trick. Feng shui helps you arrange the space to support your best rest and connection with your partner and with yourself. Whether you buy into feng shui’s philosophies or not, many of its principles simply make good design sense. The following are some examples on how to create a tranquil sanctuary the feng shui way.

1. Use welcoming and calming colors

Feng shui or not, the use of color have a great effect in our daily lives as well as the environment that we live in. For a more welcoming atmosphere, use earth tones like terra cotta, coral, cream, peach and cocoa. To bring in vibe and healing energy, use a splash of natural colors such as green and light blue. To add romance, use accents that are red, pink, orange or variations of these colors. These can be pillows, throws or sheets.

2. Position your bed carefully

In feng shui, the “commanding position” for the bed is as far away from the bedroom door as possible, but which still allows you to keep an eye on the room’s entrance. This will give you a feeling of safety and security. Avoid positioning your bed under a window, which lacks the symbolic support and protection of a solid wall and can lead to fitful sleep as energy enters and exits through the window. Headboards, especially solid ones made from wood, are considered good feng shui because they provide additional strength and support behind your head. Footboards are a no-no except to counteract what the traditional Chinese culture called the “Death Position”. Leave enough room around the bed for energy to flow freely, and for each partner to get up with ease.

3. Choose curves, not corners

If you are planning to buy new furnitures for the bedroom, choose pieces that have soft lines and curvilinear forms as opposed to square corners that have too much pointed energy on them and can create a ’sharp’ environment. if you can’t help having furniture that have corners, drape it with flowing fabric and place a healthy plant on top.

4. Clean up the clutter

From a feng shui perspective, clutter symbolizes unfinished business and impedes forward progress in life.  So keep furnishings on the spare side and clutter as contained as possible to enable chi to flow freely around the room.  Also consider what memories and associations the objects in your bedroom hold for you, and then get rid of anything (even the mattress) that you associate with a negative time in your life, a past health problem or a former relationship. If you feel irritated, confused and overwhelmed when you open the closet door, organizing your closet will help give you a sense of control over your life.

5. Shut out the world

The bedroom should be a haven to rest, recharge and romance. As much as possible, do not bring your work to your bedroom. If your bedroom must do double-duty as a work or exercise space, use a lightweight folding screen or beautiful fabric hung from a ceiling-mounted curtain rod to conceal them. If you are not willing to part with your TV, keep it in a cabinet and close the door while you sleep. You can also cover it with a nice piece of cloth when it is not in use.

6. Create a space for couples

Even if you are single, decorate your bedroom as if a partner is already there. Symmetry is the key, so position nightstands and lamps on both sides of the bed and accessorize in pairs or multiples. In the feng shui “map” of the bedroom, the far right corner is the “love center.” Whether you’re single or coupled, consider building a “shrine to love” in that spot.

7. Open your eyes to beauty

A common feng shui strategy is to choose art and other objects that depict things you’d like to see manifest in your life, whether success, love or inner peace. In the bedroom, hang your favorite piece of art on the wall opposite your bed so that it will be the last and first thing you will see when you are in bed.

8. Light it the right way

When it comes to bedroom lighting, feng shui experts say that flexibility is the key. You want lots of natural light during the day, soft light in the evening and darkness while you sleep. This will impart positive energy. When choosing sources for artificial light, make sure to provide illumination from a variety of them including overhead, table and wall lights. Put all the lights in the bedroom on dimmers so that you can calm the energy of the space at night.

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