How to design a Feng Shui flat ?
When I give feng shui advice, I am sometimes told that it is easier to welcome feng shui at home when you have a house, and that it is more complicated to arrange a flat. It is true that a house often offers more space, sometimes a garden, so it seems easier to take care of the chi there. But this is a false belief, the feng shui principles are quite applicable in a flat, even if it is a maid’s room with just the bed space! Whatever the number of rooms in your home, it is advisable to arrange it according to the thousand-year-old Chinese art to welcome the most vibrant energies.
Let’s see this in detail.
The flat in its environment
As always, don’t forget to look outside. The way the flat fits into the surrounding urbanism is crucial. The subtlety here is to imagine the whole building as a large house. Thus, the observation of the landscape (school of form), the configuration of the streets, the neighbourhood, the architectural form, the facade… all these elements will be noted with regard to the building and not to your flat. Thus, one does not make a feng shui expertise just by looking at the plan of the house, one takes height.
Let’s say you live in a studio, and the living room has only one window. You might think that this would be the front of your home, with light providing the yang aspect. Well no, to determine the diagram of the flying stars, we will take into account the face of the building, it can be the same one… or not!
Distribution of rooms in a flat
Ideally, for better harmony and to balance the yin and yang of the space, there should be a separate “day” and “night” part. Thus, in the more yang part of the flat, there should be the dining room, the living room and the kitchen. In the yin part, the bedroom, office and bathroom should be located. These feng shui principles are based on an organization of the living space that tries to bring the best energies to each activity or even to each moment of the day. It is easy to understand that a configuration where the living room directly adjoins the bedroom is less conducive to rest. The art is to organise the home so that the dining, working and resting areas do not overlap. Even in a studio apartment, the sofa bed can be symbolically folded away each day so that in yang moments, the bed is no longer visible in what should be the living room.
Arrangement of the flat's furniture
The basic rule is to welcome the chi inside, of course, but also to ensure that the flow of energy is as fluid as possible. We should avoid the mirror facing the door (which says goodbye to the energy). Also, be careful not to furnish too much! To achieve a balanced interior, it is necessary to arrange the furniture in such a way as to optimise the storage space. This is all the more important in small flats, because the lack of space sometimes creates shar chi: disorder, over-furnishing, etc. However, I often notice that the surfaces in height are not sufficiently exploited: wall elements make it possible to release the surface on the ground, for a better circulation of the chi.
Similarly, when choosing furniture, preference should be given to round shapes, smooth surfaces and soft materials. The home is a cocoon.
Decorative colours in a flat
Nothing different here, like any other living space (house or even professional premises), it is the laying of the Bagua on the plan of the flat that will dictate the colour, the material and the shape to be used in the interior decoration.
Is the kitchen in the northern zone? Then it is the water element that will nourish the area. Is the office in the south-east sector? This is the time to bring in green, brown, green plants to harmonise the energy thanks to the wood element.
For more flexibility, and because the transition from one room to another is more complicated to manage in a flat (and even more so in a studio), the cycle of the 5 Chinese elements will also allow you to bring to the sectors the element that gives birth to it (water for wood, wood for fire, metal for water, etc.).
Finally, decoration in general will have a light hand on the use of decorative objects. The more there is, the more the flat looks cluttered and unbalanced. Harmony also comes from the little, without falling into minimalism.
A healthy apartment
Finally, once you have validated the external environment, that the layout allows for fluid circulation, that the sectors are harmonised thanks to the use of the right colours and materials, all that remains is to look after the chi.
To do this, nothing but common sense is required: we air every day so that the energy is renewed and remains vibrant, we clean very regularly, without hesitating to move the furniture to avoid stagnant chi, we can perfume our interior with home fragrances or natural candles (especially in the south or in earthy areas), we tidy up and de-clutter so that the living space, even if it is small, does not have shar chi linked to clutter. We also pay attention to the light, the more natural the better.
To conclude, as you have seen, it is also advisable to apply the principles of feng shui in your flat. Whether you only have one room, or whether it is the size of a villa, the harmonisation of the living space will be done with the same techniques. If you are lucky enough to have a terrace or even a small balcony, don’t hesitate to put plants there! And, as with the house, the design is carried out with a choice of object and colour appropriate to the areas concerned.
While it is easy to remember that you should not put a mirror in front of the entrance or that a desk for teleworking has no place in a balanced rest area, there are areas to exploit (flying stars for example) that require more expertise. If you need help to welcome a vibrating chi in your home, contact me!
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