Interior Design, Interior Decorating Ideas, Home Improvement

Feng Shui Style of Interior Design

How can an ancient Chinese philosophy help you in decorating? Feng shui, meaning “wind water, combines several rules regarding obtaining harmony, and a natural flow of energy in people’s lives. Every single one of us wants to live and work in a harmonious environment. Efficiently combining elements of various interior design styles, Feng Shui brings spaces to life by infusing every design element with its own psychological value.

Feng Shui philosophy is all about perfect balance, equilibrium and harmony, so the more these features are considered when designing a room, the more relaxing and suitable for all types of activities that room will be.  For example, Feng Shui in the office will make you more productive, and in the kitchen or dining room will help you have a better dining experience.
If the description above has convinced you to include Feng Shui in your decorating plans, you’re surely anxious to find out some starting tips on how to do it.

Basic Feng Shui concepts
When decorating with Feng Shui, keep in mind these five natural elements: fire, earth, metal, water and wood. When you decorate a room, you must use elements (furniture, lighting, decorative objects) that symbolize these five natural elements. Proper proportion and arrangement are very important in order to achieve harmony.

Feng Shui experts talk about two opposite cycles of energy resulting from combining the five natural elements, a productive cycle (water feeds wood, wood feeds fire creating earth, earth creates metal and metal holds water) and a destructive cycle (water douses fire, fire melts metal, metal cuts wood, wood covers earth and earth muddies water), in essence a global game of rock, paper, scissors.  Everything is about the relationship between things, and the bonds we can create between individual items.

Objects symbolizing the five natural elements
What are the objects representing each natural element? Fire is usually suggested by lighting objects, candles, lamps, fireplaces, and by using the colors red and purple. Water can be represented by a little fountain, an aquarium or even a painting of an ocean scene or anything that stands for water. Brown, beige and yellow are tones which can be used for expressing earth. Tiles, decorative rocks and a terracotta pot are also earthy elements. Wood representations like furniture, wood shelving, plants, bonsai trees and books are the easiest to spot.  Besides metal objects you can suggest metal through  mirrors or white rugs.



The art of placement
Since Feng Shui is also known as The Art of Placement, the design elements must be arranged  to create a natural flow of energy.  For better placement, keep in mind to use objects that are appropriate to the purpose of the room. That’s a very important rule when we talking about decorative objects. In Feng Shui, these objects have a great symbolical and psychological value. For example, the study room or the work office can have a lot of books or a wall map to help induce a learning mood. Objects like toys, fruit baskets, or a TV that could distract us from reading activities, are not recommended.
For a final touch, add living elements to your interior design scheme.  Since they are alive, they represent a great source of positive energy. You can use plants, especially flowers, or pets, like birds or fish. To create a relaxing atmosphere play music and use lighting combined with different fragrances and living elements.

Interior Design / Decorating Ideas / Feng Shui Style of Interior Design

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September 20, 2010