Feng Shui

I've always been interested in feng shui but never knew much about it, so I decided to remedy that, especially since I'd like to implement some ideas in our new place.  I'm not completely sold on it as a change-your-life type of thing, but some of the ideas do make sense to me from a design standpoint.

Tips that I gathered from various sources:

1. Make sure energy can circulate in your house.  [I take this to mean arranging furniture so that it's not blocking things as well as keeping rooms airy and open.]
2. For most rooms, take color cues from your Chinese astrological sign.  [Mine is the Snake, meaning my colors are yellow, white, and red.]
3. An odd-number of rocks piled outside on the left side of the front door means you desire opportunity; on the right means money. Putting rocks on both sides negates the power of the rocks.
4. Doors are auspicious because they open to opportunity.  [Our new place has plenty of these!]
5. Position the bed in the bedroom for the best view (i.e., out a window). 
6. The most soothing colors for a bedroom are skin tones: pinks, taupes, and browns.  
7. Plants in the bedroom are not good feng shui, unless your bedroom is fairly large and the plants are located far from the bed.  Also, since they represent growth and vibrancy, that goes against the calm and restfulness associated with the bedroom.  [Hrm.]
8. Storing things under your bed sucks your feng shui away.  [I will definitely try not to store a bunch of stuff under our bed this time around.]
9. Never block a doorway.
10. A bench (or a footboard) at the end of the bed can be good.
11. Only keep plants with non-pointy leaves.  [No way!]
12. Clutter is stuck energy that keeps you stuck in undesirable life patterns. Therefore, you can sort out your life by sorting out your junk.  More than just junk, clutter is all those things that have negative symbology and that collect stagnant energy.
13. Add flowering plants, in groups of threes along the walkway to your front door.  Red is best.
14. Move your furniture around--it's fun to create something new and exciting to come home to.  You will also change the flow of energy, which is good to do every so often.  [HAHAHA, take that, Cole!  There is a reason I am always compelled to change rooms around!]
15. Place a live plant on top of the toilet tank.

So let's see...for last year in our apartment, we've been violating tips 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, and 15.  I'll see how many of these I can work into our new place and report back.