You have heard the saying, the right tool for the job makes all the difference. You wouldn’t bring a hammer to a job that required a screwdriver; and you wouldn’t bring a spatula to a job that needed an ax. The same thing goes with Feng Shui. Understanding and applying the right tools in Feng Shui is crucial.

The main tools of our trade are simple – powerful – and ever present in all perspectives of Feng Shui*:

• A building floor plan or lot layout as well as photos of the space
• The bagua, no matter the perspective, as there are some variations but the basic concepts are universal
• Yin and Yang, a balance between the feminine and masculine
• The five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal, and water
• A basic safety plan for comfort, safety, and the power position for spaces like bedrooms and office
• The client’s goals, hopes, and intentions
• And more

*applies to residence (home, apartment, condo, or other), commercial (office, building, store, or other), landscape (design or lot layout).

Additionally, consultations can be performed onsite or long distance virtually.

Additional tools used by some perspectives and/or consultants will also use

• A Luo Pan compass
• Inhabitant and/or building birth days
• Chinese astrology
• Space clearing
• Dowsing
• And more

Additionally, consultants may have related skills and holistic disciplines including home staging, interior design, architecture, and personal development or coaching.

Feng Shui Enhancements

Enhancements, often called remedies, are another way a consultant (and you) can make changes or adjustments to your space. Enhancements are as uniquely personal as is your space, your goals (and therefore your bagua), as well as your taste and style. One of the main concepts we like to say is “live with what you love – and you will be doing great Feng Shui.” Try not to include items you “think” will give you great Feng Shui unless you like them, and if they invoke good memories or feelings.

Color
One of the simplest ways to introduce the elements or a shift is through color. Picking what you love, you can add pops of color in pillows or wall hangings, painting or furniture. Most of the other enhancements below – such as lighting, windchimes, artwork – can bring double the impact by using specific colors or hues.

Sound
Music, chimes, bells, even a sound machine. The birds outside can also evoke sound and therefore, energetic chi (if you like the sound of birds). Sound is often used to “call in the chi” we need to nourish our lives and thrive through our spaces.

Lighting
From outside light streaming in, to lamps, lighting, candles, and fireplaces. Lighting is often used to anchor an outside missing corner or gua, stabilizing the imbalance.

Artwork
Painting, photos, sculpture, woven textiles, hand made or professionally created, artwork evokes powerful symbolism and feelings. Art can capture the essence of a goal or a bagua area, such as health, wealth, or relationships. An often used example is the single woman who lives with artwork of a single woman depicted in her art. Every day, this image is reinforcing the single life instead of sending out the energy of attracting a mate. Focus on what you want and let the artwork direct that chi and invite that energy.

Living Things
Plants and flowers as well as pets create and vitalize the chi in your home. If you are able to care for plants and have the appropriate lighting, these are great ways to invite the wood element and the symbol of growth. Wood can help balance an abundance of water energy or can fuel a fire element. Pets – even fish – are naturally considered fire elements and as above, should be well cared for and loved.

Water
Features like fountains and fish tanks as well as images of waterfalls show movement and active chi flow. Water is most associated with wealth, so ensure any features are clean and flowing and if outside, flow toward your home or building.

Wind Elements
Chi flows and encouraging that flow is done through the use of chimes, mobiles, flags and even banners. Flags can be used to identify an entrance that is not seen well from the curb, important to inviting the chi it – it has to know how to get to you. As with lighting, some enhancements can be used to anchor missing guas.

Mirrors
Mirrors are naturally considered active chi. They are always working – always reflecting. Mirrors can be used to double the size of a space, to reflect a view, to represent water, great in career and wealth, and to open out missing corners or protruding corners in an odd shaped room. Mirrors are often used above fireplaces to balance out the heavy fire element.

Faceted Crystals
Crystals modulate energy helping you feel grounded and balancing energy in a space. Often they are used to soften energy flow that is moving too quickly or speed up energy that is stagnant. When light hits the crystal, rainbows are created and sparkle throughout the room.

One of the cheapest and easiest ways to totally transform the energy in a room is to simply move the furniture. Here’s the thing: Far more important than the style and color of your couch and how much you paid for it, how you arrange your furniture is absolutely key to the feel and function of a space. And nowhere is that more important than a living room or family room.

I’ve seen sofas placed like barricades, blocking easy entry (and energy flow) into a room. I’ve seen them backed up against windows so as to prohibit the easy operation of blinds and shades. I’ve seen furniture arrangements so confused, you’d need a GPS to figure out the traffic flow in the room. In all of these situations, the rooms ended up being barely used by the homes’ inhabitants—the furniture placement literally blocked relationships and family togetherness, and did nothing to enhance social gatherings.

But there is one phenomenon that I’ve found more common than all the others. I call it the “Pushing All the Furniture Against the Wall” syndrome.

This happens when people position every sofa and chair in a room around its perimeter, backed up to a wall, or stuck in a corner, leaving a big open space in the middle. I’ve seen the syndrome exhibited in homes large and small, and when I ask people why they have chosen to arrange the furniture this way, I inevitably get the same answer: “It makes the room look bigger.”

I recall one jumbo size suburban house I was asked to consult on. You couldn’t have made the home’s vast double-height living room look small even if you tried, yet all of the furniture was lined up against a wall or set in the corners. It looked like you’d have to shout to have a conversation and would need a pair of binoculars to watch TV. It was no surprise to me when the homeowner disclosed that her family tended not to hang out in the room. But when I suggested we move the furniture, she protested: “But won’t that make the room look smaller?”

Here’s what I say: There is no absolute value in a room looking bigger. The more important thing to consider is: What do you want that space to serve in your life? What are some things you and your family want to do in that room and how do you want to feel when you’re in it?

If you practice ballroom dancing in your living room on a daily basis, or your kid uses the room to train for gymnastics competitions, then, by all means, push that furniture up against the wall and leave that open space in the middle. For you, it serves a function.

But for most of us, that is not the case. Our living rooms and family rooms are primarily places to relax, read, entertain, watch television, and connect with a partner and/or our kids. So, want to enhance your family and social life? Pull that lonely furniture away from those walls and think about arranging it in a convivial “U” shape that promotes conversation and eye contact. Or bring  two armchairs out of the corners (where they bock the flow of energy in the room) and set them side by side to face the couch directly, with a coffee table in between (like the lovely room pictured in the photo above). Just remember that a good distance for easy conversing is no more than about 8 ft.

If it is possible to do so, a good Feng Shui rule of thumb is to place your sofa so that its occupants can see the main entrance into the room.

Of course, pulling the furniture away from the walls means moving side tables and lamps as well, which might mean moving them away from wall outlets. To avoid cords trailing across the room, consider having in-floor electrical outlets installed exactly where you need them.

Remember to plan for traffic flow. Decide on the points where people will exit and enter a room, and how they’ll circulate, and leave about 3 feet of clearance for them to move through those spaces.

And what if your living room is also the location of your TV? That’s a subject for a whole other blog post. But I will say this: Unless it’s specifically a media room, orienting all of the furniture around a giant flat-screen TV can have a way of making TV-watching the dominant activity in a room, energetically blocking its potential for other kinds of activities. If that’s not what you want, consider your options carefully.

Finally, there is a ton of great information and ideas on furniture arranging on the web.  So get moving!

Eils Lotozo is a Feng Shui expert, writer, and speaker who loves to help and inspire people to create homes that reflect who they are and support the life they want to live.