apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Feng Shui is a load doodoo. If you want plants in your room put plants in your room. Don't let anyone tell you different.

"Although plants improve air quality, they compete with you at night for oxygen."

Um... plants should never be using oxygen, only outputting it as waste from eating up your waste CO2. If plants competed with us for oxygen, the human race would be dead in a week.

Also, seconding Feng Shui as doodoo. If you want plants have plants; don't let mystical bullcrap tell you otherwise.

Do you have any info on the cabinet?

From what i understand of Feng Shui, it's actually quite practical and full of common sense.

The fact that plants "represent growth and vibrancy" and therefore might be at odds with the bedroom makes sense to me - it's the intuitive reason that, even though I love plants, I'm not real keen to put them in our tiny bedroom. On the other hand, I love waking up in the morning to see the tree outside my window, and who doesn't love napping under trees in a park or feel calmer around plants? I think that having plants outside the window, in a window box, or on the window sill is a nice place for plants in or around the bedroom. Also, succulents, with their orderliness and softness, might be a nice, calming bedroom plant choice.

I have 5 plants in my bedroom and I breathe just fine. I also think they make it feel calming because it like looking at nature.

tomorrowful, you obviously weren't paying attention during biology class. cellular respiration is dependent on oxygen.

as for plants in the bedroom, I think seeing some green during this gray winter is good for my psyche. if they represent growth and vibrancy, then it's good for me to see that when i wake up in the morning and don't want to get out of bed :-)

I wish I could have plants in my condo. Sadly, I can't have plants indoors at all... I have cats that INSIST on eating them... unless of course it 'cat' grass, then they won't eat it :-\

Cut flowers are best for the bedroom - Live plants can go anywhere else in your home.

OK, so plants might use oxygen, but they also create it. Without some sort of study detailing the amounts of oxygen in the air in rooms with and without plants during different times of day, no one really knows.

However, soil can have bacteria and fungi--bad for people with allergies.

I'm with the folks who say keep the plants if you like them there and lose them if you don't.

Plants use primarily Co2, that being how they clean up the air. I don't really understand how they'd be competing for oxygen at all. Also, I feel like plants in the bedroom would calm me as all natural things do. They might be growing, but they're doing so slowly and naturally, which gives me a sense of peace and calm. I do not have plants in the bedroom because of my cat, but I would if I could.

i'm always surprised how anti-feng shui this site's users are.

Plants use CO2 and create O2 as a byproduct of photosynthesis, which obviously only happens during the day, or at least when the plant is in full-spectrum light. Plants also use O2 and create CO2 when their cells respire, and that goes on more or less constantly, but especially when they're expending energy on growth. It's a chemical cycle driven by external energy input.

In any event the amounts from a typical houseplant are trivial compared to the amounts humans breathe.

If I were a proponent of sticking pins in dolls I'd be laughed at, but if I talk about energy flow I'm considered to be highly evolved. A superstition's a superstition and there's no room for any of them. Free yourself from the Bronze Age for crying out loud. Want plants in your room? Put frickin' plants in your room already. Jeez.

NorNor, I'm surprised at how many feng shui supporters there are on this site. It seems that anytime storage under the bed is the topic of the post, the first comment is "That's bad feng shui."

Show me a study that proves that people who live in an environment designed to maximize feng shui live significantly happier or healthier lives than people who don't follow it, and then maybe I'll believe it.

Never mind oxygen accounts, plants can remove a significant amount of toxins from the air, which is more important in the bedroom than any other room of the house because you spend so much time breathing there!

That being said, you should only break Feng Shui rules if you understand them.

"Show me a study that proves that people who live in an environment designed to maximize feng shui live significantly happier or healthier lives than people who don't follow it, and then maybe I'll believe it."

Show me just one person who lives in a crowded, disorganized, uncomfortable and cluttered home who is in great health, has a successful career, no financial problems and rewarding personal relationships and I'll stop believing in Feng Shui.

I think studies by NASA have shown that indoor plants remove toxins like formaldahyde from the air. Not only the plants, but the benificent bacteria in the potting soil. They also use up CO2 and make oxygen (at night they use a miniscule amount of oxygen, but not enough to bother people).

On the other hand indoor conditions are not always optimal for plants, even house plants.

If I had a cool, sunny bay window in my bedroom I would have loads of plants there; my own semi-bay window is in my front room "office", so I that is where my plants live, grouped together in big trays -- supplemented by a fan, a humidifier, and a 300 Watt metal halide light. They would doubtless prefer even more light, tons more, and much more humidity, but the rest of the things I live with would be ruined by moss and mold if I turned my house into a jungle rain forest, which is what would be optimal for plants. One has to compromise. As soon as danger of frost is past they go outside to estivate.

Plants compete with you for oxygen? Whaaa??

carbon dioxide water light energy →
carbohydrate *OXYGEN* water

bepsf: I think there are plenty more real socio-economic issues at play in the correlation between crowding, disorganization, uncleanliness, poor health, unsuccessful careers, financial problems, and strained relationships than the ancient Chinese system of balancing heaven and earth.

magill: scientific studies seem contrary to the fundamentals of Feng Shui. It seems like maybe there is an almost spiritual element of FS that would require you let go of Western science and embrace it.

I don't care either way. You both have pretty definite opinions though. Suffice it to say that bepsf enjoys it and it's not for magill.

plants in my bedroom make me happy. they're pretty. they're calming. i don't know much about feng shui though.

I don't believe in the spiritual side of Feng Shui, but I've noticed that I often naturally decorate in accordance with Feng Shui principles because so many of them are pretty and practical. Plants in the bedroom are one area where we'll have to agree to disagree. I have a few plants on a table in a bay window in my bedroom. Like Lanni!, I find them calming.

Thank goodness for AT post comment freedom.
It's more than about design, home furnishings, and the like. It's truly edu-cat-ion-al! I wonder if those bedroom-locational-oxygen-eating-feng shui-destroying house plants know what we know?

I just went from having one plant (in the living room) in my apartment to 16... 3 of which are located in the bedroom. Granted, they're small, so they're not overwhelming, and actually quite pleasant!!

Feng shui isn't so much doodoo as sound design principles heavily smeared in doodoo. Or, to use a far nicer metaphor, it's good psychology dressed up in the clothes of mumbo jumbo to make it palatable to the masses.

This whole query about plants competing for oxygen is a wonderful demonstration of how a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Plants do 'breathe' oxygen, but it's not like they're running a marathon - compared to humans their use is infinitesimal. The only way a plant could compete for oxygen with you is if your bedroom was 100% airtight, and if your bedroom is 100% airtight then houseplants are the least of your worries.

A bigger issue would be insects and funguses growing in the soil. Good botanical hygiene (ie removing leaf litter and not overwatering) should keep that to a minimum.

I have an aspidistra in my bedroom, because I wanted a tall sculptural plant in the corner and it's the only one that can survive the low light levels. We get along fine.

Thank you, Blandwagon.

I love plants in every room of my house, including my bedroom. However, I tend to prefer more architectural, structured plants in my bedroom over big, bushy wild plants. This keeps the atmospere calm and they're easier to keep clean.

uh....uh....achoo!

What about wall decals of plant life? Do they compete for oxygen at night, too?


Kidding, kidding.... just imagine all the potential haters on a wall decal/feng shui combo post! gasp! ;)

i can't believe people are arguing about plants in the bedroom. we used to sleep in trees, dense forests even. some still do...

blandwagon is absolutely right re feng shui

feng shui itself is not doodoo. it's the modern practitioners of the art who can't explain the logic behind the rules who are full of doodoo...especially those who pocket a paycheck after a TV appearance or a column...FS's just really space engineering, but the art is so old that people don't remember the logic behind the rules...

like when someone says muslims don't eat pork because pigs are promiscuous and you go bullsh*t...exactly right!...because you know that the pigs are the only hoofed animals that are omnivores and so carry this certain deadly bacteria...and all chefs know you need to cook pork thoroughly...and you kind of connect the dots...maybe the arabs didn't cook their meats that well back then? so mohammad was right and the newer guys are full of doodoo...

same with feng shui, the old masters would today be architects, landscapers, interior designers...people who'd take into account human behavior, natural elements and integrate these factors into the built forms

'Show me just one person who lives in a crowded, disorganized, uncomfortable and cluttered home who is in great health, has a successful career, no financial problems and rewarding personal relationships and I'll stop believing in Feng Shui.'

Isn't it a bit easy to blame bad feng shui for all the problems in a persons life? And I personally don't need feng shui to realise that a cluttered home is not a very healthy environment to life in. I call it 'common sense'.

As far as plants or no plants go: do what makes you happy. I find most general decoration rules to be a bit questionable. We are all so different and I think this (should) show in our homes.

The only plant in my room happens to be the only orchid I've had that's rebloomed 3 times so far. I wake up every morning and see little bits of new growth on it. Yay!

From what I've read about feng shui, and I've tried to explain this to people who think it's crap, some of it has a practical outcome if you really think it through. I think this of other "superstitions" too. Occasionally, doing something or forbidding something is going to have a really good reason, which may or may not have survived the tradition.

I think arranging and order and such are important for a healthy and happy life. I don't think the color red is as important for a healthy and happy life. If feng shui says something is bad, I'm going to question the real world implications and whether or not they apply to me. I think a lot of it is, just like Western design, fussy musn'ts, and just like Western design, some of it turns out to be a really smart idea, practical or unreasonably beautiful. Put this there to get rich or find love is kind of like a chain letter. Give me a good detailed reason how this leads to that other than magic.

If I want to put a plant in my bedroom, it's because there are lots of windows in there and it would look nice. I don't know about "competing oxygen," when nearly everyone has a dog or cat, and most of those pets are allowed in the bedroom, and if not pets, partners and children. Keep all the oxygen to yourself, why wouldn't that make more sense? I don't know what makes the energy of growth too disturbing for sleep. This makes no sense when you sleep with your eyes closed, you turn the lamp off, the energy of the growth no longer disturbs your eyesight. Design is about the eyesight, not the swirling forces of the nighttime. When you wake up from a fitful sleep, disturbed by swirling forces of plant spirits, and stumble into your potted plant, I imagine it's going to slow you down and make you late for work and lose your job and miss lunch date with Mr. or Ms. nice-to-talk-to, and s/he will think you're ignoring him/her, and tell everyone what an asshole you are, so yeah, I can see how this little fairy tale is really sort of strict and fearful, and not always sensible. If you'd taken the plant out of the room, none of that would have happened, and you would be much more joyful. Riiiiiiight. To whatever extent, I think this is how it's supposed to work. Not just, try it, it works, I don't know why, but don't piss off the gods.

While we're talking about this though, I am surprised about how many people believe in ghosts, and the rituals to rid one's house of ghosts and relatively few (but enough) have a generous reaction to bad feng shui, regardless of practicality. Maybe I think superstitious people will believe a lot of things, but maybe there's an exclusivity, they're not under the same umbrella for obvious* reasons.

*obvious, not to me.

I have 1 plant in the bedroom because it's pretty, low-maintenance, came with the house and I need to keep it away from the cat, who will eat it. I think of it as a mascot for our old house, since the previous owner left it behind for use in a pretty ruby red glass vase.

It's a "lucky bamboo" which my sister-in-law told me is bad feng shui, but only because it's "spiky" and therefore not good for energy flow in bedrooms. (?)

KTODD:

I saw your note re: cabinet. I purchased a beautiful antique Chinese cabinet seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22156892@N04/ from an antiques dealer in New York. They have a store in Manhattan that I think is way overpriced, but they have a spot in Queens, New York where they sell the same items to wholesale buyers. The good thing about the Queens location is that for a few hours during the week they open up their inventory to non-wholesale buyers. I got my cabinet for $300 and in there store they had it on sale for $1800. I also had it appraised and it is the real thing. You can also find them on ebay here: http://myworld.ebay.com/chineseantiquewholesaler/

Veronica

KTODD:

I actually found this on their ebay page.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Chinese-Antique-Red-Painted-Wedding-Cabinet-Wardrobe_W0QQitemZ250350137128QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAsian_Antiques?hash=item250350137128&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

wow, my bedroom must have really bad feng shui because i have storage drawers under the bed AND a plant in the room. never thought twice about it. and as a matter of fact i am a happy individual who sleeps well at night...

I'm studying feng shui, and my teachers have no issues with plants in the bedroom in general, provided they are healthy and in moderation (like anything else in life). However, they are also aware of other schools of feng shui thought that do not like plants in the bedroom... it depends what school you follow. Yes, plants are symbolic of growth and life... that's not a bad thing to have in the bedroom, and not the antithesis of calm and restfulness.

I sleep with plants in my bedroom, and enjoy looking at a lil bit of nature when I wake up in the morning. The few times I didn't have plants in my bedroom is when the available light was not strong enough to support the health of a plant.

Try out a plant in the bedroom, if it doesn't work for you it can be easily moved.