apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

And dig a moat around your apartment to ward of evil spirits as well. Some crystals wouldn't hurt either, to properly attune your chi to the cosmic vibrations.

I'm glad that clutter in our bedroom on the floor hasn't slowed down the action that happens on the mattress! ;-)

"Chi tends to travel between the door and any windows, so avoid positioning your bed in line with this ‘draught’ of chi."

A nice breeze during the summer reduces your air conditioning bill; that same breeze during the winter encourages you to weatherproof your windows.

Hilarious.

The best description of feng shui I've heard is "The art of rearranging your furniture so you'll make more money." I haven't met anyone who's benefited from it.

Feng shui is for people who aren't quite gullible enough to become Scientologists.

Ah... I am relaxing in the sanity of this thread. No one even properly engaged me over on AT:NY about this. They all just wanted me to have "more respect" for this Feng Shui superstition.

More tips:

Sleeping with your head facing Southeast cures erectile disfunction.

Sleeping with your head facing North-Northwest develops your psychic powers.

All of these are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere.

I am glad to see that nobody takes this crap seriously. Some items are common sense; who doesn't appreciate a tidy room. But most of this is pure rubbish! Having your head up your butt does limit clear thinking!

Hedgehogs bring a house wealth. But never let them into your bedroom or you will die of liver failure.

Condoms should always be stored in the left-hand bedside table. If there is no table on the left they should be stored between two blue pillows no larger than 9" on a side with a frog embroidered on one.

Max, you know that it should be two GREEN pillows. How could you tease us so?

Hedgehog-related liver disease can be thwarted by placing potted palm trees in a pentagram around the bed. If you cannot find palm trees or your bed is in a corner, immediately move the bed to face northwest and ring a soothing bell six times a day.

Yes, Max, I think midwesterners in general have a much lower tolerance for bs. Although if you strip the hocus pocus off some of those suggestions, obviously they're good ones. Especially not wearing outside shoes (or 20-pound steel-toed boots, UPSTAIRS NEIGHBOR) in the bedroom.

Some of this is just good sense but you know that stuff about home exercise equiptment and televisions isn't from ancient Chinese teachings.

...which of course just means that someone made it all up (just like actual Fung Shui practices). While some of these modern suggestions make sense, you can't just label something Feng Shui to make someone want to hear it anymore than you can call a new pharmaceutical a traditional medicine.

What I believe in is this:

If you use general Feng Shui principles to arrange your home, *everyone* will think that the place is vastly improved. And not just because it is cleaner and uncluttered (you can do that first with your old arrangement, then test the difference). And they will like to stay there longer. And *you* will enjoy your place more. Do we need a system of general rules of thumb to do anything more than that? I don't.

There's no need to get superstitious about it (even if, I know, the practitioners will encourage that). Just ignore what the various "cures" are "supposed" to do, and see if incorporating them makes the place look and feel better. And please don't do something just because it's a "rule", if it looks bad to you! Of course, like all ancient/modern syntheses of attempts to systematize bits of wisdom, there are several different feng shui schools, and they often contradict (and even sometimes contradict themselves), so don't worry about it too much, and mix and match as you like.

Oh, and one more prediction: If you use the most basic feng shui practices in your home, it will sell a lot faster. Here's a tiny anecdote that doesn't prove anything, but I stand by my prediction anyway (and for other reasons). A friend of mine bought an apartment that had a whole bedroom less than what he wanted (he wanted two, this had just one) the living room had no light and no view (faces a shaftway), there was a bidding war to get the place, every visitor now seems impressed with the place, claiming it feels so wonderful, gracious, etc. etc. to be in the space. It was only long afterwards that I learned a little bit about feng shui, and could then recognize that it had been applied throughout. Oddly enough, I would have actually advised against buying the place if I had known this then -- because feng shui 'cures' are fairly superficial changes that you can make to any place. Better to get a bigger place with light and then go from there improving the "feel" of it!