Yes, You Can Even Feng Shui Your Yard for Maximum Curb Appeal—Here's How

featured on realtor.com by Jennifer Kelly Geddes

We're sure you already know that using the tenets of feng shui can result in a home that hums with harmony. But while you might think of this ancient Chinese philosophy as a way to improve your indoor space, you might not realize it can be directed toward your home's exterior, too.

Good feng shui outside allows you to welcome visitors peacefully—and even entice potential buyers.

"Curb appeal is an important feng shui principle because the energy that a house exhibits from the outside can attract prosperity and good fortune—such as buyers," explains Anjie Cho, a feng shui educator and author of "108 Ways to Create a Mindful and Peaceful Home."

Ready to take the feng shui outside? Here are seven spots to focus on when it comes to your home's curb appeal, and the feng shui reasoning behind each one.

1. Front door

A focus on your entryway is key because this spot is the main portal for energy to enter your home.

…read full article

Dive deeper into feng shui to transform your life!

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Create sacred spaces that support, and nourish.

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Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui for a Garage and a Second Level

My garage is on the ground level and my front door is next to it, which opens into a hall and stairs up to the first level which is my living area, dining room, lounge and kitchen. Is this townhouse a good design?

Melanie Y.

Dear Melanie,

Thanks so much for reading the blog, and for your wonderful comment on this blog post. It’s interesting that the townhouse you’re describing is probably pretty similar to the house shown in the image in that post: a garage on the ground level, the front door next to it, and then a lot of your living spaces essentially above the garage.

A lot of people ask the question: is this a good design or not? That’s a very loaded question! Feng shui is not necessarily about creating duality by labeling things as absolutely bad or absolutely good, and there’s no perfect feng shui. So I would say, if you love your home and it is a supportive place for you, let’s make it work. 

Traditionally in feng shui, it's not ideal to have most of your living spaces above a garage. In a garage, there’s a lot of movement and a lot of energy going in and out of the home. However, this isn’t necessarily bad; for instance, it can be helpful if you want to travel a lot or you need to make connections with people. But, if you need a little more support in your life, it may feel somewhat destabilizing to have your entire home over a garage. Of course, there are a lot of places in the U.S. like this. For example, in San Fransisco and some areas of New York City there are a lot of townhouses where a good portion of the home is above a garage. 

Rather than labeling this as bad, we can look at what this situation means about your life and then work with it. The main question I’d ask you is: do you need more stability in your life? Do you feel like things are a little bit challenging, and things are moving around a lot? 

If you do feel like you would like more stability, there are some different ways you can do that. There are specific secret feng shui cures you can work with if you hire a feng shui consultant. I’m not going to share them here, because they’re something you should do with a consultant. If you’re not going to hire someone, you can try to find a way to make your life feel more steady and supportive. One way to do this is through routine. You may also find it helpful to add more earth, because the earth element represents stability. You can do this by bringing in browns and earthy colors, as well as heavy objects to provide more support and weight. It can also be as simple as going outside and getting your hands in the dirt; this would really allow you to connect with the earth element of your home. 

I hope that helps, and I really encourage you to reach out to a feng shui consultant. We have students at Mindful Design School who can definitely help you with this situation. Thank you again for responding and reading our post!

by Anjie Cho

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Our a unique training program takes an holistic approach to learning the art of feng shui design. Mindful design is about becoming aware, and attentive, to the energy around you: both inner and outer qi. It is about promoting a better way of living and creating sacred spaces that support, and nourish. Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com.

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday".  We will be answering questions submitted by our readers. Click here to submit any Feng Shui or Green Design questions!

Q&A Sunday: Laying the Bagua with a Garage

My garage is attached to my house, and if include it, the prosperity, family and skills and knowledge areas are to the left of the front door. Do I have to include it, and if I do I feel like it will hinder the effectiveness of all other areas of the house. Without it my bedroom would lie in the prosperity area. 

Judy M., Ukiah, CA

Dear Judy,

Thank you for writing in with your question for the Holistic Spaces blog.

Your garage is attached to the house, and you like the way the bagua is laid better when the garage is not attached. Unfortunately it doesn’t quite work that way. If your garage is attached to the house and it’s under the same roof, it is part of the main bagua map. It’s not something that you can pick and choose, because how the bagua is laid is based on the perimeter of the house.

On the other hand, there is another concept that comes up: the concept of the ever-changing or floating bagua. You have many other bagua layouts besides the one just of the house. You also have a bagua on the whole property, and there’s also a bagua of each room. Sometimes people have more complicated layouts where they perhaps have secondary doors; for instance, they have an outer gate and an inner gate. The outer gate might be considered a yin door, and we have other blog posts about that if you’re interested. So while you can’t pick and choose how you’d like to lay the bagua, hopefully the knowledge that there are additional baguas gives you some relief.

There are different practitioners and different schools that lay the bagua differently, and there’s a lot of conflicting information out there. If you do find conflicts, I would recommend going with what school or teacher resonates with you. It’s also helpful to work with a consultant because they’ll be able to give you ways to work with your unique floor plan.

It would also be very helpful if you could take some time and email us with your floor plan, because I’m a little concerned that perhaps you may not have laid it correctly. What you want to do is lay the bagua so that your front door is aligned with the bottom of the bagua. Your front door would be either in Knowledge, Path in Life, or Benefactors.

I hope this helps, Judy, and I hope this helps other readers as well. Please feel free to email us at info@holisticspaces.com with your floor plan, and we’d love to do a follow-up.

by Anjie Cho

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Our a unique training program takes an holistic approach to learning the art of feng shui design. Mindful design is about becoming aware, and attentive, to the energy around you: both inner and outer qi. It is about promoting a better way of living and creating sacred spaces that support, and nourish. Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com.

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday".  We will be answering questions submitted by our readers. Click here to submit any Feng Shui or Green Design questions!