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

Anjie Cho March 20, 2019

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.

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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.

visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com

Live the Green Dream and Let Plants Take Root In Your Home

Anjie Cho February 20, 2019

featured on Irish Examiner by Kya deLongchamps

Minimalist or austere? The uptight, sleek, relatively empty neutral space spiked with worthy mid-century inspired furnishings is being challenged in 2019 with the return to a cosier more full inhabited feel of maximalism. Celebrated American architect Robert Charles Venturi Jr, who sadly died this year, tangled with the Mies Van Der Rohe’s sacred but paralysing adage trotted out in the last 10 years of decorating – ‘Less is more’, Venturi stated flatly, ‘- and less - is a bore.’

One of the most popular and luxurious interpretations of the ‘more is more’ school of aesthetics is the Memphis look – a 1970s fantasy of brass bound tables, marble, velvet and abstract art layered joyfully over every wall, glass and lacquered surface. It’s still chic, but there’s a lot more ‘you’ in these playful rooms.

In lush imagery of the Memphis lifestyle in European and American trade shows, living and faux greenery softens glass counters, orphaned corners and empty vertical voids using the exquisite geometry of rosette succulents, string-of-pearl (trailing Senecio Rowleyanus) and statuesque palms-house super-stars.

…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.

Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com

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Q&A Sunday: Driveways in Feng Shui

Anjie Cho February 3, 2019

We are buying new modular house and putting it on land we bought. The grading and landscape guy wants to put a circular drive in front and a carport to the side of the house that the master bedroom is on, which is the dragon side of house, (the carport would not be connected to house but sits at an angle, so there are no poison arrows toward the house). I’m ok with that, but he thinks a drive from the carport to the basement entrance should go around the back yard to the basement entrance. I’m not sure that’s good, or should the basement drive come off the circular drive in front of the house. If it comes off the front driveway, will too much water (energy) be flowing by the front of house? The house is facing north, with the left side higher than the right, as the basement entrance is on the south end.

Barbara L., Charlotte, NC

Hi Barbara,

Thank you for your thoughtful question! I will only be able to answer only half, as the other half is a bit more complicated and requires an in-depth consultation with a feng shui practitioner who can take a closer look at your floor plans and the layout of the land. I will be happy to discuss a few points you mentioned.

Congratulations on your new home and the land! For anyone who may be wondering what Barbara means by the “dragon side” of her home, in BTB feng shui, there are some directions we do look at in terms of house location. Imagine that you are the house sitting in an easy, comfortable armchair position with your back against the wall. To your right is the green dragon (if you are standing outside and facing the house from the outside, this would be the left side). On your left (as the house) is a white tiger. Behind you is a black tortoise, and in front of you is a red bird. These are the directions Barbara is referring to.

The part of this question I can speak to regards the circular driveway. If you have a circular driveway, it is ideal for the driveway to curve towards the house and hug or embrace the house. This will bring more wealth, abundance, good health, qi and opportunities. When the driveway curves away from the house, all this energy and opportunity moves away from you. So it’s great that you’re putting in your own driveway, and I would recommend ensuring that it curves toward the house rather than away from it, like in the drawing below.

Unfortunately, as I note in most of my posts, I practice BTB feng shui, which doesn’t consider cardinal directions, so I cannot comment on the house facing north, especially with the information I’m given. If you are very concerned about this, it would be helpful to find a feng shui consultant in your area with whom you resonate and who you trust and have them take a look at the lay of your land and your plans, to assess the energy there.

Thank you so much for your question!

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.