Q&A Sunday: What Color Should I Paint My Front Door?

Anjie Cho May 24, 2020

I would really like to paint my formal front door red. However it’s in the career section of the bagua. Should I paint it this color or stick to water element colors? Thank you so much for all that you do. I love listening to you and Laura on the Holistic Spaces podcast.

- Adrianne P., Yuma

Thank you for listening to our podcast, and for your question!

In general, red is a great color, and one of the best colors to paint your front door. It’s one of the most auspicious colors in feng shui, and it represents fire, life energy and vitality. It also attracts attention; if you walk down the street and see a red door, it’s really noticeable. The same applies for a person who walks into a room wearing a red dress or red lipstick.

The career area is related to your path in life, the water element, and the color black. You might be worried that painting your door red in this area will burn up all your water. That’s one way to look at it, but incorporating the fire element into your career area isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It depends on your intention.

Directly across from the career area is the fame and reputation area, which is associated with fire energy and the color red. Because these two areas are opposites on the bagua, you can actually use them in tandem with each other. By using red in your career area, you’re bringing together fire and water, yin and yang. You’re inviting more passion, inspiration, and recognition into your career. If your intention is to bring more of these things into your career, then painting your door red can be really helpful.

If you already have a lot of fire energy, you may want to stick with water element colors, like black. Adding the water element to your career area can attract more social networking, connections, and wisdom, which can also be really helpful--it all depends on your situation and what you need.

Thanks again for your question Adrianne, I hope that helps!

If you have a question is more specific I can answer in a blog post, I hope you’ll join us for our next Practical Feng Shui class where you can get one-on-one feedback on your own floor plan!

by Anjie Cho

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

If you’d like to learn more about feng shui check out the Mindful Design Feng Shui certification program. Laura Morris and I launched our program in September 2018. To get on the list about it, sign up at: www.mindfuldesignschool.com.

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

Q&A Sunday: Real vs. Artificial Plants

Anjie Cho May 17, 2020

Are artificial plants ok?

@coastallivingpro

Thanks for your question!

If you’re using a plant for a feng shui adjustment, it’s always better to have a living plant instead of an artificial one. If there is no light in the room, or if it’s a vacation home, you can use an artificial plant, but make sure it’s very high quality and realistic.

Otherwise, you should always use real plants. Even if you don’t think you have a green thumb, I encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and try. Taking care of a living plant is a teaching in itself. It helps you cultivate kindness and open-heartedness, which are connected to the wood element. Real plants can also improve indoor air quality.

If you’re worried about your ability to keep a plant alive, start with one that’s easier to care for. There are a lot of varieties that are good for beginners, including pothos, which is one of my favorites. Pothos can thrive in a variety of light conditions, and it can also withstand inconsistent watering.

Monstera (also called Swiss cheese plant) is another plant that is easy to take care of, and it can live for a long time. I also love rubber plants, areca palms, and Chinese money plants. You could also try growing some herbs that you could also use for cooking!

Thanks again for your question--let us know how it goes!

by Anjie Cho

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

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

Q&A Sunday: Balancing Water in a Blue Bathroom

Anjie Cho May 10, 2020

Photo by Bence Balla-Schottner on Unsplash

I need a recommendation please. My bathroom in my new apartment is in the spirituality and knowledge area and is VERY blue - bathtub, sink, toilet, tiles on the wall. How can I counteract excess water energy there? It’s rental, so I can’t replace anything, decor only. Thanks in advance!

Tatyana Alexandrovna

Hi Tatyana,

There are a few things I want to clarify before we get into the answer to your question. First, the bagua map does have an area related to self-cultivation and self-knowledge, called gen. It’s in the bottom left hand corner of the bagua map and it’s related to the color dark blue.

Second, there are dozens of schools of feng shui and they all have slight variations. In the school I practice, BTB feng shui, water is actually related to the color black, not blue. Very dark blue that is almost black can be related to the water element, but lighter shades of blue are actually related to the wood element. This is true if you look at the I Ching as well, which is where we get the trigrams of the bagua and the five element system.

The blue color in your bathroom is not creating excess water after all. Instead, it sounds like you have a lot of wood in your bathroom. And, how do wood and water work together? Think about a plant, which represents wood: when you water a plant, the water feeds and nourishes it. Over time, the water helps the plant (wood) create more life and grow upward. Similarly, having wood energy in your bathroom can help to take the downward energy of water and transform it to upward energy. In fact, adding the wood element is a common cure for excess water in a bathroom.

Thank you so much for your question!

by Anjie Cho