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Thinking Outside The Box: Using Feng Shui In Your New Apartment
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Once the
movers have left the apartment and items need to be put away,
there can be a lot of stress that develops over where to put
everything. Questions about whether the desk should go in the
second bedroom or the living room and where to hang that
beautiful painting your parents got you can lead to headaches
and poor decoration choices. While many people choose to stick
to traditional decorating patterns, there are other interior
decoration choices which can help organize an apartment without
unnecessary tensions. One of these choices is the popular
Chinese concept of feng shui, which literally means “wind
and water.” Feng shui has become popular among Americans
over the last decade, with corporations like Coca-Cola and
Hewlett Packard using it to create a more organized workplace.
Feng shui provides a ready-made solution to apartment
decoration woes.
While many
people who are traditionalists in the design world consider
feng shui absurd, there are many people who swear by this
idea. Feng shui relies on the ideas that there are
opposing forces in living areas that are in opposition though
need each other to thrive. The notion of yin and yang in Chinese
culture informs feng shui, with the traditional symbol of
yin and yang an intertwined black and white circle with elements
of both sides in the opposing side. People may wonder what this
has to do with apartment design. An appropriate example is the
placement of appliances in a residence. Since northern
geographical spaces represent cold air and southern spaces
represent heat, placing refrigerators and ovens in the
appropriate place is supposed to maximize their effectiveness.
Even if people don’t agree with the spiritual aspect of this,
they should embrace it as a simple way of organizing their
space.
There are
plenty of examples of how feng shui helps dictate
interior design. In home offices, the doctrine says that desks
should be placed so that the worker can gain as great a view of
the room as possible. As well, desks should not be placed in a
position where there is not a clear line of sight to the
doorway. The spiritual aspect of feng shui dictates that
the best spiritual energy comes from easy access to open spaces.
However, the more skeptical renter can use this doctrine in
order to utilize the maximum amount of space in their home
office. After all, placing the desk in a position where the
greatest view of the office is available means that there is
more space of furnishings and storage.
This idea
that desks should be aligned with space in mind transcends home
offices and can be used elsewhere in the apartment. In apartment
bedrooms, renters who adhere to feng shui should not have
the end of their bed in line with the door. In this way,
positive energy from the rest of the apartment can reach the
bedroom. However, it just makes sense to not have the bed near
the doorway because blocking the doorway with a bed creates a
fire hazard and a strange looking design aesthetic.
There are
several other basic tenets of feng shui that just make
good sense for apartment renters. The doctrine’s prohibition of
clutter in all forms should be adhered to by any good tenant,
whether they believe in feng shui or not. Clutter can
mean empty boxes in the living room, scattered papers on the
desk, or furniture that is blocking a clear walking path to
other rooms. As well, feng shui teaches that using
straight lines or sharp corners in interior design should be
avoided. While apartment renters can’t control these lines and
corners in apartment design, they can avoid lining every piece
of furniture on straight lines or 90 degree corners in order to
create a better apartment design.
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