Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Feng Shui Tips for Love and Romance

Feng shui tips for love and romance from The Red Chair Blog

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art and science of arranging one's environment to be in harmony with nature's energy.  Whether you are single or in a relationship,Valentine's Day is a great day to spend a few minutes improving the feng shui of the "marriage / relationship" corner of your master bedroom.

To start, locate the marriage corner of your room. Stand in the doorway so that you're facing into the room. The far right corner of the room is your marriage corner:

How to find the marriage relationship corner feng shui The Red Chair BlogTake a look at your marriage corner.  Is it piled to the ceiling with dirty laundry? Is it home to your video collection of every episode of "Divorce Court" that ever aired? Is it where you showcase your prized prickly cactus or your pet piranha, "Jaws"?  Or maybe it holds accidental symbols of solitude and unrequited love, such as this sad little perpetually-puckering figurine?

Kissing angel image from The Red Chair Blog

I once worked with a single client who discovered, much to her dismay, that her marriage corner held two overflowing garbage cans!  Another client laughingly observed that the display shelf in her marriage corner had been home to the cremated remains of her pets.  She quipped, "You mean I'm not supposed to have dead animals in my marriage corner?!"

Think about the symbolism of the objects in this corner of the room.  If an object doesn't symbolize love, partnership, and affection--and your current relationship--it doesn't belong in the marriage corner!

So what does belong in your marriage corner?  Here are some suggestions:
  • Photos of you and your beloved together.  Wedding photos are wonderful here!
  • Thriving, growing houseplants
  • Fresh flowers 
  • Your wedding cake topper  (But if you saved and dried your bridal bouquet, display it elsewhere; dried flowers are a feng shui "no-no" because they are technically...dead!)
  • Candles (pairs are best)
  • Framed love letters or framed quotes about love
  • Pairs that represent love to you (for example, two "lovebirds")
  • Heart-shaped objects
  • Your marriage certificate or framed wedding invitation
The colors that are said to enhance this area are red, white, and pink. What a coincidence: Valentine colors! Pink can be tough to incorporate into most of today's color schemes, but red and white are good candidates. You may even be able to repurpose a few of your Valentine's Day decorations or cards here year-round. 

This set of 2 Elufly porcelain mini heart dishes is a textbook example of what to display in your marriage corner.  This affordable set gets points in three categories: it's a pair, it's white, and it's also heart-shaped!

Heart dishes are good feng shui for the marriage corner of your bedroom The Red Chair Blog

A sweet heart dish is good romance feng shui The Red Chair Blog

While feng shui-ing the marriage corner is helpful, it's also important to take a step back to assess the master bedroom as a whole from the perspective of whether it can accommodate the needs of just one person or two.  Is the bed wedged into a corner, or are both sides of the bed easily accessible? Are there two nightstands and two table lamps flanking the bed, or only one?

When I work with single clients, I often notice that they have only one nightstand and/or one bedside lamp in the master bedroom.  Sometimes they have stored the second, matching nightstand in the attic or in a closet, explaining that they "don't need it".  I encourage single clients to symbolically make space for a future partner by including a pair of nightstands and a pair of lamps flanking the bed in the master bedroom.

Pairs hold symbolic power in a master bedroom.  But feng shui aside, pairs also add nice visual symmetry, and a pair of lovely, matching lamps can sometimes be the finishing touch that elevates the room to "finished" status.  The two nightstands don't need to be identical, but they should be of similar height, color, and visual weight.  In a small bedroom, a pair of petite dressers can serve as nightstands, eliminating the need for a single larger chest of drawers or a large dresser.

Be creative and have fun! Happy Valentine's Day!

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