January is designated as many different types of "national months." Three of them happen to be "Get a Balanced Life Month," Get Organized Month," and "Creativity Month." Our luxury furniture store at the Lake of the Ozarks chose these 3 particular January topics to focus on because each of them can be very helpful in creating an interior design you can be happy to live within.

This week we'll tackle "Get a Balanced Life Month" and over the few weeks, we'll feature the other 2 topics mentioned above. The three of them together can go a long way in creating living spaces that you will enjoy spending lots of time in. 

The Art of Feng Shui
One popular technique for balancing your life through the interior design of your home decor is known as Feng Shui. This is an ancient art and science that has been in practice for thousands of years. The definition of feng shui is "the Chinese art or practice of creating harmonious surroundings that enhance the balance of yin and yang, as in arranging furniture or determining the siting of a house."

An even simpler way to describe it is that it's the art of placing items in such a way as to achieve a feeling of harmony and balance. The practice is based on the idea that our homes are a mirror of what's happening inside us. When you align your environment with the person you are and strive to be, energies are in harmony and balance can be achieved. 

Getting Started
A person can get very in-depth with the practice of feng shui, but since the goal is to reach harmony and balance in life, you don't want to take it to a place where you end up stressed out in the attempt to reach that harmony. Get started with a few basics and if feng shui seems like something that fits your lifestyle, then you can move on to more complex ideas. 

Clear the Clutter
Feng shui claims that everything, even inanimate objects, has energy. You should aim to guide that energy so that it flows freely and unobstructed through the home. If you can't easily walk through a room, the energy cannot easily flow through it either. Getting rid of clutter, both the kind that shouldn't be there and the things you just have too much of, frees up a lot of space.  

This includes decorative items that don't really have a place in the room. A person can "over-decorate" with too many items in one room and end up creating a sense of anxiety rather than beauty. Display only the pieces you truly love and either get rid of the rest or simply store them away for later. That way you can switch out other favorite home decor pieces when you feel like updating the space.   

The 5 Elements
Translated, the word "feng" means "wind" and the word "shui" means "water." In Chinese culture, wind and water are associated with good health. Good feng shui should bring you good fortune, while bad feng shui lends to misfortune.

It is said that all things are made up of varying degrees of 5 elements; wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. When these elements all work together, they will create a balanced cycle. Using these basic elements in specific places in each room can bring that balance to your daily life.  


You can take that literally by displaying a fountain to represent water or candles to take care of the fire category. Representations of ideas can work too. For example, it is said that rectangles represent the wood element, triangles for fire, squares for earth, and round or oval pieces for metal. This is definitely one of those areas where you should start small but research in more detail if you are interested.  

Let There Be Light
Letting natural light into a room is essential for good feng shui. It brings with it incredible energy that your body and soul both feed off of. Pull back window coverings during the day to let as much light in as possible. If you don't have a lot of windows in a room, add lamps and other lighting options to replicate it. Consider using full spectrum bulbs in some of the fixtures. Placing mirrors opposite windows is another way to double the light in a room. 

Map Your Energy
One idea claims that specific areas in your home are connected to specific areas in your life. You will find two schools of thought on this, both a classical version (as shown in the picture below) and a western version. Both incorporate the same general areas (love & marriage, creativity, travel, career, knowledge, family & health, wealth, and reputation or fame,) but classical aligns them with compass directions and the other aligns them with the layout of a room in respect to the wall containing the main entrance. Items placed in particular sections can enhance those areas of your life. 

    


Even though feng shui is a fairly simple idea, there are many aspects that can go into a feng shui design that can make it a very involved process. As we stated earlier, give it a try by starting small. If you would like some assistance, the specialists at our Lake of the Ozarks home interiors store are always available to offer expertise and advice. John Elliott Interiors knows that a balanced life is important and if your home furnishings can lend to that peace and harmony, then it's worth the effort to find the furniture and decorative items that are right for you and your home.