Tag Archives: Feng Shui kitchen

Kitchen Design Starts With Feng Shui

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“My kitchen is a mystical place, a kind of temple for me. It is a place where the surfaces seem to have significance, where the sounds and odors carry meaning that transfers from the past and bridges the future.”
– Pearl Bailey

Growing up the smell of cornbread stuffing buttered the air at Thanksgiving. White flakes of coconut and red cherries buoyed among bits of fruit and cream in Mom’s prized crystal bowl. Good china served up turkey, browned buns from the oven and fresh cooked string beans from the stove. The love poured into this meal made the kitchen hum and warm conversations wafted throughout the house. The kitchen is the hub for all of life’s happenings. We prep our meals and plan our lives here. It is the sacred space where we quietly listen to our thoughts over morning coffee and console the hurts of family members after dinner. We celebrate milestones and receive endearing hugs among the pots and pans and crockery. It is the domaine for all our life’s stories.

Kitchen design has a profound effect upon our emotions, our hopes and our successes. The nature of this room offers opportunities for closeness and having real conversations. The strength of this bonding time creates a feeling of safety and helps us to gather our confidence and walk with our heads held high across the threshold and into the world. To modern sensibility it’s influence is seemingly imperceptible, but it has the power to influence our choices and destiny.

If your past holidays have been peppered with tension, I encourage you to try the following Feng Shui adjustments that, I believe, will help bolster any troubled waters and in the process help you uncover levity too. Not all may pertain, but I still encourage you to note, “the kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink”. Choose what fits your home’s design and decor. I wish for you a very happy holiday.

The best placement for the kitchen is behind the midline of the house. Too close to the front door and a parent may be eating in someone’s kitchen. This placement threatens the family’s stability. If you have this arrangement, a convex mirror placed on a wall behind the front door will pull the kitchen back into the house and your partner will come home. Be sure to use a strong visualization.

Select pleasing colors according to your home’s palette and your personal aesthetics but keep these Feng Shui and Five Element principles in mind while choosing. According to Professor Lin Yun white is the best color for the kitchen. It shows off the colors of the food. White, the color of the Metal element, is compatible with the kitchen’s basic element fire (fire overcomes or melts metal). Avoid all black kitchens because black, the water element, destroys fire. Do not choose red or there will be too much heat and the cook will always be hot tempered. Red and black accents are fine. Apple green is a color that signifies hope and the vitality of spring.

Contrary to what you may have read or heard, the refrigerator has a motor that generates heat, it is not a cooled water element. This does not present a problem to the stove. Best placement for the sink is across from the stove not adjacent.

The stove is the key to family prosperity and harmony. It has a significant role as wealth generator, creating family unity and keeping us free from legal trouble. When we lovingly prepare our food it nurtures us, our lives become fuller and we manage what life delivers with ease and grace.

If you stand at the stove and face a wall then you either turn your head left or right to see what is going on behind you. This takes you off balance. Over time your body will conform to this unconscious posture that influences your attitude where you may feel out of control and ill at ease. You may experience a downturn in finances or plain bad luck. In regards to the stove placement, you want to see what is going on behind you by placing a mirror on the wall in front of you. It should be the width of the stove and ideally doesn’t cut off the top of the tallest person in the household when you look into the mirror. Some stoves have a microwave above, if this is your arrangement then place a convex mirror (which takes in a 160 degree view). Visualize your heart trouble resolving and an upswing in your finances.

When the stove is under a microwave or collection of pots, this not good kitchen design. The ability to make money will be oppressed. Either remove the microwave and pots or place a wind chime over the position where the cook stands at the stove. For the microwave alone, place a three inch round mirror under it with the reflective side facing down towards the burners. It will transcendentally lift the Ch’i.

If members in your family argue a lot, especially about money, you may see your finances diminish. There is a kitchen design detail that influences this conflict: the stove is in line with two doors on either side. Adjust this inauspicious placement by hanging a 40 mm faceted crystal or wind chime on both sides of the stove between the door and the stove.

When there are two levels to a home, there is the possibility that a bathroom can be built over the kitchen, this is typical in older homes. When a toilet sits over the stove, the family’s health and finances are in jeopardy. You can place a mirror, facing down, on the floor behind toilet. It will lift the image of the stove, transcendentally removing the toilet.

If you see a kitchen as you step through the front door there will be digestive upset. This can cause money problems. You can have strange, odd or unexplained diseases/illnesses. Draw the eyes elsewhere with color, art, sound or greenery. Or divert the eyes traveling directly into the kitchen by placing a 40mm crystal hung on a red cord between the front door and the kitchen to lift the Ch’i and the life of the family members affected. To ease the symptoms of a stomach ache: wear the colors red and/or yellow (the colors of Fire and Earth in the Chinese Five Element System).

If the kitchen door is overwhelming the door of the bedroom of a person who is struggling with an eating disorder, that’s a problem. The kitchen can swallow that bedroom and, in a sense, swallow that person’s resolve to get better. That eating disorder can get even worse. The cure may seem odd but it is a mirror on the big door to pick up the image of the smaller door so that you have two bedrooms. Instead of a kitchen swallowing up a bedroom or a bathroom swallowing up a bedroom. If there is no door in the kitchen. Hang a crystal ball. if the larger door is on the bedroom there is not a problem.

A bathroom across from a kitchen is difficult kitchen design. I worked with a client who had this inauspicious kitchen design. She called me because she knew the Feng Shui was “off”  in her home. A bathroom is symbolic of a family’s expenses, so it should not face a kitchen which is symbolic of a family’s wealth. The result is money loss of all kinds. Money drains away as if going down the toilet.

My heart is smiling because you give life your best. May love and joy continue to surround you everyday. And keep creating beauty! It feeds our souls in a myriad of ways.

Allow me to help you arrange your home where you feel fully supported. I am available for a full consultation service or for an hour telephone conversation. Details are at this link Feng Shui A La Carte. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your house.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Investing In The Wise Counsel And Comfort Of Your Kitchen

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“The kitchen really is the castle itself. This is where we spend our happiest moments and where we find the joy of being a family.”
– Mario Batali

On a recent Dr. OZ segment, a financial adviser shared how as a young married man he tackled money issues “When my wife and I were first married we would have ‘kitchen table talks’. We came to an agreement that any item we wanted to purchase that was over $25 dollars we consulted the other.” The kitchen, like no other room in the house, helps us to focus on family, it is the heartbeat of the home.

Though texting while dining on fast food have preempted meal time, the kitchen, according to Feng Shui principles, still has the most influence on our good health, family harmony and fortune. It is here we prepare meals, smooth over hurt feelings, children share secrets with mom and the family enjoys happy moments. The space of wise counsel and comfort, this room invites having real conversations. The strength of this bonding time helps us to walk with our heads held high across the threshold and out into the world.

Do you feel your kitchen could use some extra love? I am delighted to share these nine fresh Feng Shui fixes (with emphasis on the stove), to help you get started on nourishing your space.

The stove is the key to family prosperity and harmony. It has a significant role as wealth generator, creating family unity and keeping us free from legal trouble. When we lovingly prepare our food it nurtures us, our lives become fuller and we manage what life delivers with ease and grace.

Stove in command position. If you are standing at the stove and facing a wall then you must turn your head left or right to see what is going on behind you. This takes you off balance. Over time your body will conform to this unconscious posture that influences your attitude where you may feel out of control and ill at ease. You may experience a downturn in finances or plain bad luck. In regards to the stove placement, you want to see what is going on behind you by placing a mirror on the wall in front of you. It should be the width of the stove and ideally doesn’t cut off the top of the tallest person in the household when you look into the mirror. Some stoves have a microwave above then place a convex mirror (which takes in a 160 degree view). Visualize your heart trouble resolving and an upswing in your finances.

Stove seen from the front door. Or is the first thing you see when you enter the house. Family problems may not be resolved. There may be accidents involving blood, blood disease or surgery. 

Stove under a microwave or collection of pots. The ability to make money will be oppressed. Either remove the microwave and pots or hang a wind chime over the position where the cook stands at the stove.

Stove in line with two doors, one on either side. Members of the family may argue a lot, especially about money. And their fortune may diminish. Adjust this inauspicious placement by hanging a 40 mm faceted crystal or wind chime on both sides of the stove between the door and the stove.

Stove in a corner. The cook cannot move around the stove very easily. This affects the quality of food and family finances. The occupants may be limited in career choices and opportunities. Mirror the wall to the side of the stove and visualize that the space is expanding and the Ch’i flows more easily.

The Work Triangle If you follow this arrangement then fire and water placement do not become an issue.

Stove and refrigerator placement. Contrary to what you may have heard, the refrigerator has a motor that generates heat, it is not a cooled water element. This does not present a problem to the stove. Best placement for the sink is across from the stove not adjacent.

Kitchen placement. The best placement for the kitchen is behind the midline of the house. Too close to the front door and a parent may be eating in someone’s kitchen. This placement threatens the family’s stability.

Kitchen color. Select pleasing colors according to your home’s palette and your personal aesthetics but keep these Feng Shui and Five Element principles in mind while choosing. According to H. H. Lin Yun white is the best color for the kitchen. It shows off the colors of the food. White, the color of the Metal element, is compatible with the kitchen’s basic element fire (fire overcomes or melts metal). Avoid all black kitchens because black, the water element, destroys fire. Do not choose red or there will be too much heat and the cook will always be hot tempered. Red and black accents are fine. Apple green is a color that signifies hope and the vitality of spring. 

Looking to create a lifestyle change? Feng Shui A La Carte will help you experience the well being of happiness right away. Think of it as a fairy godmother for your home.

What I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift.

Feng Shui Safety Checklist For Your Home

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Safety might be the last thing you connect to Feng Shui design.

Imagine walking a tight rope. Would you feel anxious, nervous, frightened, think you are going to fall? Very likely. This experience is no different to your brain than a corner that acts like a finger pointing at you, making an accusation. Or a wall that blocks your way and throws you off kilter or a small, dark, confined entry that pounds upon your head. Your body’s first response is to feel nervous, anxious and unsafe. Next your body will bring your attention to the matter by sending a smoke signal to your emotions. If that doesn’t get a response, you’ll find yourself getting sick. What a thread, one scenario can cause.

As a Feng Shui consultant I look for how I can help you understand your unique living arrangement and make your home more suitable for your personal lifestyle, maintain your good health, harmonize your relationships and create overall peace of mind.

When a client calls often they have a crisis on their hands. A daily drama they’ve tolerated for months, maybe years, erupts and no longer do they have the coping skills to deal with it. I tell them the good news is there is a Feng Shui solution. And I want you to know that too.

Here is a little mantra that I share. It is BIG in empowerment and leads to real change: “your home is your second body”. If you are feeling worried, carry vague anxieties around in your head, don’t sleep well at night, suffer from a chronic health issue, lose money and are overlooked for a raise or job you want, it’s not “just life”.

Wouldn’t you love an alternative to “just life”, one that makes you feel secure, stable and balanced? Feng Shui adjustments actively address problem areas in your home, create stability, power up your energy and give you confidence to handle what life delivers.

Is your home Feng Shui safe? If you suspect it’s causing some of your problems or you feel uneasy, here’s a mini checklist to determine if you have imbalances and how they are affecting you. There are more than I can list here but it’s a good way to get started and expand your thinking about safety in your home.

Feng Shui Safety Checklist

Accidents and Bloodshed

  • A door that is nailed shut suggests a hole in your physical body.
  • Seeing the stove through the kitchen door from the front door can cause illness, surgery that involves bloodshed.
  • Shoes left at the front in disarray can cause unexpected events and accidents.
  • Anything in front of the bed, furniture that is too large in the room can cause you to stumble and fall.
  • A bed that faces out of the bedroom door and you face the stove, that position can cause an accident or illness involving serious bleeding.
  • A stove that backs up to a desk causes danger which can involve an accident. 

Arguments with family members

  • Split at the front door: the brain is stimulated unevenly, the two sides begin to lack coordination. You may think more and act less, or the opposite, you may act more and think less. Either situation, an imbalance is created which can create illness along the midline, confusion, and an inability to make decisions. There can be endless arguing, even violence.
  • Too many doors in a hallway: a door represents a mouth. Here is an opportunity for arguments to ensue among you and your partner or you and your child.
  • Biting doors: doors which are slightly out of alignment with one another create a split and this may create a trauma. There may be conflict between parents, or arguments between the parents and children. You may lose your friends. Where you work you may experience internal strife, power plays, and back stabbing. 
  • Arguing doors: doors that bump up against one another when they are opened create conflict and they are especially offensive at the front door. Conflict may spread throughout, affecting everyone who comes into the house even people outside with whom you interact.

Health Issues

  • Bathroom in the middle of the house can drain your life’s resources. Not only poor health may make your family suffer, years on end but into future generations. 
  • Blocking wall at the front door will have you feeling blocked from moving forward in your career. Health wise your shoulders start to round down over your heart and lungs causing back, heart and respiratory difficulties.
  • Stairs that ends too close to a wall or door may inhibit the flow of ch’i both in your home and your body. You and your family may be blocked in some way, physically, emotionally, and perhaps your career.
  • A toilet back to back with a bed can create an unusual, uncommon or undiagnosed illness which can take it’s toll on the resources of a family.

Money Troubles

  • Fireplace in the middle of the house will burn up money, create infamy instead of fame and your career may slow to a trickle. Feeling hopeless, your happiness may be reduced to indecision and doubt, depleting your vitality.
  • Blocking wall at the front door may find you struggling in your career and you may entirely fail. 
  • Contrary door is when a front door opens into a wall rather than the room. You may work hard and not enjoy the results of your labor. Life could become exhausting and filled with disappointment.
  • House below the street: every exit will feel difficult to get up and get out. You may become more and exhausted each day. You can lose time and energy. It greatly affects your ability to begin or follow through on any project.
  • Trapezoid lot that narrows at the back can also bring unfortunate luck over time. The wealth gua is in the far back left corner and if it is diminished in size that will affect incoming flow of money.

Need to see it to understand? Here is a link to Floor Plans Matter, examples of common design details and how they affect occupants’ Ch’i. Perhaps you will recognize your home in one of this. 

One thing I have discovered about our homes is that creating a heart healthy space leads to peace and contentment. The bedroom is where it begins. Start with my complimentary pdf: 27 Bedroom Concepts To Maximize Your Health, Happiness and Peace of Mind. Design your space to your best advantage. Subscribe to my blog and special offers. You’ll receive this valuable Feng Shui Guide as a thank you gift. 

(image credit to Poesia, Roberto Weigand)