Jun 19, 18:45

How to Feng Shui your Entrance

Over the past five years public interest in feng shui has grown exponentially. While many of us are familiar with the term, many of us are still unclear about what feng shui is and how it can be applied to the design of our homes and the development of communities.

Feng shui, pronounced fung shway, literally means wind and water. It is an ancient Chinese term used throughout Asia for 4,000 years to describe the process of creating harmonious environments that naturally alleviate our concerns and encourage a greater sense of well-being. Feng shui developed from the following two philosophical insights.

First, feng (wind) which embodies the concept that everything is interconnected or interdependent. As Chief Seattle, the famous Native American, once said, “Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand within it. What he does to the web he does to himself.” From an Asian perspective there is an energetic relationship between our hearts and minds and the places where we live and work. Although we cannot see the wind it is easy to realize how it touches all things. By understanding this relationship we can dramatically improve the quality of our lives and homes.

Second, shui (water) symbolizes that the nature of life is like water, constantly moving and flowing. Life stands still for no one. The more we embrace change and appreciate the precious nature of our lives, the more focus we place on the beliefs and values that make our lives meaningful, like being part of a healthy, loving family, enjoying a hobby or contributing to our community. Happiness is only found in the present moment.

Throughout Asia, architects, builders, homeowners, businesses and community leaders turn to feng shui consultants whose principles help them enhance their living spaces and environments to better support their intentions for abundance, good health, better relationships and more. There is a wide range of interior and exterior feng shui design principles that have a significant and specific effect on our well-being. Let’s focus on one of the most important and yet most often overlooked areas of your home: your entranceway.

The Entranceway is the gateway to your home and heart where your greatest treasures are found. Everything about your main entrance should be inviting, gracious and strong. Coming home can be a joyful process that inspires you with an immediate sense of serenity and security. Current home design favors large and spacious entranceways that are rarely used by the homeowner. Instead, most homeowners enter through a cluttered garage promoting a reoccurring sense of anxiety and frustration, especially if the clutter belongs to another member of the household!

Clients are surprised when the first place I ask to see is the garage, especially if it is their main entrance into their homes. Why the garage? Well, it becomes the personal foyer into most homes. I have experienced families and couples feeling completely overwhelmed due to this overlooked space. Ideally the garage should be organized and welcoming which inspires you with happiness every time you return. 

If a cluttered garage sounds too familiar here a few Feng shui tips:

Schedule a reoccurring date for a local charity to pick up as many unused, unnecessary items you can easily find. Imagine if the garbage collector didn’t do pick ups!
Have an annual or bi annual garage sale and encourage your neighbors to do the same. When we make the effort to let go of these unnecessary things, we naturally realize how little we need to be truly happy.
Paint the interior of the garage a soothing color like sage green or a warm, inviting earthtone to evoke a sense of grounding and welcome. Many times our homes have an imbalance of one color, like white. According to feng shui, too much white encourages judgmental thinking, and consequently more feelings of frustration and anger. (If you like white at least consider antique white or bone white).
Hang family vacation pictures and posters on the wall that faces you as you drive into the garage. Many times this natural focal point is the area of greatest disorganization and clutter.
Plant fresh flowers and hang a wind chime near your front door. It will encourage you to walk through the true entrance of your home.
Install a new, curved walkway that connects the garage to the front door and sidewalk.

Here are some additional tips for builders and designers:

Treat the garage as a second foyer. Help your clients realize the importance of spending a little extra money on creating an inviting and organized garage that addresses their storage needs while also helping them feel welcome into their home. Finished walls, more windows, warm colors, higher quality garage doors with windows and a properly planned storage system are some ways a more welcoming garage entrance can be achieved.
Another common oversight is the exterior garage wall. Often homebuilders, even for luxury homes, fail to acknowledge the importance of this exterior entrance while spending large amounts of money on the front façade, which the homeowner ultimately rarely sees. Architectural details such as wrapping the stone and brick around at least 3 – 4 feet high, installing high quality exterior sconces between the garage bays, and possibly a roof structure, dramatically enhance this main entrance.
Re-design the classic bottleneck. I work with many families that struggle with the small space between the garage and the kitchen. Often families have to squeeze through a laundry room into their kitchen, leaving little room for coats, shoes, backpacks etc. Here is a design opportunity to place the washer/dryer upstairs or expand this space so that laundry room can be placed behind closed doors. If neither options are possible, I would make sure the space was well organized with wall cabinets, coat racks and happy family pictures on the walls.

Driveways Driveways promote the use of the front door and more interaction with friends and neighbors.

As you can see, the wisdom of feng shui is grounded in common sense. The places we live and work are interconnected with our sense of happiness. This fresh perspective of environmental design is encouraging more and more people to take a greater interest in their homes.

Next time I will share some feng shui principles and suggestions relating to the living room and dining room, the two most underused rooms in our homes today. From a feng shui perspective, an unused room creates poor circulation within a home, and because the living room and dining room are often located at the front of the house, these empty rooms can discourage interaction with our neighbors. Stay tuned…

H.G. Chissell is a feng shui practitioner working for Abby Schwartz Associates, an architectural firm specializing in residential design in the Tri-State Area. For more information, please call 610-964- 9669 or visit chissell.com for more articles on feng shui.

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H.G. Thanks for this article. After your consoltation, we painted the back wall a beautiful moss green and had all the kids in the neighborhood paint their hand prints on the wall…we even included the dogs. Everyone signed their name and love coming into the garage to see it. Thanks!
— Denise Gindhart Nov 27, 11:23 AM #