Applying Feng Shui To Your Home

One of the newest home decorating trends is Feng Shui. This style has created a dynamic impact on today's home decorating styles. From full sized wall murals in Oriental colors and simple designs of orange blossoms, or stark brown trees on pumpkin orange, to the minute details caused by treating walls with texture created from sand instead of wallpaper, the Feng Shui impact has left a print on the home decorating industry that will remain around for several years.

At first, feng shui is a complex decorating scheme that is almost impossible to implement in the average household. In true feng shui fashion, this truth is balanced with simplicity that the most novice home decorator can successfully create in their own home.

The feng shui home trends are based on a clutter-free, clean space with a fresh sense of renewal. The American and European décor designs use dead or open spaces to display wealth in the form of art, curio cabinets, entertainment units, and collections.

This fills a home with 'dead' items that have no soul and create a negative effect on the human soul. A sense of renewal is created by returning people to nature. This is not to be confused with 'going back to nature' or bringing in items from nature, like shower sheets with bears on them.

Instead, it involves bringing elements from nature into the home in a way that touches the soul and helps humans reconnect with a more peaceful and satisfying existence.

This is done by simply bringing fresh items like flowering plants, and/or decor elements in fresh gentle colors of the natural elements. The most common are apple green, deep brown, clear blue, and gentle yellow.

There are a million ways these colors can be added to any room without overpowering the room and changing the mood. Replace the ceramic roosters with quartz crystals or river rocks. Toss out the dead branches and bring in a live tree. Replace the repetitive patterned wallpaper with a wall mural that depicts a single tree, sparse and simple, with a single brilliant red blossom.

The first step to creating a feng shui look is to toss all the clutter in the garbage. Remove everything that does not serve a purpose. Hide televisions and DVD collections. However, hiding them is not enough. Any item that is not used at least once a month needs to be removed from the room and stored.

In many homes, this will result in several empty shelves. If there is no backing on these shelves, paint a water scene behind. If there is a backing, consider removing the shelving unit all together. You do not always need to paint natural scenes on the walls. Water can be depicted by hanging a mirror.

There are a few things to avoid. Never include the color red. Even small amounts of red in candles or trim on a book, will disrupt the room's impact on your emotions.

There are some simple ways to turn a bare looking room into a feng shui room. A large vase with a few bamboo sticks in it. Replace wood along the doors with metal or mirrors. Add texture to walls using grass wallpaper, sand, or murals. Each of these treatments have basic, novice, and expert levels. It only takes a little time to find the project that you need to make your home perfect.