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Grand and Spiral Staircases in Feng Shui
We’ve all heard that front doors opening directly to stairs are bad for Feng Shui. In fact, I’ve written about it in a previous post where I described that such designs lead to income problems.
Just as dangerous to a home or office’s Feng Shui is a spiral staircase or even a grand staircase. I want to get into why they can be so harmful and, of course, give you some remedies.
Feng Shui, translated as “wind-water”, is about harnessing the flow of a natural energy called Chi just as boulders in a riverbed work to temporarily divert the flow of water.
Spiral Staircase Dangers
When working with home builders, I always recommend against designs with a spiral staircase. Even though they are an efficient use of sometimes limited space, the benefits simply don’t outweigh the dangers. Potential buyers conscious of Feng Shui will see a spiral staircase and simply walk out.
Consider a spiral staircase to be like a corkscrew digging into a particular section of the Bagua in the home or office. Please also keep in mind that each section, or Gua, of the Bagua represents a part of the body.
As an example, a spiral staircase in the middle of a home, or Health Area, will figuratively dig into the heart of the Bagua. I have found that those living in such a home frequently have health issues related to the heart or blood pressure.
Many spiral staircases are made of metal, which only exacerbates the digging effect. The same goes for any staircases (spiral or otherwise) with metallic coloring, whether they are gold, silver, bronze, copper, etc.
Any staircase with the color red is morbidly characteristic of blood flowing down the stairs. Circulatory issues are common with residents of such homes.
Another problem related to most spiral staircases is the empty space between each step, preventing Chi, that natural flowing energy, from rising to the upper levels. Rather, energy only flows down — and painfully so.
Spiral Staircase Cures
What if you have a home that already has a spiral staircase? Certainly, replacing the staircase isn’t usually financially feasible.
First and foremost, find a creative way to cover the openings between steps. I suggest using wood because it has the energy of growing up, like a tree. Feel free to cover it in a fabric, such as carpeting.
Use neutral colors instead of black, red or metallic colors. It is better to use the colors of plants or trees.
Now, we need to find a way to work against the downward corkscrew energy. To do this, I recommend the use of lighting and plants.
The lighting should point upward from below, again pushing Chi up the stairs and working against that painfully downward force.
The use of certain plants and trees also move energy upward. Tall trees based at the bottom of the stairs will do the trick. Ivy along the railing will further influence the energy to move upward.
Grand Staircase Dangers
Luxury builders often want to utilize grand staircases. They are beautiful, opulent and, well, grand. They are also very dangerous to the Feng Shui of a home.
Because of their often circular nature, any energy that flows up the left staircase at the Family Area just goes right back down the right staircase at the Creative Area, completely bypassing half of the second floor’s Bagua.
Thus, grand staircases often prevent Chi from giving life to the upstairs offices and bedrooms representing the Wealth Corner, Fame Area and Relationship Corner. That’s simply bad for business and bad for the business of love.
The same rules apply here as with other types of stairs — metals and the colors of metals are bad. Likewise with the bloody effects of red.
When working with builders, I often suggest some very specific modifications to the design to ensure proper energy flow while maintaining the grand effect of the staircase.
Grand Staircase Cures
Again, what remedies are there to cure a grand staircase that already exists in a home (aside from tearing it out and adding the Helpful People, Career, and Knowledge areas back into the upper floor)?
First, add a red rug at the top of the right staircase. This works to slow the energy that is attempting to flow back downward.
Second, make sure that you have a large, shiny chandelier above the foyer and another shiny chandelier at the upper floor where the two staircases meet.
To keep with lighting, up-lighting or upward sconce lights along the staircase will help push and keep energy upstairs.
Just as with spiral staircases, you can use tall trees at the bottom and ivy along the edges to help influence Chi upward. You can even use wood trim designed with the effects of ivy.
Next Steps
Generally, it is best to avoid a home with a spiral or grand staircase in terms of Feng Shui. But, at least there are cures available to improve such designs to minimize their negative effects.
Spend some time learning about the Feng Shui Bagua to ensure proper Chi flow in your home or office.
If there is something unique about your stairs or layout, such as scissor-stairs, contact me to inquire about a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because stairs can be a dangerous element.
Considering a new home? Take a look at the recent new home projects where my Feng Shui consultation services were utilized.
Do you know someone with a spiral staircase? Share it with them on Facebook!
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Ground Blessing Lessons for the Home
Bless the Ground Before Breaking It
Last week, I had the opportunity to perform a great Feng Shui Ground Blessing on a new condo development before the home builder broke ground.
The goal of the ceremony was to re-energize the site and provide success during construction and for the community’s future residents.
The ancient Chinese tradition of Feng Shui encourages harmony and balance by restoring positive energy flow, or Chi, along the creative cycle.
Home builders that are conscious of the energy flow of the land where they intend to build are taking the best interests of future residents seriously.
The five elements of water, wood, fire, earth and metal in their creative cycle.
Why a Ground Blessing?
Depending on the prior use of a property, lingering energy can be quite destructive, going the opposite direction of the creative cycle depicted here.
In the case of the ground blessing I did last week, the land was previously used in an unsuccessful commercial venture.
While the energy wasn’t particularly negative in this case, it felt stagnant. In fact, it was so stagnant, I felt that the land had no energy at all.
When I began the process of a rice blessing, the rice sounded like rocks dropping to the ground without any bounce.
By the end of the ground blessing, the rice that I tossed sounded like drops of rain splashing into a pond, a sign that energy had been re-introduced into the creative cycle.
Fortunately, the residents and the home builder will benefit from the ground blessing.
Bless the Home While You Feng Shui It
This lesson can be carried over into the space where we already reside, as well.
When a home or office’s energy is stagnant or negative, it can have far-reaching effects on the residents, including the loss of a job, wealth, health, fertility, etc.
Like a Feng Shui Ground Blessing for future construction projects, there are also Feng Shui Ground Blessings for homes and offices that already exist. Perhaps it is time for a remodel or the land simply has poor Chi.
Additionally, there is something called a Feng Shui Space Clearing for individual homes and offices that would take place in the interior of the home.
Renewing the Energy
A ground blessing and/or a space clearing is effectively like pressing the reset button on the energy flow.
Further, when combined with proper placement of items and colors to coincide with the Feng Shui Bagua in your space, a space clearing will get the creative cycle moving again.
In the case of a prior negative event in your space, such as a tragedy (death, flood, fire, etc.) or financial hardship (foreclosure or short-sale, for instance), Feng Shui’ing your space won’t be enough.
A Feng Shui Space Clearing and/or a Feng Shui Ground Blessing will likely be required to get that energy flowing in the right direction again.
Next Steps
Spend some time learning about the Feng Shui Bagua to ensure proper Chi flow in your home or office.
If things still feel stagnant for you after following my Bagua advice, contact me to inquire about a Feng Shui Ground Blessing / Space Clearing or a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because you cannot afford to live without healthy Chi flow.
Do you know someone that has had such hardships in their home? Share it on Facebook!
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Feng Shui is About Harmony & Balance
While it may be tempting to make your love corner completely pink or your wealth corner completely purple, don’t overwhelm one area without balancing the other spaces in your home’s Bagua.
“I’ve turned my entire relationship corner pink and I still haven’t found love.”
This is a pretty typical of emails I get from people inquiring about Feng Shui consultations.
Whether you want to improve your health, wealth, fame, career, fertility, relationships or love, keep this in mind: harmony and balance.
Harmony and balance shouldn’t just be your desired outcome.
Harmony and balance are also required in Feng Shui placement and decor in order to get what you want.
The Purple House
The following pictures are from a home that was recently listed for sale in Middlesex, England.
For soon-to-be obvious reasons, the listing agent neglected to say much about the interior.
While the home was attractive from the outside, every room inside was completely purple.
Purple is certainly a color of royalty and wealth. And I’m not saying that I don’t like purple.
But this… is overboard.
Residents of homes like this don’t experience an abundance of money while living there.
And people certainly don’t sell homes like this at a premium, especially when you factor in the costs of the decor. (Though, this one received enough viral coverage that someone with a purple predilection may have spent too much money just to have it.)
Moreover, residents in over-the-top homes like this usually have career, health, relationship and marital issues.
Harmony and Balance
As I said, you need harmony and balance in your home’s decor and placement in order to have harmony and balance in your life. But how?
Most ideal would be to spend careful time in each area of the Feng Shui Bagua to ensure proper and steady flow of Chi, or Feng Shui energy.
At the very least, start by ensuring that opposing corners or sides of your home’s Bagua are balanced.
As you see results from the opposing areas, move onto another pair of opposing areas.
All the while, be sure to pay special attention to the Career & Life Path Area of your home by your front door by making sure that it is clear and clean to attract Chi into your home.
Remember, don’t go all purple on me!
Next Steps
Spend some time learning about the Feng Shui Bagua to ensure proper Chi flow in your home.
If things still feel stagnant for you after making the above changes, contact me right now to inquire about a Feng Shui Space Clearing or a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because you need healthy Chi flow.
Think this purple home is hilarious? Share it on Facebook!
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Feng Shui Your Rental Properties for Good Luck
While some may believe that Feng Shui is only superstition, an increasing percentage of the population consider it essential for good luck and will only consider homes that have good Feng Shui elements.
What Is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art and science that explains how energy, or Chi, flows throughout our surroundings. In one application, Feng Shui is then used to direct Chi in ways that are most harmonious to the occupants of homes in terms of wealth, health, relationships, etc.
Practical Feng Shui Applications
Moreover, Feng Shui has practical applications. It is likely that even if you don’t believe in Feng Shui or Chi, you will be more naturally attracted to homes that are the beneficiaries of Feng Shui applications… and so will more potential tenants.
How Feng Shui in Rental Properties Affect You
Further, your rental properties are an extension of you. Not only will bad Feng Shui in a rental unit impact your tenants, but it will also impact you. More specifically, if money problems impact your renter, it impacts you.
I have found that if I use the principles of Feng Shui and increase the curb appeal, I can charge more for my units and generally get higher-quality applicants.
So, here are five Feng Shui (and practical) tips for keeping your properties rented and the money flowing in.
If It’s Broke, Fix It!
Do you have any broken items in the property (leaky faucet, stovetop burner, electrical outlet)? Don’t delay in fixing them, as they can cost you much more in time and money down the road. Implore your tenants to contact you at the first sign of a problem.
In terms of Feng Shui, water and stoves are symbols of money. A leaking faucet, for instance, means that money is slipping away.
Landscaping
Whether your tenant is responsible or you are responsible as the landlord, make sure that the yard is properly kept.
Not only can overgrown grass, dead bushes and dog feces be unsightly to tenants (whether it’s their fault or not), they will deteriorate the value of the neighborhood, and therefore, your property.
Front Door
Be sure that all of your properties’ doors, particularly the front doors, open easily without creaking or rubbing.
As this is the tenant’s first experience in the property when they step in, it can set the mood for their entire time in the unit.
For Feng Shui, the front door is one of the most important areas of a property. The front door is the gateway for the flow of Chi.
For the sake of the Career, Wisdom, Family, Wealth, Fame, Love, Children, Helpful People and Health areas of the property, keep that energy coming in!
Junk
Make sure that your lease agreements require that junk is not allowed to accumulate anywhere on the property.
Non-operable cars, a pile of building materials, and even a gathering of children’s toys is not only unsightly, but also hazardous.
Fires, pests and injuries are more likely to occur where there is junk. In terms of Feng Shui, junk also prevents the flow of Chi.
Knowing when junk has accumulated outside is one thing, but how do you know if it accumulates inside? I have a clause in all of my lease agreements where my property managers inspect fire alarms and plumbing twice per year. If they happen to notice a junk issue during a visit, it needs to be cleaned up, per the contract.
Paint
When was the last time you repainted the property? If it has been more than a couple of years, consider a new coat. In between, spray down the outside on a warm day to get rid of cobwebs and dust.
When a home gets run down, its energy begins to fade. This is exactly why major hotel chains and department stores constantly upgrade their properties. They understand the need to keep the energy of their multi-million dollar properties alive and flowing.
Make your rental properties (and even your own home and office) inviting. Even if a property is currently occupied, do you think someone would want to move in if it suddenly became vacant? If not, make it so! Vacancies aren’t fun. I know.
Next Steps
For more help, contact me right now to inquire about a Feng Shui Space Clearing or a Virtual Feng Shui Consultation because you can’t afford negative cashflow.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
(Jessie Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui (https://www.MsFengShui.com), Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Home Builders Attract Foreign Buyers with Feng Shui
Foreign buyers acquire over six percent of all home sales in the United States.
Foreign Investors
The reasons for these purchases are varied. First, the wealthy around the world are looking for investment opportunities. Second, they want their children to attend school in the United States. Third, they are looking to immediately or eventually immigrate here. The EB-5 visa requires foreigners to invest money into commercial enterprises in the U.S. in addition to having a U.S. home.
Key Markets for Foreign Investment
Of the six percent of overall home sales, certain cities see a much higher percentage of sales to foreign buyers. According to Jed Kolko, Chief Economist for the real estate site Trulia.com, “There are some parts of the United States that see very strong foreign demand and that helps keep prices high in lots of areas. The places where we see this impact the most is in parts of Los Angeles, Miami and New York.”
Chinese Investors
A growing percentage of foreign buyers are from China, as the Chinese recently saw prosperity in their economic cycle.
More than 50% of all Chinese buyers purchase homes in California. The weather and the already high population of Chinese in parts of California are major factors to this attraction.
Feng Shui in Home Construction
As such, attracting foreign buyers may be one of the many reasons why several home builders are integrating Feng Shui into their new developments.
What Is Feng Shui?
Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese art and science that explains how energy, or Chi, flows throughout our surroundings. In one application, Feng Shui is then used to direct Chi in ways that are most harmonious to the occupants of homes in terms of wealth, health, relationships, etc.
While some may believe that Feng Shui is only superstition, especially many Chinese consider it essential for good luck and will only consider homes that have good Feng Shui elements.
Ms. Feng Shui
Jessie Kim, a renowned Feng Shui consultant called Ms. Feng Shui, has provided Feng Shui consulting for several home builders, including Olson Homes, City Ventures, KB Home, Warmington Residential and Beazer Homes.
Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.
Home builders are looking for Feng Shui consulting on the full range of project development from initial planning to marketing.
“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Ms. Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”
Feng Shui in Development Stages
Ms. Feng Shui consults on land acquisition, street numbering & naming, staging and sales team training. She also works closely with planners and architects to ensure the projects’ site designs, home designs and landscaping designs include beneficial elements important to those with knowledge of Feng Shui. She even provides Feng Shui seminars for prospective buyers.
Because Chinese nationals are often cash buyers and look to hold onto the properties long-term, many home builders are looking to ensure that the homes they build meet the Feng Shui needs of these important buyers.
(Jessie Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui (https://www.MsFengShui.com), Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Home builders: contact me right now for a free proposal because Chinese investors are looking for harmony and balance in your properties.
For individualized help, contact me to inquire about Virtual Feng Shui Consultation.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
Olson Believes In Feng Shui Design
By Jessie Kim
Feng Shui Consultant
You might not be familiar with the principles of feng shui, or the Chinese practice of arranging the environment to create harmonious surroundings.
But, even if you aren’t, you’ll notice something different about a place designed along these principles. There’s a sense of quiet, a certain ease, a comfort that makes a house feel like a home.
That is why The Olson Company works with Jessie Kim, a renowned feng shui consultant, for many of its projects. Kim advises the company from the outset of a new project, helping orient buildings, laying out streets, and even selecting the artwork that hangs from the halls of the model homes. Once Olson became aware of her work, the company has consulted with her on a regular basis: “Olson saw the need for it and it has snowballed since,” she says.
The idea is simple: Day-to-day living involves movement and the flow of energy. Feng shui recognizes movement and the flow of energy and how it impacts the way that people live and relate to each other and their surroundings. And having recognized these principles, Kim offers advice on how to arrange the surroundings to make the flow of energy, the interpersonal interactions, the movement of day-to-day life better.
“It’s important because it creates harmony for the people who are living in a community or a home, and it brings a sense of well-being into the community,” Kim says. “When it comes to overall harmony for health, relationships, it helps make everything well.”
In her role as a consultant to The Olson Company, Kim typically is involved from the beginning. Given a particular site, she advises on the big picture – where the homes are located, where the streets flow, which way the homes are oriented.
“The earlier I am involved, the better,” Kim says, “because it’s easier than trying to change things that have already been set. And it’s better to do that before a project is approved by the city and everything has been set in stone.”
Kim’s input is apparent to homebuyers when they first visit the model homes. Kim advises on elements like colors, furniture, landscaping and the placement of objects within the model home.
“Even little simple things like artwork can affect the energy of the home and the energy of the buyer who’s walking through the house,” Kim says.
What is less visually identifiable but no less important is the floor plan of a home.
Placement and layout of the kitchen is an important element for buyers in new home design.
“Generally, you want to have good positioning of the kitchen,” Kim points out. “I try to make sure that the master bedrooms and the kitchen are in a good position, and that there are no stairs or a back door lining up to the front door. Some of it just seems like common sense and good design – and it is.”
The idea is not for people to walk in and academically analyze a home on its adherence to feng shui principles. It’s more about the experience that people have when they are in the home, Kim says. “It’s about how people feel walking through the house,” Kim explains. “It makes the families feel more at home if you have a well feng shui’d house. If the front door and back door are lined up, people don’t want to interact, but they tend to walk through and out of the house.
“In a well feng shui’d home, you feel this is a home where you want to sit down, relax and stay for a while. It makes you feel at home. If it is your home, you’ll feel more rested, and your family feels more in harmony. Things just go smoothly.”
Ultimately, while Kim’s work is on the design of a community and its buildings, the focus is on people and the way they live.
“The home is for the people living in it,” Kim says. “With feng shui, you’re trying to create a space where people are harmonized and well balanced together.”
(Hyun Jung “Jessie” Kim is a certified Feng Shui consultant and experienced real estate investor. Through her firm, Ms. Feng Shui, Kim provides personalized, professional, in-person and virtual Feng Shui consultations and seminars. Kim specializes in working with real estate, primarily working with homebuilders on new residential development projects.)
Reprinted with permission from The Olson Company. Originally printed in Vol. 5 / Issue 1 / Page 25 of In Town Living.
Home builders: Contact me right now for a free proposal on how I can add harmony and balance to your properties.
For individualized help, contact me to inquire about Virtual Feng Shui Consultation.
Be sure to register for my email newsletter or like me on Facebook to stay up-to-date with my latest posts.
