Stage your Bedroom with Feng Shui - Start 2009 Right! Welcome better sleep, better health and positive changes in the bedroom with Feng Shui. With the New Year approaching, now is the perfect time to invite positive change into your life.
Recommendations about Feng Shui remedies will vary from school to school and practitioner to practitioner. Often the focus is on compass direction, which may necessitate moving the bedroom to another part of the house. Since most of us cannot afford to move our bedroom or don't have the extra space, here are some tips to get your bedroom in top Feng Shui shape without a major upheaval, just an investment of your time. Despite the fact that different schools have differing "cures", following are some basic changes you can make that apply to all bedrooms. We can affect many positive changes in our lives just by applying intention - putting the energy into making a change and welcoming that change into our lives.
In Feng Shui and in life, the condition of the bedroom can influence your health and your relationship with your significant other.If you don't have a significant other, but would like one, the condition of your bedroom will effect your ability to "call in" love. Just as in the Feng Shui post I wrote about your kitchen, our goals are increasing cleanliness and organization with the additional goal of creating a calming environment that welcomes intimacy and affection. Of course getting rid of clutter to make room for whatever this new energy will bring is always high up on the list. Follow these steps to increase the quality of your sleep, health, love and general well being:
- Your bedroom should be used for sleeping, romantic interludes and getting dressed. NO TELEVISION! NO COMPUTER! NO DESK! NO TREADMILL (AKA place to drape your clothes). Read a book in bed if you must, but only when you are alone. Don't read self-help books or business books in bed. Electronic devices like TV's and Computers are greedy for your time. They are constantly calling your name... "Watch me, Bill", "Just one more comment, Janet". Don't make your spouse or partner compete for your attention. TVs and computers are very stimulating and they activate your brain. Watching or using them just before bed will prevent you from falling asleep quickly or sleeping soundly. Give your brain a chance to shut off and relax before bedtime.
- Make sure you have a comfortable mattress....not too firm and not too soft. This is one of the best investments you can make for your health and well-being. If you cannot afford a new mattress, then purchase a high quality mattress pad. Some of the new ones have a layer of memory foam that will turn your bed into a pillow top mattress. If you can afford a new mattress, now is an ideal time to purchase one. There are some amazing sales going on right now.
- If you recently ended a long relationship with someone who shared your bed, you should replace the mattress so you are not absorbing their energy every night. Send them, the bad memories and the shared mattress on down the road. If you cannot replace the mattress, then strip the bed, open the windows and beat the mattress with a baseball bat, broom stick or your fists, if necessary. This will raise a lot of dust. Wear a dust mask. When you are finished (and feel better) vacuum the mattress (both sides) and box spring and then re-make the bed with fresh new bedding and blankets. Again, there are some amazing sales right now on sheets and comforters. Under any circumstance, dispose of the other person's pillows - donate, give away or throw away.
- Purchase high thread count sheets. Preferably Pima, Supima or Egyptian cotton Sateen. Good quality sheets are not inexpensive but they will last a long time. We just got rid of sheets we got as a wedding present 10 years ago, and only because we upgraded to a king size bed. They just got softer and better with age. The more luxurious your bedroom the more you will feel relaxed and comforted by being there.
- Sheets and bedding in the red/yellow family represent warmth, passion and excitement. The stronger the color the more energizing. They are fire colors. This would include the full spectrum of reds, oranges, yellows and some purples hues that are more red than blue. It also includes pinks, pale oranges, pale yellows and pale lavenders.
- Sheets and bedding in the blue/green family represent calm, cool and relaxation. They are water colors. Think of a bubbling brook or the Mediterranean Sea. This would include the full spectrum of blues, greens and purples with a blue cast. It includes the palest blues, pales greens and palest purples. This is my personal favorite and my bedding and drapes are done in pale Mediterranean blues, which is balanced by pale yellow walls.
- White sheets are clean and pure. White is a metal color, although whites can run the gamut from warm white (influenced by fire) or the palest blue (influenced by water) among other elements. White denotes ever expanding possibilities.
- Animal print sheets are very energizing and 'active'. You probably won't get a lot of restful sleep on animal print sheets, (and you may not be able to find someone who is willing to share them with you in the long term) but you may have a lot of 'fun' of the animal kind! Animal prints are best confined to accents so they don't overwhelm the restful energy of your bedroom.
- Position your bed so that you have a clear view of the door (entry to the bedroom). Do not have your feet pointing toward the door (this is the way they will carry you out if you die in bed, according to old Chinese superstition). Ideally, your bed will be positioned against a solid wall and not in front of a window. The head of your bed should be touching a wall. Solid headboards are preferred over open headboards (they give the feeling of greater security)
- Don't store anything under the bed unless it is something that comforts you or symbolizes peacefulness and prosperity. Find another place to store those under bed items, donate them or throw them away. Just because you can't see it under the bed, it is still clutter.
- Clean your bedroom from top to bottom. If you have drapes wash them or clean them according to the manufacturers instructions. If they are clean, but just a little dusty, take them outside and give them a good shake. Wipe down the walls. Vacuum under the bed and get rid of all those dust bunnies.
- Clean out your dressers. If you haven't worn it in the past year, donate it, give it away or throw it away. If something needs to be mended, mend it, take it to the tailor or dry cleaners and have them mend it, or get rid of it. By the time a fashion comes back into style, you are probably too old to be wearing it anyway.
- Remove everything from your closets. Assess everything and determine if it is really useful. With the exception of some seasonal items, if you haven't used it in the past year, you should get rid of it (donate, give away to a friend, recycle or throw it away).If your closet is full of outdated, ill fitting items, there is no room for anything new to come into your life and it is a drag on your energy. The goal is to get rid of clutter and make space.
- Put the items you are keeping back in the closet in an orderly fashion, and in a manner that allows the item to be useful and of service to you. No matter what anyone tells you, if the organizational system is not organic to your way of doing things, you won't be able to maintain it and it will devolve into chaos quickly. I invested in Elfa type closet organizing systems for all our closets, and I consider it one of the best investments of time and money I have made. I can see everything I own and can choose what I want to wear quickly and easily. Stores like the Container Store will help you design your closets for maximum efficiency and you can install the elements yourself to save money.
- If possible use all the same hangers (you can buy nice wooden hangers from IKEA and they are inexpensive)
- Have the hangers facing the same way (most people prefer hooking hangers over the top of the bar from front to back as opposed to under the bar back to front)
- Separate the types of clothes - group shirts with shirts, pants with pants, dresses with dresses
- Organize by style - group all short sleeve shirts with short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts with long sleeve shirts, etc.
- Put all shoes on shoe racks, hanging shoe organizers, or clear plastic shoe boxes
- Whenever possible don't keep anything on the floor of your closet except shoes and those should be neatly organized on shoe racks.
- Make sure your have two night stands and two working lamps, one on each side of the bed. If you don't have a partner, but would like one, this creates a space for them in your life. If you have a partner, and want to keep them, this lets them know you value them and are concerned for their comfort.
- Artwork and accessories should be in pairs when possible and depicting romantic love, peacefulness, relaxation, trust or support depending upon your priorities and goals. Remove family photos from your bedroom (do you really want them to 'see' and participate in everything you do?) Photos of people should be limited to you and your significant other. Artwork should be calming not energizing.
The Chinese New Year is just around the corner and the Western New Year has just arrived. Welcome the New Years with a clean, relaxing, uncluttered bedroom. In Feng Shui, the condition of the bedroom will influence your relationships, sense of well-being and good health. Follow the above steps and welcome more restful sleep, more fulfilling relationships, better health and greater well-being in 2009.
Read Stage Your Kitchen With Feng Shui - Start 2009 Right!
May Prosperity, Happiness and Good Fortune be your constant companions in 2009
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*Stage Your Bedroom With Feng Shui - Start 2009 Right!* ©2009 Michelle Minch and Moving Mountains Design.
Michelle Minch is a graduate of the Western School of Feng Shui. For more information about home staging and feng shui please visit our Los Angeles home staging web site or contact Michelle at (626)441-8975. Moving Mountains Design has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Sunset Magazine and numerous other national and international publications. Moving Mountains Design is a full service interior design and home staging company in Los Angeles.
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