Feng Shui

With homes remaining on the market for longer periods of time, sellers need to explore and consider using a wider variety of tools and strategies to help get their homes sold. One of the tools to consider is Feng Shui (pronounced "fung shway").

Feng Shui is not a religion,philosophy or superstition. The Chinese Feng Shui character literally means wind and water. Feng Shui works with the energy in your environment, just as acupuncture works with the energy in your body.


Feng Shui is an ancient Chinese specialized body of knowledge that is part science and part art.. It works to improve our lives by balancing and harmonizing, through purposeful placement, the "chi"that flows in our environment. The mission of Feng Shui is to seek out that balance in each room so that y ou can help yourself feel grounded or centered in your living environment.

Chi can be divided into five essential elements which characterize all matter: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. The five elements can be associated with colors, times, seasons, directions, planets, body organs, etc. The key to this principle is to understand your environment's dominant elements and then to balance those elements when building, renovating, remodeling, designing and decorating.

When putting your home on the market, it is crucial that prospective buyers get a good feeling when they approach, enter and exit your home. The objective is to create an environment that is warm and welcoming and where prospective buyers feel a strong enough connection to your home that they envision themselves living there and want to buy it.

For example, your bathroom----should not feel divided,. Ideally, the bathtub should be placed near a window so you can peer into nature while soaking. The looking in and out of the bathroom should be appealing and the toilet area should be kept hidden from the doorway.

Other suggestions include using neutral colors such as sand, taupe, brown, gray, sea green and black for a feeling of serenity. The materials you use in your bathroom should balance the five elements of fire, earth, water, metal and air. Blend copper faucets and stone sinks with rice paper screens. Bamboo laminate countertops and teak wood add a touch of Zen and don't require major remodeling. In fact, you can simply add a teak stool to the shower and teak floor mats outside the tub.

Explore and enjoy Feng Shui.