Paying attention to the creative cycle above enhances chi, or energy. Chi can be thought of as a fresh summer breeze, or a breath of crisp and energized mountain air, wafting through your home, touching on every room, permeating and uplifting your space.  A home with good feng shui is a home that has the creative cycle in balance.

If the creative cycle is disrupted, chi cannot flow properly and the energy in your home literally and metaphorically gets stale. A disruptive cycle would be one in which water douses fire, or metal chops wood, or earth dirties water.

For those of you who have ever practiced acupuncture, yoga or tai chi, you understand the benefits of getting blocked chi flowing. Energy flow is essential to a healthy body.  Like the energy centers, or chakras, in the body, there are eight life areas in your home that require good chi in order to function properly. They are:  fame, relationships, children, mentors, career, knowledge, health and wealth.

When chi is blocked and cannot flow freely into one of these areas in your home, such as your wealth area, problems can arise. These problems can manifest as lost business; unexpected expenses that keep arising; financial issues that never seem to get resolved; problems getting payment from clients; problems settling legal issues; and so forth.

To determine where the wealth area is in your home, you’ll need a ba-gua map. A ba-gua is an octagonal chart with its roots in the I Ching.  Each side represents one of the life areas mentioned above. Standing at your front door and facing into your home, hold the ba-gua so that south is at the top. Now superimpose the chart over your home. Your wealth corner will be just to the left of the top of the chart.

How does the chi get blocked? There can be several ways, but the most common is when the creative cycle is disrupted. For example, you may have a bathroom in your wealth corner. This is a disruptive cycle, and water symbolically flushes finances down the drain.

How can balance be restored? Keep sink and tub drains closed. Fix leaky faucets. Keep toilet seat lids down. Then bring in aspects of wealth that enhance its properties, like the color purple. Purple is the color associated with wealth, so introduce it in the form of towels, soaps, picture frames, paint, or flowers (real or silk). Crystals help move chi by reflecting the energy, so hang a purple or clear crystal above your sink or toilet. Finally, if you have the room and natural light, bring in a jade plant because its leaves look like coins.

So if you find that your finances aren’t in order or if there’s another aspect of your life that seems disrupted, consider the balance of chi in your home, and then work to correct that balance through the practice of feng shui.

“I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.”

That stopped me. What was I saving these silly napkins for? They were meant to be used, not treated like some priceless heirloom. So I started using them.  But I am not 100% sure if washing napkins multiple times is actually better for the environment than using paper ones. I hope it is.

That is why I was so happy to find these 100% cotton and linen disposable napkins, available from Suzanne Cummings, a Chicago floral designer. They offer a chic option to paper and cloth. They come on a roll, so they are handy to store.  They can be washed. They can be reused, several times. They also come in several colors, like this fabulous orange. I got the dinner napkins, but they come in cocktail size too. So now I alternate between cloth and these fabulous finds. Now if only I could get my meals to look as good…

Which leads me to the 2011 Benjamin Moore color of the year: Vintage Wine. This is a sexy color. At times it looks like eggplant when paired with the chartreuse green in the same collection, but put it against some of the more subtle earthy hues and its brown tones really show up. Take a look at the Soulful palette below:

Color Palettes

Dreamy

Genesis White 2134-70

Kendall Charcoal HC-166

Gray Mirage 2142-50

Porcelain 2113-60

Etiquette AF-50

Smoke 2122-40

Spirited

Storm AF-700

Lucerne AF-530

Royal Flush 2076-20

Paper Mache AF-25

Wrought Iron 2124-10

Grape Green 2027-40

Souful

Hush AF-95

Vintage Wine 2116-20

Etruscan AF-355

Casco Bay 2051-30

Wasabi AF-430

Amulet AF 365

Image from Elle Decor. Decorator Joe Nahem.

Conversely, ElleDecor had a great article today on the color green. Green relaxes the mind and calms the spirit. It’s a great color for bedrooms and bathrooms, anywhere you want to just kick back and unwind. A bold green, like a kelly green, can renew the spirit; a pastel green will have a more soothing effect.

From a feng shui perspective, it’s good to use green in your health area. It will enhance the chi for good health, whether it be healthy relationships, healthy souls, or healthy bodies. The green can come from paint color, furniture, pictures, or other accessories. You can further stimulate the health chi by bringing in natural (green) plants and wood.

So yellow gets the creative juices flowing, and green calms you down. Got it? Good!

I just had a stone laminate floor installed in a client’s home similar to this one:

Laminate wasn’t my first choice but it fit the budget, and now that it’s in, I have to say it looks great. It is very hard to tell it isn’t stone. It’s durable and made from post consumer materials. We opted for a stone look but there are lots of nice looking wood options out there too.

The choice I’m really leaning towards though is stained concrete. There are so many color choices to chose from, and I can just throw down rugs where I need them. If the rugs get wet, I can get them cleaned.

Both laminate flooring and stained concrete would work well if we ever get water again. And if we do, then maybe I’ll finally think about that sump pump.

It comes in lots of different patterns, colors, fabrics, so you can find something for every decor. The construction is solid and I think this looks a lot more expensive than it is. It’s the perfect height & width for a coffee table and it’s stable, sitting on substantial solid feet. Check it out!

Stacy is know as a surface pattern designer, and her beautiful designs are actually custom prints, done through a specialized ink jet printing process. I’ve been looking for some floral lamp shades and she’s got lots of nature inspired designs with great pops of color.

Plus, the price points can’t be beat. Really affordable, cute lighting options. Go shop!

Write both the name of the color AND the room that the paint is going in on the paint lid. Example: Airway 828 – Master Bedroom.

Why should you do this? Have you ever tried to read the name of the paint in the teeny tiny lettering on the label on the side of the can? Now try it with paint dripped all over it….

Having the name of the color right on the lid comes in extremely handy when you are painting with similar hues.  It also keeps you from tipping an open can on its side while you try to read the label (You’ve done that. We’ve all done that.)

If you are using painters, it’s an (almost) foolproof way to make sure the painters use the right can for the right room. If you are using more than one paint color in a room – say different hues above and below a chair rail – specify that on the can: “Litchfield Gray   – dining room – below chair rail”.

It may seem like an extra step, but you just spent all that time picking the right color (or hiring your fabulous decorator to choose a color for you) so why not make sure it ends up in the right place?

Happy painting!

My client’s TV is a 42″ flat screen. It currently sits on a nice stand in the corner of the room. She would like to mount it above the fireplace. It would certainly be convenient for me: something that is 40-46″ inches wide (screens widths are measured corner to corner and not horizontal across) is a bit of a challenge to work into a design. The large fireplace wall lends itself well to handling the height and width of the TV.

But as a decorator, I must ask myself: is this really a good idea?

There are two key things to consider when mounting a TV over a fireplace: heat and height.

You can read lots and lots of complicated information about how heat affects plasma and LCD TVs differently (believe me. I have. It’s been a slow Monday).  But I will keep this simple: heat and electronics don’t mix. You need to know how hot it really gets around your fireplace after you build that roaring fire and settle back to watch two hours of American Idol.  To determine the heat, do a simple test: place a thermometer on the wall above your fireplace.  Now light a fire and kick back and enjoy. After it’s been going for a while – a couple of hours at least – check the temperature. If it’s above 90 degrees farenheit, congrats! You now know where NOT to place your television! It may take a few fires, but if you insist on mounting your TV here despite the heat, eventually your flat screen will look like those tapes you used to leave in your car in the sun all day. (Yep. I said tapes. I am showing my age here but you know exactly what I’m talking about.)

The other consideration is how high you should mount your TV. After reading a lot on this subject I’ve decided I should start handing out cards for my chiropractor friend when I visit people’s homes and I see flat screens mounted above fireplaces. Why? Most TVs are just hung too high. TVs should be placed at eye level. Anything above this and you are either straining your neck or you are slumped down in your sofa so far your practically sitting on the floor. If your fireplace wall passes the heat test and you still want to mount your TV there, then spend a bit more money and get a wall mount that allows you to tip the screen down, minimizing the strain a bit.

The last thing to consider when deciding to mount your TV about the fireplace is how far back you should sit from the screen for proper viewing. This post won’t go into the intricacies of that because it depends on the number of pixels your tv is and whether you have a plasma or flat screen and quite frankly, all that math makes my brain hurt. My best advice there is to google the type of TV you have and follow the recommendations given by the manufacturer. For example, if you have a 1080p 40″ LCD flat screen, then you could sit about 5 feet away and get a great picture. But if your sofa is five feet away from your fireplace wall, and your TV is mounted about 4-5 feet up the wall, you’re straining your neck to watch TV. But if you are sitting 10 feet away, it’s easier on your neck but the picture might not look as good. See what I mean? Math.

So what will my decorating plan be for this job? I think am going to look for a lovely piece of art to hang about the fireplace and keep the tv at eye level  – somewhere else in the room. I’ll just create two seating areas: one for tv viewing and another for enjoying fires. My client can then use the money she saved on wall mounts and hiding wires on wireless surround sound. Or perhaps some more decorating.

So what  to do with them? The easiest fix, if you don’t have the budget to replace them, is to paint them. Here’s how:

First, fill in any dings or holes on the surface.You’ll need to use some wood putty and a putty knife. Take a small amount of the putty and spread it evenly over the ding. If you’ve never worked with wood putty before, just ask at your local paint shop how to use it.

Next, rough up the surface of the cabinet. Chances are the cabinet had a varnish applied to it at one time, especially if it is in the bathroom. It may be all but gone now, but you still want to go over the entire cabinet with sandpaper (100 grit is the general choice here) to remove any final remains of a slick surface so that the paint has a good surface to stick to when it’s applied.

After you’re done with the sandpaper, go over the entire surface with a clean cloth to remove any dust.

Next, prime the surface using an oil-based primer. The primer will offer good adhesion on the wood and under water-based latex paint (the kind you will use here).

Next, using a sponge/foam brush or paint brush, apply your water-based latex paint. Brush with even, side-to-side strokes that overlap each other. The trick is to use a light coating of paint: you will need to apply at least two coats, so don’t try to get complete coverage in the first coat. It’s better to have spots and get them in the second (or third) coat than to deal with a drippy mess by coating too much on in the first coat.

Next, since this piece is in a high traffic area – a bathroom – apply a water-based varnish over the paint once it’s completely dry. The varnish will help protect the paint. Apply the varnish with long, thin strokes. Try to go from one end of the piece to the other. Otherwise your piece will end up looking really streaky.
And that’s it! For not a lot of money and a little elbow grease, you can transform the look of that blah cabinet into something interesting. Happy painting!