Home Feng Shui, Principles & Things to Avoid That Not Everyone Knows

Considering home feng shui is crucial when building a house. Building a feng shui-friendly home brings prosperity, peace, and fortune to the homeowner. So, what is home feng shui, how to interpret it, and what to avoid in feng shui? This Mytour Blog article will provide insights into these questions.

What is Home Feng Shui?

Feng Shui (Chinese: 風水) originates from ancient China. For the East Asians, home feng shui is a scientific field, not superstition. It results from studying the influences of air direction, wind direction, water flow, land... on human life. These factors relate to Hoa - Phuc, Cat - Hung, Tho - Yeu, affecting family members. Therefore, homeowners need to check feng shui before building to avoid unfavorable occurrences.

Meaning of Home Feng Shui

Home Feng Shui doesn't alter a person's destiny but significantly influences the material and spiritual aspects of the homeowner's life. Checking home feng shui before construction enhances the owner's life, creating a warm family, facilitating work, and providing peace of mind in business. Feng Shui can only improve life, contributing to a better quality of life for the homeowner.

Essential Feng Shui Principles for Homes

A harmonious home in Feng Shui needs to incorporate favorable elements from location, terrain, and the openness to both sunlight and wind. Therefore, before constructing a home, homeowners should consider the following Feng Shui principles.

Feng Shui Harmony with Homeowners

Harmonizing Feng Shui with the homeowner's destiny and age is crucial. Typically, the house's direction will be chosen based on the West Four Palaces or East Four Palaces destiny.

• West Four Palaces consist of 4 directions: West, Southwest, Northwest, Northeast
• East Four Palaces consist of 4 directions: North, South, East, Southeast.

Individuals with East Four Palaces destiny, when choosing offices, apartments, or homes, should opt for the East Four Palaces group for increased luck, health, and happiness. Meanwhile, those belonging to West Four Palaces should choose the West Four Palaces group for smooth sailing in all endeavors.

The house must be oriented in an auspicious direction

According to Feng Shui studies, homes are divided into two directions:

• Auspicious: Bringing prosperity and advantages in life.
• Inauspicious: Bringing negativity, misfortune, and impacting the homeowner's life. 

Therefore, homeowners need to be cautious when choosing the door direction to ensure that it doesn't affect the family's work and health.

Main door position remains unaffected

The main door witnesses encounters, welcomes a new day – it is where the earth and heaven's energy protect the homeowner. The position of the door plays a crucial role, determining the Feng Shui of your home. To ensure good vital energy flows into your home without obstruction, pay attention to the following after installing the door:

• Pay attention to the steps of the main door
• Avoid having dead plants in front of the main door
• Avoid having an electrical pole in front of the house
• Main door should not face an elevator
• Avoid designing front and back doors facing each other
• Avoid placing a mirror in front of the door
• Create the main door with a reasonable, balanced size, and style that suits the house's area
• The door should not face the bathroom or kitchen

Organize room items according to Feng Shui principles

The Bagua is divided into 8 sections corresponding to 8 house directions, including:

• Wealth sector (southeast direction) attracts wealth and prosperity.
• Educational sector (northeast direction) enhances educational endeavors.
• Fame sector (west direction) facilitates smooth learning and business endeavors.
• Relationship sector (southwest direction) nurtures family happiness, and lucky relationships.
• Helpful People sector (northwest direction) attracts support from influential people.
• Career sector (south direction) supports the professional and business growth of the homeowner.
• Fortune sector (north direction) brings wealth, opportunities, and advancements in career and life.

Well-lit Living Spaces

Natural light is divided into four directions: east, west, south, and north. You should choose the lighting direction that aligns with the homeowner's age, while avoiding direct and intense sunlight. Optimal lighting ensures a balanced indoor atmosphere and promotes the well-being of the residents.

Airiness and Harmonious Color Palette

The Feng Shui of a home is also influenced by the space and atmosphere within. Therefore, organize your belongings neatly to create a spacious and fresh environment for your home. If you plan to have many windows, arrange them to allow airflow to concentrate at the center of the house.

However, for single-story homes, avoid designing them in a way that allows the wind to blow straight from the front door to the back door. According to Feng Shui principles, arranging a 'pool of gathered energy' will accumulate luck and prosperity within the house.

Guide on How to Read Feng Shui for Homes in Detail

After understanding the principles of Feng Shui for homes, Mytour will guide you on how to observe Feng Shui in detail. Hopefully, the content below will help you analyze Feng Shui for your own home.

Observe the Front Direction of the House

Observe the front and surroundings of the house to see if there is any ongoing construction, obstacles, or if there is a road directly facing the house. Also, pay attention to whether there are electric poles, temples, shrines, or churches directly in front of the main door. Particularly, in home Feng Shui, a house located at a road intersection is considered very unlucky. This makes homeowners feel like the road is heading straight into the main door, causing psychological impact and often hiding many risks. That's why many people seek to understand house Feng Shui. To mitigate the negative aspects in such cases, it is advisable to hang a Bagua mirror in front of the house.

Check the Pathway or Entrance of the House

To ensure the principle of the main door not being violated, check the pathway or entrance of the house. Make sure the main door is spacious and nothing obstructs the airflow from outside into the house. Additionally, consider the Feng Shui of the back door and potential energy flows within the house. If the house is built in a sparsely populated area with strong winds, consider planting trees or building a fence to control the energy flows within the house.

Use a Compass to Determine Feng Shui Direction

The Feng Shui compass is a tool widely used to check the direction for one's house. Once you have the results from the compass, compare them with the house's facing direction that suits your destiny to determine whether that direction brings advantages for the residents or not.

Apply the Eight Trigrams to Arrange Furniture Accordingly

In the Eight Trigrams, there are 8 directions representing Family, Wealth, Fame, Marriage, Children, Benefactors, Career, and Knowledge. Based on these directions, family members can find Feng Shui items and arrange them sensibly.

For instance, if you want to attract wealth, the corresponding direction is Southeast, the Wood element. Accordingly, you can buy green plants, wooden furniture and place them in the Southeast direction to bring money and fortune to your family.

Suggestions for Feng Shui in the House

The living room is often a place for gatherings, the 'face' of the house. Therefore, the space needs to be spacious, clean to attract good luck. Some things to note when arranging furniture in the living room are: 

• Opt for items with fewer sharp edges
• Avoid aligning all chairs towards the TV screen
• Avoid placing it close to the dining room and kitchen

Feng Shui for homes also involves arranging the kitchen. When designing the kitchen, homeowners need to consider the following to bring warmth and happiness to the family:

• Avoid placing the kitchen and dining area in the center of the house
• Avoid placing it opposite the bedroom
• Avoid placing it opposite the bathroom

After the living room, the bedroom is a place that, if positioned correctly, will bring many positive things to the homeowner and vice versa. Therefore, depending on the age and destiny of the homeowner, design the room accordingly:

• Position of the entrance direction
• Bedroom size suitable for the homeowner's age
• Colors, arrangement of items in harmony with the homeowner
• Bed placement and headboard direction

Placement of the ancestral altar

The placement of the ancestral altar has a significant impact on the Feng Shui of the home. The altar should be placed in a discreet location, away from direct sunlight, often on the second floor. As it is a place of respect and tranquility, keep the altar clean, well-ventilated, not too cluttered, and avoid excessive decoration.

Feng Shui in the bathroom

Bathrooms and toilets also need Feng Shui consideration to avoid direct impact on the homeowner's health. Therefore, when designing, pay attention to the following points:

• Avoid designing bathrooms and toilets in the center of the house.
• Avoid building toilets under the staircase
• Avoid placing toilets at the end of the hallway
• Avoid designing toilets opposite the front door.

Moreover, you can hang a mirror in the bathroom to create a more spacious atmosphere and enhance the health of the homeowner.

Things to Know About Surrounding Feng Shui and Home Feng Shui

In this content, Mytour will provide you with insights into the Feng Shui surrounding homes, including:

• According to home Feng Shui, a house with an expansive front and narrow back is known as the 'head of the dragon and tail of the mouse.' The family's fortune is poor due to a narrow savings space. Conversely, a house with a narrow front and expansive back is considered prosperous for business. 
• A house with low, landslide-prone, or sinking land at the rear, or with ponds, is considered unfavorable in home Feng Shui. 
• A house with a damaged roof and cracked walls symbolizes decline and deterioration.
• In front of the house, scattered trees and uneven tiles are symbols of sadness and decay.
• A house lacking light, with a whistling wind, is seen as having negative energy, affecting the health of the entire family.
• A house with iron columns or iron fences facing in is seen as under Metal attack. To minimize the negative aspects, you can design a nearby water feature.
• A house facing a cemetery, especially in the South direction, may lead to family illnesses and difficulties in business.
• A house with a tree branch hanging directly in front of the entrance is considered extremely bad Feng Shui, resembling a demon's outstretched arms beckoning. 

Avoidance and Taboos in Home Feng Shui

Home Feng Shui often directly impacts the lives of the homeowners. To ensure your home attracts positivity and luck, pay attention to the following:

• Off-center house: This is the reason for many disasters and hardships for the homeowner. 
• Horizontal beam blocking the altar, kitchen, and bed: This affects the homeowner's health. 
• House with front door aligned with the back door: This design impacts wealth and prosperity for the family. 
• Bathroom placed in the center of the house: This is the reason for a decline in career and wealth. 
• Balcony facing the kitchen: This arrangement affects family happiness. 
• House facing Southeast with a high mountain: This is considered unfavorable in Feng Shui.
• House built in a dead-end alley: This is a place where 'qi' struggles to circulate harmoniously. In the event of a fire, it will be challenging to extinguish.
• Building on excessively high ground: According to Eastern beliefs, building a house on excessively high ground is not advisable.
• Water well close to the left wall of the house: This often leads to disagreements and disharmony within the family.
• Leaking water faucet: Water is considered wealth. Therefore, a leaking faucet symbolizes financial loss.
• Trash in front of the house: Trash in front of the house disrupts the flow of positive energy, bringing in unfortunate events for the homeowner.

Considerations When Choosing and Building a Home According to Feng Shui

When choosing or building a home, consider the following Feng Shui aspects:

• Pay attention to both sides of the house (the right side is White Tiger, the left is Azure Dragon). Having neighbors on both sides is considered favorable. 
• Building on a square piece of land is good, but beware of any corner that may be eroded or damaged, as it's bad for family development. 
• Constructing a house on a triangular piece of land, with the peak right in front of the main door, may lead to health issues for family members. Even if this position is reversed, risks still exist. In such cases, many people choose to sell or buy adjacent land to adjust the shape.
• Avoid selecting land that has been reclaimed from swamps, caves, or cemeteries, as these places lack positive energy.

How to Check Feng Shui for Homes Based on Age

When checking Feng Shui for homes based on age, homeowners often consider whether the orientation of the house or room aligns with their destiny. To choose a suitable direction, you need to know if the homeowner belongs to the East or West Four Pillars of Destiny. You can check the table below:

Checking Feng Shui for homes based on age involves the following steps: 

• By Year of Birth: Sum the digits of the birth year, divide by 9, and the remainder is the Residence number (if divisible by 9, use 9 as the remainder).
• Next, refer to the table for the Residence, Gender to determine the destiny based on the Eight Mansions.
• From the destiny, consult the table to determine if the homeowner belongs to the East or West Four Pillars of Destiny.

Then, combine with the East-West Four Directions to choose a suitable home orientation based on the homeowner's destiny.

• East Four Directions have 4 orientations: North, South, East, Southeast.
• West Four Directions have 4 orientations: West, Southwest, Northwest, Northeast.

Common Remedies for Home Feng Shui Issues

Constructing a home without scientific consideration can lead to severe consequences for health, wealth, career, and reputation. However, you can remedy some Feng Shui issues as follows: 

Remedying the Feng Shui issue of an arrow-shaped home

According to home Feng Shui, if your house violates the poisonous arrow issue (meaning the house is at the intersection of a Y shape, with two large buildings pointing towards it…), use a convex Bagua mirror hung in front of the house or place a pair of carps, a statue of Goddess of Mercy, or a statue of Guan Gong to guard the entrance. Additionally, you can also change the main entrance direction of the house.

Remedying the Feng Shui issue of a house lower than the street level

If your house is lower than the street level, raise the gate or add three-level steps. If possible, build additional floors and arrange bedrooms on higher levels. Also, plant a row of trees behind the house, keep the pathway clean, and illuminate the area at night. 

Remedying the Feng Shui issue of a house near a cemetery

Houses near a cemetery are often influenced by negative energy and hidden ominous occurrences. To remedy this, hang a Bagua mirror with 32 wooden deities in front of the entrance to ward off disturbances from the deceased. Additionally, plant bamboo, aloe vera, or silk floss outside to dispel negative energy.

Rectifying the Feng Shui issue of two main doors facing each other

In the case of two houses with main doors directly opposite each other, you can resolve it by hanging a Bagua mirror or Feng Shui crystals in front of your door. Feng Shui crystals will help regulate the airflow and prevent conflicting energies from entering the house. Alternatively, you can negotiate with the neighbor to jointly hang the 'Thien Quan Tu Phuc' characters above both doors for shared prosperity.

Rectifying the Feng Shui issue of a house violating the direction of doom

Changing the direction of the main door is the most effective remedy in this case, although it requires effort, money, and time. To minimize the impact of the inauspicious direction on the family's life, consider adding a secondary door. Family members can use the secondary door instead of the main one, reducing the influence of the Doom direction on everyone's well-being.

Frequently Asked Questions

Above, the article has guided you on how to observe home Feng Shui as well as things to know and avoid when building a house. Hopefully, this sharing will help you understand more about home Feng Shui, interior design practices. Mytour has many interesting articles, so visit regularly to enjoy more reads!