Following up on my previous blog post, I want to show you the rest of our renovation through a Feng Shui lens.
As I mentioned in the previous newsletter, we found out we were moving to another city at the end of our renovation, right when we were about to dive into the fun customization/decor phase. Knowing we had to sell soon, we therefore stayed budget-conscious. We avoided the temptation of just-for-fun decor choices like wallpapers (hard to remove), which could have potentially deterred some buyers or built-ins (costly and subjective).
We used the Pareto principle (80/20 rule) to finish our house (the idea that only a small percentage of actions have an outsized impact, while other more time-consuming actions may have a minimal impact on the overall result). As an example, we focused on fixing the appearance of the staircase by painting it with a high-quality paint, and installing a rug runner. Our new strategy became: 1/ Make the energy as welcoming and positive as possible for everyone in our house and for potential buyers, while forgetting about the time-consuming details that I may have preferred but not needed either for Feng Shui or resale. 2/ But also make it fun enough for us, and Feng Shui enough for us to live happily in our house.
Many visitors have asked us why we did not have a TV in the living room. I don’t love for a TV to overpower conversations in a common area. We have books, games and a record player, and a wonderful view of the swimming pool. No need for a TV! In Feng Shui, TVs are not considered very auspicious for that reason. Best to keep it contained in a room and not turned on all the time. If you must keep it in the living room, try to keep it in a cabinet that you can close when it’s not in use. (You could also buy a screen that can disguise as art when not used).
Please find below photos and descriptions of our dining room, living room, TV room and staircase with the corresponding “before” photos.
In the living room, which, according to our Bagua Map, sits in the Wisdom gua (pictured below), the mirror mitigates the Fire element from the fireplace and adds the much needed Water element - as do the black accents throughout the room. The Wisdom gua needs both Water and Earth as dominant elements. We bought square-shaped furniture, added a rectangular rug and frames (the earth element is represented through square and rectangular shapes), as well as created a cream palette to further strengthen that element. We completed the room using the color white (Metal), Wood (floors and accents), as well as a bit of Fire (candles, lights and of course, the fireplace).
After. Our airy and open living room
As you can see on the BEFORE photo below, the popcorn on the ceiling, the old light fixture and vents and the tired brick on the fireplace caused an elemental blocker that I like to call a “draining elemental imbalance” due to an overabundance of tired low-vibration “earth”, stale earth. After the refresh, we never felt drained energetically.
Before.
Now let’s get to the dining room. The room had old layers of wallpapers, unappealing tiles, popcorn, and terrible light fixtures. But it was a good sized-room, it just needed a refresh.
The pink ceilings in the “Love” and “Fame” guas gave us immense joy. Sitting in that room always felt like a warm hug.
We supported the Fame and Reputation gua with pink accents and the Wood element (wood feeds fire) through adding wooden furniture.
The Love gua was supported too through this choice of color.
The BEFORE photo says it all. Bye-bye wallpaper, popcorn, yellow tiles and stale energy.
The staircase was the most time-consuming. The carpeting on the stairs was stapled with a million staples that we had to remove by hand with a single tool. This took dozens of hours. But the result was well worth it. (Feel free to scroll through the gallery below).
Below please see the staircase BEFORE. It was so dark that it prevented the good Chi from circulating around the house properly.
Finally, the kids’ playroom/ TV room was perfectly placed in the Children and Creativity area. We were able to decorate it with white and pastels, adding fun pictures, a piano and a TV, which all belong to the C&C gua.
However, because this room is just to the left of the front door when you come in, we decided to keep it more minimalistic than the kids would have wanted (they had big rooms upstairs where they could make a bigger mess!). We could have chosen to close it up, but we wanted this room to stay open for the light to come in.
The children's TV room
The front door is right there, so we need to keep the room pretty minimalistic.
The BEFORE. A stuffy feel.
My experience in LA staging houses for sale helped me stage mine for sale. In a context where houses tend to sit for long periods on the market, Feng Shui staging and decorating give houses an edge over those that have not been staged or Feng Shui’ed. We often think that potential buyers can “imagine” what they would do with your house for sale, but I would say that 75% of them actually don’t. They take what they see face value… and God forbid you have the wrong wallpaper in the dining room. They won’t know it, but they will be turned off by seemingly harmless choices like that. So please reach out if you have a house that’s about to hit the market and need help getting it ready. You can also read my staging tips in this 2021 newsletter.
I hope you enjoyed reading about our Feng Shui transformation so far! And please stay tuned for part 3 (the final part)!
Many blessings,
Marianne