Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui for a Garage and a Second Level

My garage is on the ground level and my front door is next to it, which opens into a hall and stairs up to the first level which is my living area, dining room, lounge and kitchen. Is this townhouse a good design?

Melanie Y.

Dear Melanie,

Thanks so much for reading the blog, and for your wonderful comment on this blog post. It’s interesting that the townhouse you’re describing is probably pretty similar to the house shown in the image in that post: a garage on the ground level, the front door next to it, and then a lot of your living spaces essentially above the garage.

A lot of people ask the question: is this a good design or not? That’s a very loaded question! Feng shui is not necessarily about creating duality by labeling things as absolutely bad or absolutely good, and there’s no perfect feng shui. So I would say, if you love your home and it is a supportive place for you, let’s make it work. 

Traditionally in feng shui, it's not ideal to have most of your living spaces above a garage. In a garage, there’s a lot of movement and a lot of energy going in and out of the home. However, this isn’t necessarily bad; for instance, it can be helpful if you want to travel a lot or you need to make connections with people. But, if you need a little more support in your life, it may feel somewhat destabilizing to have your entire home over a garage. Of course, there are a lot of places in the U.S. like this. For example, in San Fransisco and some areas of New York City there are a lot of townhouses where a good portion of the home is above a garage. 

Rather than labeling this as bad, we can look at what this situation means about your life and then work with it. The main question I’d ask you is: do you need more stability in your life? Do you feel like things are a little bit challenging, and things are moving around a lot? 

If you do feel like you would like more stability, there are some different ways you can do that. There are specific secret feng shui cures you can work with if you hire a feng shui consultant. I’m not going to share them here, because they’re something you should do with a consultant. If you’re not going to hire someone, you can try to find a way to make your life feel more steady and supportive. One way to do this is through routine. You may also find it helpful to add more earth, because the earth element represents stability. You can do this by bringing in browns and earthy colors, as well as heavy objects to provide more support and weight. It can also be as simple as going outside and getting your hands in the dirt; this would really allow you to connect with the earth element of your home. 

I hope that helps, and I really encourage you to reach out to a feng shui consultant. We have students at Mindful Design School who can definitely help you with this situation. Thank you again for responding and reading our post!

by Anjie Cho

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Our a unique training program takes an holistic approach to learning the art of feng shui design. Mindful design is about becoming aware, and attentive, to the energy around you: both inner and outer qi. It is about promoting a better way of living and creating sacred spaces that support, and nourish. Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com.

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday".  We will be answering questions submitted by our readers. Click here to submit any Feng Shui or Green Design questions!

Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui for Toilets

My husband had knee replacement surgery, so we added a 4 inch seat raiser to the toilet seat and cannot close the lid. I have been putting a folded towel over the open bowl--do you have any other suggestions?

Angela L., Victorville, CA

Dear Angela,

Thanks so much for your question. I hope your husband is on the mend after his knee replacement surgery.

First, it’s great that you’re accommodating his needs in a practical way by adding a riser to the toilet seat, but it sounds like you’re concerned that you can’t close the toilet lid. For the readers, ideally it’s good to keep your toilet bowl lid closed. There are practical reasons for this: the moisture in the toilet actually adds to the moisture in the bathroom and can create mold and mildew. Closing the lid also energetically puts a lid on the excess downward water energy in a bathroom.

It’s nice that you’re mindful of trying to maintain this cover by putting a folded towel over the open bowl, which is a great solution. You of course want to keep that towel clean and change it regularly, because it can accumulate bacteria. You can also keep your bathroom door closed, which effectively does the same thing as closing the toilet lid. Another suggestion is to put a mirror outside the bathroom door, which energetically helps the bathroom disappear from the floor plan.

Because your husband had knee surgery, another thing to pay attention to is your landscaping, and especially the trees on your property. The health of a landscape affects the health of the people living there, and the branches of a tree can represent joints, including knees. If there are any trees on your property with broken or extremely heavy branches, it’s a good idea to prune and take care of them. This can be helpful in terms of your husband’s recovery as well as preventing possible joint problems in the future.

Thanks so much for your question, Angela. We’d love to hear more about what’s going on with the trees on your property. Good luck with your husband’s recovery!

by Anjie Cho

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Our a unique training program takes an holistic approach to learning the art of feng shui design. Mindful design is about becoming aware, and attentive, to the energy around you: both inner and outer qi. It is about promoting a better way of living and creating sacred spaces that support, and nourish. Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com.

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday".  We will be answering questions submitted by our readers. Click here to submit any Feng Shui or Green Design questions!

Q&A Sunday: Feng Shui for a New Floor Plan

photo by Anjie Cho Architect

photo by Anjie Cho Architect

I’m looking for a second home and was wondering if you could give me a general idea of whether this layout would be accommodating for my husband and myself.

Diane R., Phoenix, AZ

Hi Diane,

Thanks for sending in your floor plan on this prospective home. I work with clients often when they are shopping for homes, so this is a good idea to check out the feng shui before you purchase. And yes, there are a few issues with this home, but all houses have problems.

Feng Shui for a New Floor Plan - Floor Plan.jpeg

The feng shui I practice (BTB feng shui) is actually mostly remedial! If you really love this house, you can work with it. We very rarely tell someone that a house is bad for them, because our intention is not to define things as good or bad, but to figure out how to make things workable. So, how can we make this home work for you if you do purchase it? 

First, there may be some concern about the master bath being in the Abundance area. But again, it's doable! You can hang a mirror on the outside door of the bathroom to correct that.

I also see some issues with the garage, which is in the Relationship area. It looks like the garage is part of the bagua, since it’s under the same roof as the rest of the house. In this case, because the Relationship area is in the garage, it may indicate that you and/or your husband travel a lot, so there are things you can do in this room to create a bit more stability in your relationship. It's best to work with a feng shui consultant on this, however, even using earthy colors can be stabilizing.

My major concern here is that the Knowledge and Path in Life areas are missing. You can bring these areas back into the bagua energetically with landscaping or other feng shui cures.

I also note there is a lot of water (kitchen and guest bath) in Recognition. To work with this you could add plants or wood element (dark green, for example) to transform that water energy into fuel for the fire energy, which would balance water. 

Anyhow, if you keep looking for the perfect feng shui house...well, you might look forever! Sometimes we are attracted to homes that have some feng shui that corresponds to areas in our life we need to work on :)

If you're interested in this house, and you love it, I think it's feasible!

by Anjie Cho

Mindful Design is a new way to learn feng shui. Our a unique training program takes an holistic approach to learning the art of feng shui design. Mindful design is about becoming aware, and attentive, to the energy around you: both inner and outer qi. It is about promoting a better way of living and creating sacred spaces that support, and nourish. Visit us at mindfuldesignschool.com.

Thanks for reading our "Q&A Sunday".  We will be answering questions submitted by our readers. Click here to submit any Feng Shui or Green Design questions!