How to Stage Your Home for the Feng Shui Buyer

featured this week in Better Homes and Gardens

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Collaborated with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate to talk about Feng Shui for Chinese-American buyers

Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate recently conducted a real estate survey of the US market, focusing on Chinese and Chinese Americans who comprise the fastest growing segment of home buyers. As a whole, they spent an estimated $28.6 billion on residential real estate in the U.S. from April 2014 to March 2015.  

The research questioned 500 Chinese-Americans in partnership with the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) to understand the impact of the ancient design philosophy, feng shui, on this population’s home buying mindset and preferences. This research also has implications for furniture and other home furnishings purchases.

Feng shui is still a pervasive, even indispensable, design influence and lifestyle for such a large group of Americans. Some key points from the survey by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate include:

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    14 Easy Tips That Will Help You Be Happier In Your Home

    featured this month on BuzzFeed, by Mackenzie Kruvant

    What is feng shui and why is it important?

    Feng shui looks at how energy (also called chi) moves through your home. If there is an area where the chi is moving too quickly or is stuck then that can represent either an area where you’re stuck in your life or things that you need to improve on.

    There are two ways to look at your apartment. You can think, "This is just my apartment" — or you can look at it as an ecosystem, an environment that affects you. If you choose to look at it the second way, then feng shui can help you achieve good energy and a space that will get you over your energy funk — and it’s easier than you’d think. We asked feng shui expert Anjie Cho to show us how.

    1. Make sure your entranceway reflects who you are — it’s how energy comes into your home.

    “Your door represents how opportunities come to you. It’s where energy comes into your home,” Cho tells BuzzFeed Life. “That’s why it’s so important that it reflects you.” It’s also important that you have a clear number or name written somewhere. “If you don’t have anything on your door it may stop people from being able to find you,” Cho says. If possible, try not to crowd the door. “Make your entry look nice, because it’s your face to the world. Have a clean and positive doormat for clean and positive energy.”

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    by Anjie Cho

    Holistic Spaces Store

    Question of the Month: How to Store Divorce Papers

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    My question concerns the storage of toxic papers and files from my divorce. Which bagua area is the best place to store this material?  Which file/container colours are best to use?  And is there a yantra to balance the bad vibrations emitted by these documents?

    Giuliana G., Lille, France

    First of all, I’m so sorry to hear about this difficult time in your life.  But life presents challenges as opportunities for growth.  I hope you can use this knowledge to ease the process.

    From a feng shui perspective, I suggest the “Completion” area of the feng shui bagua map as the best place to store the divorce files.  See the image above and lay this Bagua map on a floor plan of your office or your entire home (not the bedroom!).  Align the bottom of the map with the entrance wall of your office or entire home, then determine where the white “Completion” area occurs.  Placing the divorce papers in the “Completion” area signifies that you are ready to complete and be done with that chapter in your life. 

    As for the container in which you store these documents, red is a very auspicious and protective color in feng shui.  It doesn’t matter so much the color of the filing folders, as long as the box is red.  On the surface of the container, it may be advantageous to place a yantra.  Lucky for you I was at a yantra workshop this weekend and discussed with my teacher Mavis Gewant.  She suggested Durga for protection, Kali if you want to purge things you no longer need (but beware, Kali may also remove things you want to keep), Ganesha, who is the remover of obstacles, or Bagla Mukhi, who power over enemies.  Bagla Mukhi paralyzes the tongues of your adversaries.

    by Anjie Cho

    Thanks for reading our “Question of the Month”.  We will be answering questions submitted by our readers.  Click here to submit any Feng Shui or Green Design questions! 

    Note:  To locate the Path in Life or Abundance areas of your home, please refer to the Feng Shui Bagua Map above   New blog post to come soon discussing the Feng Shui Bagua Map!

    Holistic Spaces Store