As a Feng Shui New York based Consultant, I get calls and emails all the time for questions people aren't sure about when making changes for Feng Shui in their own homes. It is sometimes difficult to get through all the emails though I try but last week I received TWO about the same thing for people ready to paint and found they both had misconceptions about Feng Shui and Color. One potential client called from Oyster Bay Long Island to get my opinion just before running out to choose paint colors, afraid they would make a mistake.
As some of you may know, I've had my own issues with choosing so many paint choices. I want light and love color and years ago, in Feng Shui, there were some hard and fast rules about color choices. Some colors, it was said, were destined to ruin an area of your life if used incorrectly...only certain colors would support these areas. Which left some clients in a bit of a daze....how do they paint a room a certain color that they don't even LIKE?
Hopefully, those days and those misconceptions about Feng Shui and color choices are over. Choosing colors that make you feel GOOD are the choices of color these days---and not to be afraid of USING color. One particular client had studied the Bagua in detail before she called. If you are familiar with the Bagua, there is a color shoice associated with each area of the Bagua. The color PURPLE belongs in your Wealth area, Pink in your relationship area, Red in the back center of your home or business which represents your FAME. Looking at the Bagua as an overlay of a space, you can see the different colors in each area of your life.
What most blogs or articles neglect to mention is that these are purely ACCENT COLORS to help increase a "cure." So if we want to address Wealth, for example, always our Back Left Hand Corner when standing in front of the house facing IN....we want to add something that represents Wealth (think of a plant-it grows, is the color of money and adds "Life Force" or "Chi" wherever it is put. A purple vase, ribbon or something in that color nearby strengthens our intention in placing the plant there to bring in MORE wealth....it adds to the "mindful placement of objects" we are making and is only an accent color. It does NOT mean to paint this room purple : )
Feng Shui is sometimes know as "The Mindful Art of Placement" meaning we put our Intentions into a change and adding a color there as well that is connected with that area strengthens the change or CURE. Whether you're a realtor selling a home or a home stager who wants a home to sell or you want to address your OWN home or business to increase it's support of you in all the areas of your life, look to the colors as well as the placement of furniture.
Using a small accent of that color in each area is a simple Feng Shui "fix" that you can use. Here's the Bagua which shows the ACCENT colors:
**Carole Provenzale has been a Certified Feng Shui Consultant since 1997 and is the Founder of Feng Shui Long Island. Along with Feng Shui Consultant Laura Cerrano, on site Feng Shui Consultations provided for New York City (Manhattan) and all of Long Island for Homes, Apartments, Businesses, Corporations, Renovations and New Construction. Workshops and lectures are also provided for small and large groups and companies. Distance Consultations always available as well. Please visit http://www.FengShuiLI.com or my blogs at http://www.TheFengShuiVoice.com
Copyright 2008 by Feng Shui Long Island & New York Feng Shui COLORS from a New York Feng Shui Consultant's Perspective
Hi Carole...Thank you for telling us something about the use of color in Feng Shui. I find that learning bits and pieces from your posts gives me a better sense of how you are helping people with their homes and their lives.
Kate
Carole ~ this is a great explanation for those of us who are beginning learners in Feng Shui. Thank you so much for your generous sharing of this info. I smiled when I realized that by sheer coincidence, I do have some of my colors in the right places! Now I'll have to work on the others :-)
Carole, I like the idea of "accent" colors and definitely believe colors can make us feel good.
Hi Carole! Now I'm sitting here in my office wndering how I can fix a few things. I may have to think about it tomorrow. Hope everything has been going well for you!
Let's put it this way....you are the expert so when you come visit I'll hire you for my itty bitty condo...it needs something. :)
carole i'm soooo glad you didn't leave......its amazing how attached you can get to some people..:-) i just read on your earlier post that duane marlink left? :-( how can there be a 'them them' without 'him him?'........
good morning Carole,
thanks so kindly for sharing your extensive knowledge and talent with us so freely on a regular basis....I've learned so much about, not only Feng Shui, but about life and energy too since I began to read your blog.
I haven't quite figured out how the bagua is placed over a condo apartment in a highrise building though....it seems I have a lot of work to do in colour accent placement.
Jo
Carole: You are so interesting! I just love learning from your posts.
Carole.... funny that you just wrote this. I am going to paint one of my bathrooms sometime soon. Just part of the wall above the wall tile. (not tile, but I can't think of the name right now... lol) But the wall is white and I wanted to get some color in there. I have red and grey flooring, small tiles, very small squares. And light brown cabinets with black throw down rugs. I was going to do some type of red, any ideas?
Kate, I was a bit alarmed by a recent email from someone who believed they had to paint their whole wealth area in purple----especially since they hated the color! I'm sad there are so many misconceptions still out there and thought this might help.
Maureen, I don't for a minute believe in coincidence, what I DO believe in is Intuitive Feng Shui....I've SEEN it, people have terrific placement and they don't know much about Feng Shui at all!
Gary, Thank you, I do too but wanted people to realize you don't need to paint colors you don't like because it corresponds with the Bagua.
Lizette. I don't know if you have a Home-Office but I enhance that not just by an overlay of your exterior and interior but separately. And I don't want to confuse anyone---which is why the book is taking so long. Taking a very complicated subject and making it easy so anyone can do it is more difficult then I thought :)
Sally, I love your itty bitty condo---and so do you. The space seems to be working just fine for you!
Liz, Thank you, I know about these AR attachments. Duane will be back I'm sure and hopefully promoting his business more---instead of always paying it forward to others. I went to look up Rate A Home and thought it was fabulous, I ordered it for a Realtor friend of mine.
Jo, Different schools of thought on whether to use the main door of the building or main door of your entrance. I use my client's entrance door and that's what's worked the best. Something else to address in the "book."
Donna, Thank you, I hope they help. One change often inspires another....and then things really begin to work.
Jeff, Red is fire and can offset some of the heavy water element in bathrooms---but you also have to add items of Wood, Metal and Earth (like a plant in an earthenware pot). I was looking to add a red in my home and loved too, both Benjamin Moore. They are not red-red, they are brown reds. You might want to look at Firenze and a color called Cinco De Mayo, I loved them both and they might go with the decor very well.
Carole--I learn so much from you about Feng Shui...You are a wealth of information! :)
Carole- Well if you go visit Sally I'm coming too....then we can all hang out in her "itty bitty condo" while you tell us how to use color in our lives....oh then we have to hit the beach for some fun and relaxation...that's Feng Shui also isn't it......... LOL :)
Carole: Thank you for this very thoughtful and well written explanation of the use of color in Feng Shui. You are always so generous with your knowledge.
Carole~ that statement is so true -- it is all about the "mindful Art of Placement"!
Feng Shui is sometimes know as "The Mindful Art of Placement" meaning we put our Intentions into a change and adding a color there as well that is connected with that area strengthens the change or CURE.
Hi Carole! I agree with the concept that the color is about 'feeling good'. Thanks for posting the color grid for a home...it looks very interesting! Regards-Kathleen G
Super helpful, I still need to call you about my office as I don't really know what to do with limited options for arrangement and orientation. Do I stand at my door and look in and then all the far left is wealth or is it how it's oriented in my home? Oh my, so much to learn.
Thanks for sharing the chart and accent colors-you are so generous with information Carole!!
Teri, Thank you for your comment. Thank goodness this is my favorite subject, I have much more to tell :)
Kathy, You've got a deal. But I don't want to cramp Sally's style, we can hang out anywhere and have a blast! The beach is absolutely good Feng Shui: Wind & Water! Thanks for the "push" my friend.
Michelle, I would LOVE to hear your "take" on these posts, we all have different perspectives and I get a lot from you too. I remember the 'color rules' in Feng Shui of no red in the bedroom and only blues and greens for bedrooms, things have changed with my clients....and probably yours.
Joan, So many people forget "intention" because they become so busy making changes--it should be the other way around.
Kathleen, Thank you for your comment. There used to be hard and fast "rules" on Feng Shui colors, I'm so glad it's not like that anymore!
Terrylynn, Yes, you would stand at the front entrance to your home looking in...you wealth area is in the far back hand corner. If you want to do the outside of your home, stand in the center of the front of your home. It gets easier once you know the Bagua.
Cathy, Funny to think I am writing about color having so much trouble with my own home! And everyone was SO helpful. I found a pink I loved--by accident almost--and now am wondering if I should have an accent wall :)
Carole: That's interesting about the old rules, because I was taught that bedrooms should have a lot of "fire colors" in order to "heat things up". It was difficult for me to do a blue or green bedroom although this is my personal favorite. I think the important thing is, as you said, "INTENTION". The Bagua and colors I use are the same as the ones you use. I think the difference is just in the interpretation.
I love color!! For example, my living room is burnt orange, guacamole green and gold. In my master bedroom one focal wall is chocolate and the others three beige. My kitchen is yellow. The path from my kitchen to upstairs, where my dining room is we have "lipstick red". As you can see, WE LOVE COLOR!!! Now, I understand WHY!!! Now, I have to work on placement of it...
AWESOME Blog.... THANKS!
;>)
Carole,
Thanks for sharing that. The topic is quite fascinating and there is so much to learn about it. I would like to learn a little more to be more knowledable for staging purpose and really for our own home and business !
The Somers
Carole, I did the same thing when I painted my house. It confused the daylights out of me. The accents make a lot more sense though. I read that the heart of the house, the middle, should be yellow. I have a tall ceiling and it's located in the heart or middle of the house. I painted it yellow...three times. I finally had to accept that I didn't like it and I went neutral. Hubby was not amused. Wish I had gotten to talk with you then! I have a red kitchen and I love it!
Thanks for all the information. Later in the rain~Deb
Michelle, That's exactly what makes us all so unique. We were told to keep RED out of Bedrooms because the color would be too stimulating and interfere with sleep. There are many people that love red (and they sleep with their lights off :), from my personal perspective I recommend it for bedrooms!
Anne-Marie, I would love to see some shots of your home one day, I bet those colors look just gorgeous! I am a "yellow" person, I feel like I'm in sunshine (and because of that have used different yellows all over!).
Chris & Stephanie, I can recommend colors much for easily to a client then I can for myself--I can't figure that one out :)
Deb, I am sensitive to colors...my own. I made that mistake and had to live with this horrible kitchen years ago. I was buying quarts to try out the colors long before the samples came along, I could have invented them! You need to put them on a color board or walll...and look at it three times during the day when the light changes--it looks So different! Nice hubby to put up with all those yellows :)