Feng Shui is the ages-old, very popular Chinese decorating art that aims to attract harmony and abundance (among other good things) to your home. Now, with harmony and abundance, who wouldn’t be de-stressed?

As if that weren’t enough. Feng Shui can help bring creativity to your dwelling space, too.

There have been Western studies that show that de-cluttering–one of the requirements of Feng Shui–facilitates creativity. So if you’d like to bring more harmony, abundance and creativity into your home, why not learn all about how the simple placement of furniture…as well as the removal of certain other, extraneous items…may positively affect your home’s energy?

“I just want to feel calm when I’m at home,” you may say. OK, that’s harmony you’re seeking. If you crave coming home to a space that de-stresses you completely from the time you open the front door, Feng Shui will probably help you achieve that.

In today’s hyper world, replenishing the natural energy flow that is inside and outside–something which this ancient art claims to be able to do–is especially important, both for our health, and for our psychic well-being.

How does Feng Shui work?

By taking care to manipulate your environment with proper placement and balance, you are working with the laws of energy that attract prosperity, productivity and peace.

If you were to hire a Feng Shui decorator, he or she would first focus on letting energy flow freely by dividing your home into an energy grid. This grid would then be applied over a graphic of your home, much like a floor plan.

The purpose of this grid would be to make simple and practical adjustments to the space.

The decorator would study the grid to see which places are out of balance. He or she might remedy the situations that need remedying by taking the following steps:

1. To create balance, and to ground yourself, position the largest, most central piece of furniture in the core, or center, of the room. (You need to trust your instinct on this placement; walk around and see what feels right. Remember to envision lots of “freeing” air flowing around your pieces!) Do this in every room but the bathroom. Don’t position pieces up against a corner, or a wall. This will interfere with the circulation of air.

2. Rid your home, room by room, of clutter. Start with the magazines strewn about in the living room. Go on to the dining room, where stacks of bills have accumulated, and move on to the bedroom, where you’ll remove all those stuffed animals, and take the TV to another room–it interferes with romance. Move on to the kitchen. Only leave what is essential, functional and beautiful.

3. Soften sharp corners. Feng Shui practitioners envision every room as either a square or a triangle, but they always recommend round corners. If you have any furniture with sharp corners (”poison arrows”), consider replacing it.

For your dining table, you might place a round or oval table in the center of the room. In that way, there will be no interruption of the energy flow. (Feng Shui placement in this area also eliminates the possibility of placing someone at the “head of the table”. Doing so would mean the exploitation of those not at the head of the table; this is not considered energetically sound.)

4. Dare to light your rooms in dramatic ways, i.e., place wall sconces at eye level where there is no direct light. Or go for natural sunlight, always the best light. If you don’t have much light or if your windows are not facing the sun, use mirrors to reflect the light you do have. You might also consider adding shiny crystals to reflect additional light.

5. Don’t go for a homogenous look. Make each room unique. Take a few minutes and really look at the area you are decorating, from all angles. You want each room to be balanced from every entry and exit point. Try going in and out of the room a few times for a fresh perspective.

6. If you are going to change the color scheme of a room, change every single item in your room. Make sure all artwork, accessories, pillowcases and the few knick knacks match.

7. There are symbolic elements like earth, water, metal and wood which are often used in the Feng Shui decorating scheme. This balances out a personality in the area(s) where there is weakness.

For example, if there is a need to balance out toughness, add “feminine” or soft energy–using earth and wood, like curtains, plants and twigs.

1. To create balance, and to ground yourself, position the largest, most central piece of furniture in the core, or center, of the room. (You need to trust your instinct on this placement; walk around and see what feels right. Remember to envision lots of “freeing” air flowing around your pieces!) Do this in every room but the bathroom. Don’t position pieces up against a corner, or a wall. This will interfere with the circulation of air.

2. Rid your home, room by room, of clutter. Start with the magazines strewn about in the living room. Go on to the dining room, where stacks of bills have accumulated, and move on to the bedroom, where you’ll remove all those stuffed animals, and take the TV to another room–it interferes with romance. Move on to the kitchen. Only leave what is essential, functional and beautiful.

3. Soften sharp corners. Feng Shui practitioners envision every room as either a square or a triangle, but they always recommend round corners. If you have any furniture with sharp corners (”poison arrows”), consider replacing it.

For your dining table, you might place a round or oval table in the center of the room. In that way, there will be no interruption of the energy flow. (Feng Shui placement in this area also eliminates the possibility of placing someone at the “head of the table”. Doing so would mean the exploitation of those not at the head of the table; this is not considered energetically sound.)

4. Dare to light your rooms in dramatic ways, i.e., place wall sconces at eye level where there is no direct light. Or go for natural sunlight, always the best light. If you don’t have much light or if your windows are not facing the sun, use mirrors to reflect the light you do have. You might also consider adding shiny crystals to reflect additional light.

5. Don’t go for a homogenous look. Make each room unique. Take a few minutes and really look at the area you are decorating, from all angles. You want each room to be balanced from every entry and exit point. Try going in and out of the room a few times for a fresh perspective.

6. If you are going to change the color scheme of a room, change every single item in your room. Make sure all artwork, accessories, pillowcases and the few knick knacks match.

7. There are symbolic elements like earth, water, metal and wood which are often used in the Feng Shui decorating scheme. This balances out a personality in the area(s) where there is weakness.

For example, if there is a need to balance out toughness, add “feminine” or soft energy–using earth and wood, like curtains, plants and twigs.

1. To create balance, and to ground yourself, position the largest, most central piece of furniture in the core, or center, of the room. (You need to trust your instinct on this placement; walk around and see what feels right. Remember to envision lots of “freeing” air flowing around your pieces!) Do this in every room but the bathroom. Don’t position pieces up against a corner, or a wall. This will interfere with the circulation of air.

2. Rid your home, room by room, of clutter. Start with the magazines strewn about in the living room. Go on to the dining room, where stacks of bills have accumulated, and move on to the bedroom, where you’ll remove all those stuffed animals, and take the TV to another room–it interferes with romance. Move on to the kitchen. Only leave what is essential, functional and beautiful.

3. Soften sharp corners. Feng Shui practitioners envision every room as either a square or a triangle, but they always recommend round corners. If you have any furniture with sharp corners (”poison arrows”), consider replacing it.

For your dining table, you might place a round or oval table in the center of the room. In that way, there will be no interruption of the energy flow. (Feng Shui placement in this area also eliminates the possibility of placing someone at the “head of the table”. Doing so would mean the exploitation of those not at the head of the table; this is not considered energetically sound.)

4. Dare to light your rooms in dramatic ways, i.e., place wall sconces at eye level where there is no direct light. Or go for natural sunlight, always the best light. If you don’t have much light or if your windows are not facing the sun, use mirrors to reflect the light you do have. You might also consider adding shiny crystals to reflect additional light.

5. Don’t go for a homogenous look. Make each room unique. Take a few minutes and really look at the area you are decorating, from all angles. You want each room to be balanced from every entry and exit point. Try going in and out of the room a few times for a fresh perspective.

6. If you are going to change the color scheme of a room, change every single item in your room. Make sure all artwork, accessories, pillowcases and the few knick knacks match.

7. There are symbolic elements like earth, water, metal and wood which are often used in the Feng Shui decorating scheme. This balances out a personality in the area(s) where there is weakness.

For example, if there is a need to balance out toughness, add “feminine” or soft energy–using earth and wood, like curtains, plants and twigs.

Delicate sounds are considered “feminine”, too. You might add soothing nature music, or crystals.

To bring about a more “masculine” or busy, energy, use metal. If the opposite effect is needed, aggression may be toned down by using a ceramic or natural stone bowl, filled with water, or a waterfall statuette.