Home Sweet Home. Your Home is Your Castle. In the Comfort of Your Home. These clichés are spoken of with desire or regret. A person’s home should be all of these things but with busy lifestyles, demanding professions, the increase in home offices and families with children, very rarely does our home live up to this ideal. If your house is anything like mine many times everyone walks in the door drops book bags, diaper bags, mail and newspapers and briefcase and leaves it where it landed. I spend many hours a day following each of my family members around hoping to keep the chaos to a minimum. I am a true believer in a “place for everything and everything in its place.” Only when that occurs am I comfortable and at ease in my home.

Feng shui (pronounced “fun shway”) determines that certain things in your household should be in certain places. Simplistically defined it provides you with direction on how to make the most of your living environment, to instill comfort, uniqueness and positive energy in yourself by obtaining it from the world around you. Feng shui also provides you with the opportunity to look at your personality and preferences and use those things to position and design your surroundings with that which makes you feel comfort, balance and harmony. Now, before you laugh, or consider this to be some sort of physic network of interior decorators, let’s look at most people in a typical morning.

out of bed, with the clanging of an annoying sound that is your alarm clock - loud and jarring to make sure you get out of the bed instead of hitting the snooze button several times. You stumble into the kitchen, banging away because your significant other forgot to empty the coffee filter after they took the last cup or coffee or you can’t find your coffee beans because they aren’t where you swore you left them. As you take your shower, you swear because you don’t have a towel nearby and you just opened the shower door and are dripping water all over the tile. Entering your closet you stare blankly at the array of clothing which is jumbled together and grab your standard white shirt, black pants/skirt and shoes. As you are hurrying out the door, you can’t find your keys, you trip over your daughter’s backpack and by the time you get into the car you actually express a sigh of relief after being out of the house.

With just a few feng shui touches, your morning can go much smoother. For example, my alarm clock starts 15 minutes before I am supposed to be awake. It is filled with one of three scented wax beads, which provide aromatherapy in the form of lavender for stress relief, peppermint to increase energy and a citrus smell which to me is a comfortable scent throughout the day. It has a light which becomes progressively brighter and plays one of six different sounds including rainstorm, waterfalls, oriental music, nature sounds. I can choose whichever one I want and set it for through the day. A good rain storm always puts me to sleep, so that is usually my night time setting. There is a table by the door. Book bags, briefcase and purses are stored on it. Above it is a decorative key hook, so we can always find our keys - except me of course who can’t seem to get out of the habit of dropping them in my purse. Normally when I leave for the day even when running late I don’t’ feel the intensity or anger that many others feel. These are just small suggestions, toward using feng shui, by using sounds, smells, and placement of the things in your environment to make your life more comfortable, attractive and less stressful.

Some people (ok the very rich and celebrities) hire a feng shui master. This individual comes in and determines according to a “map” where things should be placed (north, south, east and west) as well as what natural things could be added to our environment in order to make it more peaceful, productive and successful. You may hear terms like “chi” and “bagua” and wonder exactly what you have gotten yourself into. I will not attempt here to teach you about your energy, or the regions of your body that control the actions/reactions to events. I won’t try to explain how each area of your life (career, love/relationships, creativity and so forth are individually affected by a lack of harmony in your environment. I do suggest that you use feng shui like you do at a Chinese buffet - take what you like and leave the rest.

Is taking what you like and leaving the rest a watered down version of feng shui. Yes, it probably is. But we are American’s and we like our answers short and simple. And really, don’t you feel better when you leave the buffet after eating only those few things that you love than trying to eat every item on the buffet or even just trying all those things that your date, friend or the server tells you to try. It really is possible to have “too much of a good thing.”

So, here are some simple decorating tips and tricks to bring more harmony into your home. Yes, I have heard the term “feng shui for dummies,” but these tips take decorating by using the strategies of feng shui to their easiest, simplest and least expensive form.

First, look at each room and get rid of the clutter. If you haven’t looked at those magazines that are now covering the coffee table or stacked up in the basket until they are overflowing, chances are you aren’t going to. Go ahead, recycle them. Most importantly though get rid of things. Clean our closets, if you haven’t worn it in a year, it needs to go to Goodwill. Organize your cupboards and pantry. Designate spots in the refrigerator for specific items. If it simply collects dust or is never used, get rid of it. If it is a collectible or special items with sentimental value find a way to exhibit those items to their best advantage. In my case, my built in shelves house pictures of my family; parents, children, husband so that as I walk past it every morning I remember what I am working so hard for and when I walk to my bedroom every night I feel as sense of satisfaction for providing for them and blessed because of them. But most importantly de-clutter and organize.

Now that the clutter is gone, look at the placement of your furniture. Can you easily move around your home? Is your favorite chair actually placed where you will use it or is it simply stuck in a corner? You love it, you want to use it, but its placement does not make it useful to you. Take some time to draw it out. Look at what you want to achieve in each room, (bedroom relax and rest; game room-activities, bathroom - relaxation or preparation for the day). Make sure that the furniture in each of these rooms are placed where they can be used to the best advantage. By doing so, your favorite chair with a throw across it is placed near an open window where you can read early in the morning by the sunlight if that is your desire.

Next, surround yourself with those things that make you feel good. For example, in your home office go ahead and create a wall collage with those certificates, degrees or other personal achievements. Every time you walk in there you will once again experience the joy that you felt when you first reached that goal. Try placing scented candles, potpourri, you may laugh, but the Febreeze Noticeables that alternate scent throughout the course of the day is a wonderful feature in your home. Scents can alter a mood. Think about the scent of roses when your husband surprises you with them - not because he had too. Scent is one of the most powerful emotion evoking senses and by surrounding yourself in different areas of your home with a light whiff of these scents you and your family can either invoke memories or encourage certain actions, like rest or exercise. Many say to add real plants to your home. I admit, they are lovely and I deeply admire my friend who has some lush greenery and sweet flowers peeking out of pots throughout the house - but I must face it - I kill all living plants. I hate fakers, so no plants in my home. If you don’t’ have a green thumb and you don’t like the fake stuff at least try to have some eucalyptus sprays in the bathroom twining around the shower rod or placed on a window sill in a vase. Feng shui discourages the use of “dried flowers” as they are dead and therefore do not exhibit positive energy.

Use sounds to make your life feel calmer. Use an alternative for your alarm setting, one which will still wake you but not with pressure or irritation. Try soothing music while cooking in the kitchen - you will be surprised at how much more time and attention you spend on creating your meals as well as the creativity it invokes in you by having music instead of the television in the background. I use my daughters’ rock music to clean the house by, everyone gets involved and the rhythm encourages movement - great for sweeping. Place a fountain in your quiet room - I like it in the office - whenever the hustle and bustle of my work gets to be too much I can tune into the relaxing trickling sound of water and moments later feel relieved and ready to work again.

Look at your use of color. Do you have warm earth tones? Vibrant primary colors? Colors evoke feelings also, and part of feng shui is to balance all the senses with the elements of fire, earth, water, metal, water and wood. Take the opportunity to fuse your colors with these elements to create your own personal space.

In feng shui the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the home. It provides energies that nourish us psychologically (family), physically (food) and financially (money). Using my kitchen décor for example, decorated in dark cranberry, deep lush green and white, with black and chrome appliances. In feng shui the following would be represented; red represents the warmth of fire and sun, green represents the wood to feed the fire, and also indicate health (green for growth) and prosperity. I don’t know if any of that is true, but the brightness every morning as I cook breakfast without any other light is certainly uplifting (4 windows in the kitchen) and the open area with breakfast bar that allows me to cook and participate in the family does make a change in my attitude towards cooking and cleaning in the kitchen. I love to look over the bar to the children in their play area with bright sun coming through the windows and their art easel strategically placed.

After the placement of furniture and the main elements of décor are satisfied such as color you can then go on to use those elements that bring harmony, rest, and tranquility to the remainder of your home. Here are a few quick fixes to your spaces:

Bathroom: Keep it clean. Keep a supply of fresh fluffy towels near the tub or shower. Lysol wipes are great for a quick pick up - try it - it makes a big difference to have a clean countertop. Add an open container in a safe spot of scented oils, beads or soaps. Have candles on hand for that anticipated long relaxing bath. Add a plant in the window area, the steam from baths and showers will help keep it hydrated and you will see if often reminding you to be a caretaker.

Dining room: Warm and soothing earth tones. Forget the old large pieces of dark heavy furniture. Use unique crystal lighting fixtures and or mirrors to reflect space and create a softly lit atmosphere. Use your table linens, place the table directly in the middle of the room, and remove clocks from the dining area to slow the pace down and provide the family with a meal time that does not include glances at the clock to make sure there is time for television or running outside with your friends.

Home office: add inspiration - photos of family, favorite quotes, artwork, or books. Include your achievements throughout the room and be sure that your work space is ergonomically correct. Being comfortable goes a long way towards being productive.

Bedroom: Don’t place your exercise equipment in here - it is a distraction; bring romance into the bedroom in the form of artwork, silk flowers, large cushions, or add comfortable seating for cuddling.

Feng shui does not take a master. It does not take thousands of dollars. It does take common sense, creativity and an understanding of you and your family’s personality and desires. You don’t need to go to China for feng shui techniques that will achieve comfort in your home; they are as nearby as Lowe’s, Home Depot and my personal favorite, Hobby Lobby. Take a little trip walking the aisles and finding what appeals to you.

Feng shui techniques create a warm and welcoming atmosphere for you, your family and your guests. Don’t be fooled by the fancy hard to pronounce name and the mysterious practices involved with it by masters of this technique. You are not supposed to be a master at this, but if you follow some simple rules, use your common sense and you, your family, and guests will feel not only the warmth and harmony created in your space, no matter how big or how small, and a more relaxed and revitalized personality in you. Your home is your castle. You should enjoy your home and by using these simple but effective techniques your home can be a “sweet home.”