Feng Shui has long been considered an acceptable way to build and design a home. It is based on the perceived natural flow of energy, the use of color and light to create a certain atmosphere, and the placement of furniture that will be most conducive to relaxation. If you have a traditional country home, you can fuse it with feng shui.

Colors

Many country homes—particularly those in the south and Midwest portions of the United States—have very definitive color schemes. Extensive use of browns, blues and greens with the occasional red accent are quite popular. With Feng Shui, you use the five elements to dictate the color scheme in your home.

Brown and green are both wood colors, and are representative in Feng Shui of health, vitality, growth and abundance. If you use browns and greens in the design of your traditional country home, you’ll be welcoming those energies into your space.

This is especially true in country homes with bare-wood rafters and accents, which can create a uniformity that is popular in feng shui. Those browns can be offset by green plants, green furniture and green pillows.

Blue is a water color, which is representative of relaxation and peace. This is obviously an important energy to create in your traditional country home, and can be expressed through accent pillows, framed pictures, rugs and tapestries. Red, on the other hand, is a fire color, which is geared mostly toward ambition and careers. This is the perfect accent to your country home, and should be used sparingly in decoration.

Lighting

Feng shui teaches us to use lighting effects to promote both the unity of the space and the efficiency of it. Bright lights are discouraged, which works perfectly with the traditional country home design, and dimmer switches are recommended to help control lighting for different occasions.

Dark lamps, such as rustic metal or wood, are perfect for offsetting the brightness of light. You can use mood lighting to highlight favorite pieces in your rooms, and put lamps in corners under bare-wood rafters. Most traditional country homes favor soft lighting with ample shading, so place lamps strategically for things like working at a desk or reading on the couch.

Staircases

Many traditional country homes have wide, sweeping staircases that face the front entry hall. This is a feng-shui no-no because it creates an atmosphere of instability. To correct this, either plan for a narrower staircase toward the back of your home, or (if your home is already built) fill open railings with decorations and use dark carpet or dark wood for the stairs themselves.

Windows

Traditional country homes sometimes favor heavy drapes and very little natural light, which opposes the feng shui ideal of open, airy spaces. You can improve the energy of your home by using thick Levelor blinds on the windows, and leaving them open during the day to admit natural light. It is also a good idea to put water features or other landscaping implements near your breakfast area window.

Block Roads and Driveways

It is considered poor fengshui to have two roads leading to your country home from opposite directions or to have a perfectly straight driveway leading to the garage. If possible, you want a circular driveway that permits the regular flow of energy, and you’ll want to block entrances to a second road, as many traditional country homes have.

A simple row of hedges will suffice on the second point, and if you can’t change an arrow-straight driveway, you can create an indention in the concrete to fill with a flower bed.