Feng Shui: this ancient Chinese tradition provides a common-sense method for choosing art and designing framing that creates harmony in the home

Art Business News, Sept, 2002 by Jennifer Wong

Images that reflect what the occupants do or want to do out in the world, such as their hobbies, fit well in the living room. Bold, geometric shapes, abstracts, squares and sharp angles are all appropriate. However, it is important to maintain a feeling of balance. The living room should also have a somewhat restful feel but not too much, said Easley, or everyone will wind up being couch potatoes in front of the television.

The Kitchen

In most homes, the kitchen is also a very active room, but in feng shui, the decor and colors should be kept very simple. The predominant use of white is suggested to show off the food. Accents of red or black work well.

In the kitchen, artwork that is consistent with the function of the room is optimal, such as pictures of food, fruit and vegetables and scenes of countries where the food comes from or people engaged in eating a meal.

In general, one wants to keep the cook happy and focused because, according to Lewandowski, when the food has that energy in it, the people in the household will have that energy, too.

The Dining Room

The dining room is a place where one wants to be relaxed when eating but also enjoy stimulating conversations when entertaining. "When we are eating, we are connecting," said Lewandowski, "and dining rooms relate to lineage and ancestry." Portraits or pictures of family members and friends framed in wood, which in feng shui is associated with family and health, are effective.

Study/Home Office

The study should have a quiet, contemplative atmosphere, and artwork with blues, greens, gold-yellows, browns and even black is effective. Small amounts of red can be used to generate decision-making. Images that include water, trees or landscapes work to generate reflection and the birth of new ideas.

"Artwork with a black frame is recommended for instigating new career opportunities, since black is the color of night and the color of the end before the beginning," said Lewandowski.

The Bathroom

Bathrooms are usually kept plain in feng shui practice and are similar to bedrooms in the sense that the room is private. White is generally the recommended color, but accents of brighter colors could be used. Metal frames and, in particular, the use of silver work very well for its reflective quality. Metal, in feng shui, is the element of elimination.

Since there is so much water energy in the bathroom, consultants recommend the use of pointed, more angular frames. A point, in feng shui, represents the element of fire which, when used in a bathroom, provides balance.

Talking to Clients About With Feng Shui

Questions to ask when working with clients to select artwork, framing treatments and placement are simple and don't have to even mention feng shui. Consider asking a few of these questions to figure out what a piece means to a client in order to create good chi in his or her home.

"Tell me about how you want to use this? Where will this hang? What kind of activities happen in the room where it will hang?" These are questions to begin a discussion on the activities that are ideally done in each room of the home. A gallery associate can make suggestions for artwork and framing materials based on the function of the room in which a client plans to hang his or her piece.