Beautiful Home

If you want your house to be a home, there should be balance, harmony and a nourishing flow of energy within its walls. Good energy brings good fortune, and good fortune is likely to bring happiness. By making use of feng shui decorating, you can manipulate that positive energy to enhance daily living in your living space.

The feng shui of “feng shui decorating” literally means “wind” and “water,” and its philosophy is based in Taoist thought. According to Taoism, the land is full of energy called “chi,” which means “flow of energy.” Chi sustains life on Earth and the chi associated with a certain place can affect how life flourishes in it. Therefore, the way chi flows within your household influences your prosperity.

The five elements of feng shui are wood, fire, earth, water and metal. Each element has certain colors associated with it, and good feng shui comes about when the five elements are in balance with each other. The colors of wood are green and brown. Fire colors are red, bright yellow, orange, purple and pink. The colors of earth include light yellow, “earthy” colors and light brown. Water colors are blue and black, and metal colors are white and gray. These colors should be balanced in accordance to the feng shui map, “ba gua.” Each of the directions of the compass represents different elements and areas of life: the north is water and it represents career and life path. Northeast is earth and it is associated with spiritual growth. East is wood and it represents health and family. Southeast is wood, money and abundance. South is fire, fame and reputation. Southwest is earth, love and marriage. The west is metal, and creativity and children. Northwest is also metal, and it represents blessings and travel. Feng shui decorating places colors in their own element and not in conflict with others. For example, placing blue in the north, which is water, could improve your career. However, placing blue in the south would put out fire and decrease fame. 

In addition to strategic placement of coloring, good feng shui is very generally achieved by letting in good light and fresh air, removing clutter and rearranging furniture and objects in the most beneficial position for letting energy flow. If you feel like you’re in need of refreshment, you might want to try feng shui decorating your own home to send some positive energy your way.

Tags: feng shui decorating, ba gua, feng shui

There is something about the attraction of getting into backyard landscaping; for those who have a degree of practice rolling up their sleeves and getting work done themselves, there is nothing quite like the challenge of shaping the great outdoors even if it’s only just out back there. For people who find a good role model in Jessica Simpson constantly saying things like, “Should we find someone to hang that picture?” there’s nothing quite as fearsome as actually getting down and dealing with plants, fertilizer and topsoil. This article is basically for people who love to get things done themselves; but if you want creative control over the way your backyard landscaping project turns out without too much reality getting in the way, you could always draw out the plans yourself, and just get help with the actual implementation.

The atmosphere that the creative use of water can lend your backyard landscaping project can really be priceless. Fountains and custom-made artificial waterfalls are not as expensive as they used to be, and are a very popular option these days. How you decide to place your water body and what shape you will make it can have a profound effect on the final results on your backyard ambience: it can be anything from a natural wild look, to an ethereal fairyland look. You could search for ideas on the Internet; you’d be surprised how magical an addition to your backyard, a water body can be.

It is not hard to create an adorable country feel to your backyard landscaping, with the use of rough-hewn stones and rocks, and maybe a little short mossy wall for good measure. The thing about using rocks in your backyard landscaping project is that rocks have so much character and come in so many different kinds: basalt, granite, slate; it can be surprising how much gravity the dull and deep quality of beautiful stone can bring to your home. One of the best effects possible in a backyard is achieved by using rough-hewn stones for a little wall that runs through the space. A short little wall that you can sit on to be alone with your thoughts is a powerful thing to have.

For those summer nights that you want to entertain your family on, a nice patio in your backyard is quite an addition. A barbecue under the stars with your children balancing on the wall you built, can be one of the most satisfying experiences you could have. Consider a wooden deck with a built-in minibar too.

Using a landscaping software package can be very handy in such a project. Such a program makes your decisions easier; you can see out in front of you the results of all that you planned in your mind, and you can make informed decisions. Landscaping engineers certainly use them, even if they do know how to put it all out on a blueprint. The reason this is so is that a computer program for your landscaping can actually fill in all the gaps; all the little bushes and the saplings you plant, will really not give you an accurate idea of what the final result two years down the line will look like. A software package can ask for information on the kind of plants and trees you will be planning, and can extrapolate from your information to give you the final picture, the big picture. 

Tags: backyard landscaping, landscaping software, landscaping