Outdoor Feng Shui

What does your house say about you?

By Karen

February 18, 2013

3 Comments

OK. After looking at this picture, what kind of judgment did you make about the people who live there? Eccentric? Wacky? Fairytale/nursery rhyme lovers? So, by just taking a quick look at a home, you can very quickly come to some sort of snap conclusion about the people that live there, right? With that in mind, what conclusions do you think people make upon seeing where YOU live? As one who practices feng shui (that art of creating environments that consistently support the goals and dreams of clients) I’m always amazed at what some people allow in their environments that …Read More

17 Shades of “Welcome” – What is Your Front Door Saying About You?

By Karen

October 29, 2012

4 Comments

As the trick-or-treaters prepare their offense, you might want to counter attack by changing the level of welcome at your place. Here’s my interpretation of what these houses are saying to the kids (and any other opportunity in life for that matter): “Too much work to deal with – I’ll pass.” …Read More

Rebuilding After a Disaster with Feng Shui in Mind

By Karen

March 4, 2012

0 Comments

With all the tornadoes flying around this past week, I thought I’d give those badly affected a little checklist to consider if they have to rebuild. In order to be brief, I’m going to assume you know a bit about the feng shui that I practice or have read my book. I would highly recommend, if you have the resources, to hire a feng shui consultant (hopefully one that is very comfortable with the design process like an architect, landscape architect or interior designer) to help you navigate the rebuilding process with the best feng shui outcome. But if that …Read More

Is This “Color in the Landscape” a Good Thing?

By Karen

August 9, 2011

3 Comments

Well, I’m not a personal fan, but when I was at the Sawdust Festival in Laguna Beach the other day, I noticed a long line of people waiting to purchase something, and upon further investigation, it was this: colorful mushrooms! It could be that I’m a landscape architect and have been schooled to find anything such as this “distasteful” t the very best, but then I forced my feng shui eyeballs in my head and tried to make a case for them. They do “attract the eye” – which is a good thing usually, especially if you need to direct …Read More

Which Door to Use for Feng Shui Purposes? – Q and A

By Karen

April 25, 2011

5 Comments

Question: Some people in feng shui say to use the door that you most often enter your home into as the front door. That would make it my mudroom to garage door. Is this correct and should I align the bagua with this door? Answer: It wouldn’t be the way I would do it. You see, the goal is to direct the chi from the outlying areas into your home in the most positive and healthy way. And the most natural place to have the chi arrive in your home is the architecturally intended front door – NOT the one …Read More

Music is an Excellent Feng Shui Cure!

By Karen

April 14, 2011

1 Comment

Recently, while strolling through the Plaza del Sol in Madrid, I came upon this feisty group of men jazzing it up as the pre-dinner strollers passed by. They engaged people to dance with them and took great pride in their ability to freely jam without boundaries. The festive atmosphere created not only from the community space (Oh if we only had more community spaces like Europe does here in the US!) but from the live music not only lifted the spirits of everyone there, but it also did many things sub-consciously. To me it said “It is safe here” – …Read More

Feng Shui Success Story: Dealing with “Sucky Neighbors” & Mirrors

By Karen

March 14, 2011

12 Comments

“For the last several months, I have been dealing with a very troublesome noisy neighbor situation. I love my apartment, and in all the years I’ve lived here, I had never had a neighbor problem until last fall, when a couple of very social guys moved in next door. They immediately began to have noisy parties nearly every weekend. Their party space was a large deck, located about fifty feet from my bedroom (our houses are VERY close together). I tried a variety of approaches over the months to help these guys understand my need for sleep…to no avail. Letters …Read More

Frustrating Living Quarters and What to do About it – Feng Shui Q and A

By Karen

March 4, 2011

2 Comments

QUESTION: What do you do with a house “love/hate situation?” We love our home based upon location and look, but we’re always frustrated that it doesn’t feel like it supports us in all we do. Even though it is a nice sized house, it seems the whole family is always on top of each other in a couple of rooms. We’re pretty much clutter-free but still feel squeezed in. Am I missing something? ANSWER:First of all, remember that many feng shui principles are based upon observation. If you notice an unwanted life situation consistently coupled with particular living pattern or …Read More

De-Cluttering the landscape

By Karen

September 5, 2010

3 Comments

For those of you outside of California or some other fire-prone place, you might not know that we here have to think of the plants in our yards in order of their “fuel load” (AKA – how much and how fast will it burn.) So a few days ago, being fall and all, I thought about it and decided it was time to take a good look at my landscape and see what needed attention. And holy moley - My giant bird of paradise plants had gotten out of control without my notice! Here’s a picture of the massive plant. Talk about …Read More

Feng Shui Your Landscape Areas

By Karen

August 6, 2010

0 Comments

Since I am a landscape architect as well as a feng shui consultant, I feel it is my extra duty to help people with the exterior spaces of their homes. Here are my top tips for creating a great feng shuied yard: Safety Issues: 1. Avoid having one single or “lone” step in the hardscape. I see it getting from a sidewalk to a stoop and I see it out in the yard. This is probably the number one liability issue you can have. The elderly and very young most often misjudge it, but it can “get” anyone to slip …Read More