The entrance to your house is like the "mouth" of the house. It is an important source of incoming energy. Historically, feng shui masters have always placed a lot of emphasis on the front door in terms of the overall grading of the home.

Energy, or "chi" can also enter through windows, but there is no equal to the main door or the door that occupants use the most. Just by using the door and passing through that area several times per day, you are influenced by the resident energy of that location.

Following are some feng shui ideals, as well as flaws and the typical way to fix the problem.

a.. An entrance should be bright and cheerful. If it is chronically dark, the occupants will be depressed and sickly. If it is not possible to add a window, skylight, or glass-paned door to bring in more light, then artificial light should be used.

b.. An entrance should be spacious and not feel congestive or claustrophobic. If it is a tiny entrance with a wall that meets you just a few feet from the door, place a full wall size mirror opposite the door to give the illusion of more space when entering. If you own your home and can remodel it in such as way as to open up the wall, then that is the ideal.

c.. An entrance should open to a spacious hallway with a couple directions you can go. If you are forced to enter the kitchen right away, this has a potential problem. Amongst other disadvantages, seeing the kitchen immediately upon entering can result in a Pavlovian desire to eat when you are not hungry.

d.. A front door aligned directly with a back door is classic feng shui problem and many Chinese will not even consider a house like this because the concept is that the air currents entering the house will leave too quickly through the back door. The result is that people have a hard time saving money in this kind of house.

This can even be a problem if it is a window aligned directly with the door as well. The remedy is to place some sensible objects between the front door and the back door to buffer or break up the straight line of energy. Depending on what is most appropriate and inconspicuous for the space, buffers could be a live plant, a water fountain, a decorative room partition screen, or various other furnishings and lighting fixtures that would slow down the path of chi.

a.. An entrance aligned directly with a straight set of stairs is an unfortunate design flaw. Similar to the problem just described, a direct alignment of door to stairs can result in the occupants not being as healthy and finding it harder to save. Depending on how much space is between the front door and the base of the stairs, it may be possible to position a plant, flanking the stairs. Sometimes a plant can be placed on the landing of the stairs to slow things down from the higher level.

b.. An entrance should not have anything heavy looming over head, such as a low chandelier or heavy-looking beams. This creates literal pressure on the occupants when they enter their own home, making people irritable.

c.. An entrance should be clean and tidy. If you enter your home and it is a cluttered mess right at the door way, that will support a vicious cycle of lethargy and procrastination. It also blocks the good chi from entering your home, like a blocked artery.

These are some common sense suggestions for improving your entrance. More things can be done to personalize your entrance (that will influence your money luck and health) when a comprehensive analysis is done.

For more Feng Shui click here to view back issues.

You can contact Kartar at www.fengshuisolutions.net

© Melt Magazine 2001