Creating Your Home Haven Tip #3: Feng Shui for the Bedroom

This tip is part of our "Home Haven" series and is provided by DeAnna Radaj, owner of Bante Design LLC.

One of the most frequently asked questions I get is "How can I add more ROMANCE to my bedroom without it being all red and pink or looking like something out of the Playboy Mansion?" It is very easy to utilize basic Feng Shui and interior design principles into your bedroom to create the perfect atmosphere for rest AND romance.

First off, you should locate the "relationship" area of your home and/or bedroom. This area is the FAR RIGHT corner of the home/room, when standing at the doorway looking into the space. This is the area you really want to pay attention to if you’d like to attract/keep relationship in your life. (It should also be noted that relationships can mean friendships or business partnerships as well, but for the purpose of this article, we're referring to romantic relationships.)

Once you’ve identified this area, here are tips to "amp up" your romantic sanctuary.

• Display items IN PAIRS (think, a couple). If things are displayed in ONES (solitary) or in THREES (a third person will come between you and your partner, literally or figuratively), change it!
• Think about what symbolizes ROMANCE to you in your accessory and artwork choices. This will differ for each person (what’s romantic for me might not mean romance for you). Here you can place romantic pictures, fabrics, flowers - create a romantic vignette.
• Color: Use RED if you are in a committed/legal relationship, PINK if you are single and looking to attract a relationship, or PEACH/CORAL if you are single and looking, but not for a relationship (be careful with peach!). It should be noted that any tone, tint, or shade of the above mentioned colors will work. Bring the color in with flowers, fabric, artwork, candles, and be creative.
• In Feng Shui, the relationship area is represented by EARTH energy. Items made from the earth symbolize this: tile, stone, terra cotta, or by earth-tones or square-shaped items. For an added boost, add the FIRE element (great for "special" nights!). An example of this is: two pink/red candles lit in a square holder.

The bedroom in general should be a place of refuge and sanctuary from the rest of the world. There should be no TVs, computers, or exercise equipment in this room! There should only be two things going on in the bedroom, and watching TV or working on the computer is not on the list. Think of the two R’s in terms of bedroom activity as REST AND ROMANCE - that’s IT!

Other “bedroom sanctuary” tips include: 

• If you can’t move TVs or computer items to another location, cover them with a screen or fabric panels to disguise them.
• Lie down on your bed and look at what you see from this position. This is the first thing you see in the morning and the last thing you see before you drift off to sleep, so make sure the view is good! Is it the bathroom? Close the door. Is it a blank wall? Hang some artwork. Get the idea?
• Speaking of artwork, the bedroom is not the place for pictures of your kids, family, and/or friends - the only people in pictures should be of you and your current partner (and no old boyfriends, please!).
• Think LUXURY! Buy the most expensive sheets, blankets, and/or pillows that you can afford. We spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping, so we should get the most out of it. Buy organic cotton, bamboo, jute, or eucalyptus, if possible, especially if allergies or environmental sensitivities are an issue.
• Clutter should not exist in this room - PERIOD. The rules are: if you don’t use it, wear it, or love it, get rid of it. It doesn’t matter how much it cost or who gave it to you, if it doesn’t serve a useful, positive purpose, it must go. Donate it, sell it, or toss it. Clutter also collects dust and is hard to maintain - again, counter productive to the mood of the bedroom.

The bedroom is the most important room of the home and should be treated as such, from starting and ending our day, to a restful and romantic sanctuary for yourself or you and your significant other. Give this room the attention it deserves and enjoy the restful results!

DeAnna Radaj, owner of Bante Design LLC, can enter a space and help to tweak (or remodel, re-design) the space to work better to suit its function AND the lifestyle of the occupants of the space. Using ILD, life quality can be increased AND be supportive to any transitions occuring, lifestyle changes, or health challenges. DeAnna is also an "Eco-Shui" designer, writer, and consultant who helps those who are looking to lead a more healthy, balanced, and proactive lifestyle.

Flickr image from Tim Crowe

Creating Your Home Haven Tip #2: The Conversation Area

This tip is part of our "Home Haven" series and is provided by Joanna Cohlan, owner of Fresh Eyes For Your Home.

Historically referred to as the drawing room or the parlour, these quaint appellations were given to the space where hosts greeted their guests and served a cup of tea or glass of wine, while catching up on news or gossip.  Today, it’s called "the living room," and it’s probably the only room left in the house for real time conversation, because the computer and the TV are now elsewhere in the home.  It may be a lost art, but the conversation is desperate for a space of its own.

Even if your living room does include a TV, working that TV in tastefully, without compromising the conversation, should be your goal.  Until recently, we not only had to make room for the large tube TV, but the enormous armoires that hid them.  Luckily, those tube televisions are being phased out with flat screens, and the conversation area can reclaim its importance.

Tips for Creating Your Conversation Area

• Define your conversation area with a rug.  Furniture can either sit on or off the rug, but make sure to take accurate measurements so that the rug provides the right footprint for the furniture you select.
• Combine two love seats and a chair or a sofa with two chairs to anchor your conversation area and create a comfortable and intimate environment.
• If there is a TV in the room, it should not take center stage.  Furniture can move away from the walls, and TV’s can be either wall-hung, with an articulating arm for viewing, on top of a console, or in a wall unit that complements the conversation area.
• The size of your TV should be determined by the size of the room and the distance between your conversation area and the TV, so don’t buy the TV first and retro-fit your seating, or you’ll end up with a "man cave" instead of a conversation area.
• An ottoman is a living room MUST! Ottomans double as seating and as coffee tables, come in all shapes and sizes, and can be moved in, out, or around your room easily.  Tucked under a sofa table, in a corner, or under a window, ottomans can be used for storage, and when done in bold colors, totally spice up a neutral palette and draw the eye away from the TV and back to the conversation.

Joanna Cohlan, owner of Fresh Eyes For Your Home, is an interior decorator and home stager serving Westchester County and NYC.  She specializes in creating real rooms for real people - creatively, quickly, and affordably, and what you always get from Joanna is design outside the box.

Flickr image from Amy Guth

Creating Your Home Haven Tip #1: Indulge

This tip is part of our "Home Haven" series and is provided by Laura Benko, Feng Shui Consultant and Home & Garden TV correspondent to Live It Up! WLNY.

The biggest way to make a haven at home is to indulge!  Here are a few ideas and ways to make your home a special retreat that makes you feel cozy, while still showing off your own unique personality and style.

In order to avoid the impersonal, generic hotel look, don't be in a rush to decorate and don't buy everything from the same place.  Go for a gathered and thoughtfully collected look - even if that means having empty spots here and there until you find the right piece.

Room by room, go through every object and ask yourself, "Do I absolutely love it?  Does it uplift me?  Do I really use it?  Does it make me feel good?"  If there are any "no's," give it away, donate it, let it go.  Ideally, you want to surround yourself with only objects, collectibles, furniture, and artwork that truly make you feel good.

Do not feel obligated to keep stuff you don't want.  Time and time again, as I go into clients' homes, they show me all the stuff they feel obliged to hold on to, just because it was a gift or handed down to them or used to belong to their parents, and they hate it.  This can cause guilt, frustration, and anger.  It's OK to let it go and give it away.

If you are going to indulge in only one area, make it the bedroom.  The bed is where the foundation of a haven is born.  You spend a third of your life sleeping.  Go for feather beds, high thread counts, lavender sheet spray, black out curtains, and anything else that inspires a good night's sleep ensconced in luxury!  Get rid of the TV and as much of the electronic devices as you can.  Studies suggest that being bombarded by electronic magnetic fields (EMF's) from appliances and devices can hinder a good night's sleep and make you feel anxious.

Purchase a comfortable couch.  Nothing irks me more than going into a home and seeing an uncomfortable, rigidly traditional, or too small couch.  How can you really relax?  Extra deep couches are perfect for snuggling or watching movies!