There a three main point why you may not feel as cosy and relaxed in your lounge as you like.
We run around all day, are busy, but often cannot quite find the relaxation that we really need in our lounge rooms. Here are some of the reasons for this:
Yin & Yang
We have come a long way from the traditional family home of the 50s, 60s and 70s. Homes used to be small and each room, including the kitchen, dining and living room separated by walls. Such home can feel compartmented. Its energies are more stagnant and rooms often darker – but it also has more supportive Yin.
Yin energy is still, relaxing, nurturing to people. It supports good rest and sleep. It sits in the walls and heavy furniture. A sofa, backed against a solid wall gives you good support – an opportunity to really chill out, let go and relax.
Today we build large open-plan spaces. We are busy, we entertain and value life style. Our homes often have no walls between the kitchen, dining and living areas. They are lighter and livelier – more Yang.
Yang is active, movement and life force. In modern homes the sofas are often not backed by a wall because the rooms are too large or have no walls. You end up sitting in the middle of a large space that is lacking good Yin support.
Often the only wall left is given to the TV, leaving you in the open space where you instinctively feel more on guard – you are easily pounced on by kids or surprised family members. You will always have some of your attention behind you and cannot fully relax.
To be cosy and comfortable, you need to create a balance between Yin and Yang. You need to have some solid wall or cosy corner where you place a sofa or day bed, where you can retreat to and relax.
Forms and Shapes
The most supportive shaped rooms are squares or wide rectangles. These shapes are balanced, solid and conserve your energies within them. Such shapes belong to the EARTH element.
However, if you have an elongated room – one that is double as long as it is wide or longer – you get the sense of being in a tunnel. Elongated shaped rooms belong to the WOOD element. The wood element is very Yang, pushy, out there. It attacks positive Earth energies and destroys the possible relaxation and good Yin support.
If you have an elongated room, you can often break it up with creative furniture placement – make two spaces out of it. Try to break up the long lines by placing a sofa or other furniture perpendicular to it. See if you can create squarish living spaces within it – while placing one main sofa against a solid wall. This would make it way more relaxing and nurturing.
Sometimes, you will have a lounge and sofa at the end of a long hallway. Such sofa would be under attack by the elongated Wood energy from the hallway. It won’t work for relaxation. You will need to place the sofa on another wall, away from the hallway. Wood energies just don’t go with relaxation at all.
Energies – the underlying ‘feel’
The last reason why a lounge may not be relaxing has to do with the underlying energies present in the space. Every home has a unique energy distribution. This is a large factor in the feel and ambience of a home.
If you are designing, you have the opportunity to get a Feng Shui analysis in the planning stage. With that you will be able to make sure that the best possible energies will fill your lounge and other important rooms.
But there is something you can do in any home. The energies in each room belong to a certain Feng Shui element. This in turn is supported by specific colour schemes and décor – and irritated by other colour schemes. Wrong colours can make you feel edgy in a space and you won’t be able to relax fully.
Ideally, you decorate with full knowledge of the existent energies in a space. To find out these energies and how to best support these, I recommend a tailor-made Feng Shui analysis. That will take the guesswork out of design decisions, placement and colour schemes.
Photo by Annie Sprat on Unsplash