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how to design the perfect feng shui living room!

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The bad news: There’s no such thing as a perfect feng shui living room.

The good news: There’s no such thing as a perfect feng shui living room!

That means you are free to arrange your living room in the way that works best for you and your family/household.

You don’t have to use all of the different feng shui rules in order to have a living room that feels great and looks great.

Instead, you can use these feng shui living room tips to figure out what feels great for YOUR home. Let’s get to it!

how to design the perfect feng shui living room!

feng shui living room basics:

What does the living room represent in feng shui?

In feng shui, the living room represents strong relationships with friends, family, and everyone who lives in your home.

Good living room feng shui helps create harmony and togetherness.

It helps everyone in your home feel welcome and like a part of the family.

Your living room should be where your family hangs out together.

It can also be where you entertain guests.

The furniture arrangement should encourage everyone to sit and stay awhile. This creates balance, harmony, and healthy relationships with everyone in your home.

pillows and blanket on couch

Feng shui living room rules:

Everyone in your home should have a place in your living room.

There should be room for everyone to come in and spend time. This includes your pets!

Seating should face into the room so that everyone can easily talk to each other.

Create cozy, conversational areas so that everyone feels welcome and equal.

Create balance wherever possible.

Circular seating arrangements and/or furniture balanced in the room creates balance in your home.

Try not to put furniture all along one wall or blocking windows or doorways.

Living rooms are “active” rooms in feng shui.

That means you can use more vibrant colors, keep your television here, and use electronics and games freely in this room.

Living rooms are also considered more public spaces, so you can also keep family pictures and more active and/or fire energy artwork here.

Consider the command position.

The command position in feng shui means that your back isn’t to the door when you’re seated, so you can see everyone who enters the room.

If it’s not possible to put all furniture in the command position, try to at least put the main seating area so that it faces the doorway.

The command position helps you feel more comfortable and calm.

You might even find that no one really wants to sit in the seats that have their back towards the door.

That’s your intuition at work!

couch with pillows and blanket

What is bad feng shui for the living room?

While nothing is truly “bad” in feng shui, sometimes things can definitely be more optimized!

Bad living room feng shui can cause:

  • A lot of family/household arguments
  • Everyone avoiding the living room
  • Not feeling close to your family or others in your household
  • Guests not staying very long or making excuses not to visit
  • Feeling isolated or alone even when everyone is home

When these things happen frequently, look for the following things in your living room:

Clutter.

Clutter is a reflection of stuck energy. It can cause confusion, arguments, frustration, and misunderstandings.

Broken items.

If your living room has become the room full of things you need to fix, it can cause your relationships to need repairs too!

Burnt out light bulbs.

Burnt out light bulbs represent stuck Chi (life force energy.)

Neglected home maintenance or repairs, or lots of unfinished projects.

Leaving things neglected for long periods of time represent neglecting your relationships.

It can also just create stuck, stagnant energy in your living room, so fix those items ASAP.

Lots of dirt, grime, and dust.

If you want your household to get along better, give your living room a deep clean!

Sometimes that’s all that’s needed to clear the air and create more balance and harmony.

You can also smudge your living room to give it an energetic cleanse.

Furniture blocking doorways or walkways.

Large furniture blocking the doorways or walkways can block the flow of Chi.

You should be able to freely move throughout the room to create flow and help energy move throughout your home.

vase and bowl with cactus on shelf

feng shui living room design tips:

▶ Display happy family pictures to create a sense of togetherness.

Replace family pictures often to keep the vision of your family updated and not get too bogged down by the past!

▶ Consult the bagua.

The feng shui bagua map is the energy map of your home.

Once you know where your living room falls in the feng shui bagua map you can add more specific cures to enhance the energy of your home and relationships.

Click here to learn about the feng shui bagua map and how to use it!

▶ If your living room has a fireplace, don’t place family photos on the mantel.

This can cause friction and frustration because fire energy moves very quickly.

You can place a mirror or artwork with water scenes above the fireplace to balance the fire energy.

▶ Add plants.

Plants uplift and cleanse the energy of every room.

Choosing plants that grow upwards will raise the vibration of your living room and help everyone feel healthier and happier!

Unless your living room falls in the fame/reputation area of your home, don’t place cactus in your living room.

Cactus and other plants with spiky leaves can cause arguments and sticky situations in your household.

▶ Consider how your family/household uses the space.

If you find that you don’t use your living room very often – change it!

The most important thing is that you use your home and LOVE it. Rooms that go unused can hold stuck energy.

Change your living room so that you actually use it.

This will create more flow and raise the vibration of your entire home.

two chairs and small table next to window

Feng shui living room Q&A:

What is the best feng shui living room color?

Because living rooms are meant to be shared, they have more active energy than bedrooms.

That means you can use brighter and more active colors!

This is the perfect room to use pops of accent colors, like yellow, green, bright turquoise, pink, or purple!

Click here to see the different feng shui color meanings.

Two ways to pick the perfect feng shui living room color are:

▶ What’s your FAVORITE color?

Good feng shui means that you LOVE your home. If your favorite color is yellow, use it! If your favorite color is bright green, use it!

▶ If you don’t have a favorite color, or you aren’t into interior design, you can pick a color from the bagua map.

Depending on where your living room falls on the bagua map (the feng shui energy map) of your home, you can also choose a color to enhance that area.

If your living room falls in the wealth area of your home, for example, you could use purple as an accent color.

If it falls in your home’s love/relationship area, you could use pink or red.

The only requirement is that you pick a color you actually like — don’t use a color you hate just because the bagua map says so.

Use the color you love and use other feng shui cures to enhance that area.

cactus and coaster on side table

Which direction should your sofa face in feng shui?

In Western feng shui, we don’t worry too much about directions.

If your sofa is where you sit most of the time, just try to make sure that it faces the doorway so it’s in the command position.

Other than that, place your sofa in the place where it makes the most sense in your room.

Every house is unique, which is why Western feng shui doesn’t specify directions.

Instead, try different furniture layouts and see what works best for you and your household!

Should you keep an aquarium in your living room?

If you have an aquarium it is definitely okay to keep it in your living room.

Shared living spaces are great for aquariums because the moving water can be too active for bedrooms.

If you have several options for where to place your aquarium, you can use the feng shui bagua map to decide where to put it.

The best areas of the bagua map for water features are: career, family/legacy, and wealth.

Click here to see a picture of the bagua map and learn how to use it!

Should you have a desk in your living room?

Desks in living rooms are fine!

The key is to have the desk in the command position.

When you’re sitting at your desk, you should be able to see the main door.

If your desk in your living room is against the wall, you can use a small mirror to reflect the doorway while you’re seated.

desk with laptop and sunglasses on top

Should you have a mirror in your living room?

The one thing to remember about the feng shui of mirrors is that they bounce energy.

They also double everything they reflect.

If you want to have a mirror in your living room, the key is to use it mindfully.

Use mirrors to double thing things you’d like more of.

If you’d like more light in your living room, you can use the mirror to reflect your windows.

If you do have a mirror in your living room, pay attention to how it feels to be in the room.

Sometimes mirrors can hold too much energy and make people feel uncomfortable.

If no one in your household wants to hang out in the living room, it could be because the mirror interrupts everyone’s energy.

Try removing it or covering it and see how it feels!

Feng shui rules for mirrors in your living room:

▶ Keep them clean!

Mirrors represent how you see things in your life.

If your mirrors are dirty or smudged, that represents having cloudy vision.

Don’t place them directly across from doorways.

Mirrors directly across from a doorway can interrupt the flow of energy in your living room.

The energy coming into the room will bounce right back out.

▶ Hang mirrors so that you can see your reflection.

If you’re standing in front of the mirror, looking at yourself, the mirror should show your whole head.

If you walk by the mirror and it cuts off your head, it can skew your vision of yourself.

living room with coffee table and accent chair

Should you put your sofa in front of a window?

It depends.

The most important thing is that your furniture arrangement flows and doesn’t block doorways or walkways.

That means if your sofa works better in front of a window, then that’s where it should go.

Try putting your sofa there and see how it feels.

If you feel like there’s too much energy behind you when you’re sitting in front of the window, you can use curtains or blinds and see how it feels.

The key to a good feng shui furniture arrangement is to try it and see how it feels!

Use your intuition.

If you put the sofa in front of a window and it bothers you or no one wants to sit on the sofa, then move it!

The good thing about furniture is that it isn’t nailed down.😉 You can always move it!

Feng shui living room layout ideas:

The basics of a good feng shui living room layout are:

▶ Create conversational seating areas.

As we discussed above, group furniture so that everyone can sit together and talk/hang out.

Try to create a cohesive furniture grouping so that no one feels left out.

▶ Create a focal point.

If your living room has a fireplace, you can use it to create a focal point.

Situate the furniture so that it’s around the fireplace. That way everyone can enjoy it!

living room with fireplace, sofa, and two chairs

▶ If you don’t have a fireplace, you can always use the television as a focal point if your household likes to hang out and watch tv together.

If you don’t like your living room to be focused around the tv, you can use a frame tv, cover it with artwork, or keep it in a piece of furniture so you can close it up when it’s not in use.

If you look on pinterest or instagram you can find lots of clever ways to disguise your tv.

▶ Don’t forget the foundation: a rug.

If your room feels like it’s missing something, a lot of times it’s a rug!

Rugs can ground a room and help everything feel cohesive and together.

This is especially true if you have hardwood, laminate, or tile flooring.

Try to get a rug that is large enough so it fits under your furniture and isn’t just floating in the middle of the room.

▶ Try using different shapes and heights.

Mixing the different shapes and heights of furniture can create more balance in the room.

If you don’t have any taller furniture, you can add a tall plant, an art or picture gallery wall to draw your eyes upward, or even use uplighting to create height.

plan your room sketch of living room layout

Feng shui living room layout ideas: There’s an app for that!

If you want to test feng shui living room furniture layouts without moving your furniture around, there are a lot of apps you can use!

I made these layouts with a free online layout creator at: planyourroom.com

You can even put in the exact measurements of your room and furniture and then try lots of different layouts!

There are also lots of free phone and tablet room designer apps if you prefer to use those instead of a computer. Download a few and see what you like best!

plan your room sketch of living room layout

As you can see, there are lots of different ways to arrange furniture that can also create a good feng shui layout.

Just keep the feng shui living room basics in mind and you can’t go wrong!

And feel free to break a rule or two if it works better for your home.

Want to know more about how to feng shui every room in your home?  You might want to check out:

how to makeover your living room with feng shui!
give your living room a makeover with feng shui!