In all my years of teaching feng shui, i have often encountered many questions about interior design. Unfortunately, due to the increased public interest in feng shui, comes increased superstition about feng shui as well.

Let me clear the air here that Feng Shui has nothing to do with interior design. Feng Shui is practical. Its aim is to improve the quality of life of the occupants of a home, and not dictate their personal taste in décor or artwork. Here are some common misconceptions about Feng Shui that I would like to clarify:

Colours and Colour Schemes
The colour of the walls, furnishings, carpets or curtains of your home is really about personal choices. Colours have more psychological impact on you than an actual Feng Shui effect. However, this is not to say that colours have absolutely no Qi effect. They do, but a patch of colour in certain rooms will not affect the Feng Shui of the property substantially. Simply put, if you don't like the wall colour in your room, repaint it.

Types of Furniture, Paintings and Art
Again, this still goes to your personal taste than a matter of Feng Shui. Whether you love art décor furnishing, baroque style, Balinese or minimalist, your choice of furniture, paintings and art or any form of aesthetic decoration is all up to you. If you have angry-looking masks or paintings in the room, it is safe to say how it makes you feel is clearly more of a psychological effect.

Toilets
Toilets are one of the most commonly misconstrued subjects in interior Feng Shui. All this business of luck being flushed away, and toilets being Sha Qi are exaggerated New Age Feng Shui (which emphasizes on object placement) ideas. The main point you need to remember is this: You do not spend a lot of time in a day in a toilet and therefore, it does not have a substantial impact on the property or the residents. Toilets are generally harmless. So don't worry about it.

Feng Shui Dimensions
Many people are fussy about how their home is constructed. Some went to the extreme and require their home to have auspicious dimensions that is measured by a Feng Shui ruler. Rest assured, you don't need to do this for Yang Houses (homes for the living) because Feng Shui dimensions are only important and used for Yin House Feng Shui – that is for burial spaces and tombs.

Ceilings
The kinds of ceilings you have at home have nothing to do with Feng Shui. But when it comes to ceilings, the guiding consideration is that it be of a simple design, with no excessive beams crossing the ceiling. Most of the time, it has no major concern in the Feng Shui of a house.

Briefly, I can assure you that the types of material your home is made of, the number of rooms, doors (or even the colour and appearance of your Main Door), and steps on the stairs does not hold any impact to the Feng Shui of your home. Neither does having a cactus plant in the house! These are either a matter of superstition, symbolism or merely incorrect concepts.

Practice some practical common sense when it comes to interior decorating and design, and learn to tell the difference between a psychological effect and a Feng Shui one. On that note, I am sure you will have no problem turning your house into a home.

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