Feng Shui

aka ~A Place for Everything and Everything in it's Place

Like probably much of the western world I thought feng shui was a bunch of mystical hooey. But then I picked up this book at the library, and liked it so much I bought one so I didn't have to return it in 3 weeks: Terah Kathryn Collins' "The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room".

Reading this book, I came to believe that feng shui is equal parts common sense, good design, and mysticism.

It started with a description of how Chi - or life force - flows through *everything*. And if your home has parts of it that are old/ unused/ cluttered/ neglected/ or otherwise "dead space", that the energy that flows there gets clogged up. And what affects your environment affects *you*. Or me as the case may be. And that applies to places that you may not be able to see ~ like closets, corners, cupboards ~ everywhere.

So I decided that before I could progress with this book, I needed to get busy and clean out some of my more clogged places: the closets.

Here are some photos of one of my first "projects" ~ my bedroom closet. It used to be such a catch-all, completely disorganized and in danger of covering the unsuspecting at any moment in an avalanche.

It took a little doing, and I had to buy a few decorative boxes and baskets ~ alright, maybe I didn't *have* to ~ but it was worth it! And just being inspired was well worth the price of the book. I've effected these changes in my CD and DVD collections, too. Bit by bit I'm cleaning out and better using my space... and I haven't even got to the mystical parts of the book yet!

Oh, and one of the things I liked best about this book was that it has before and after photos of real places. Real home exteriors, entryways, bedrooms, etc. And it all makes sense. The changes they suggest and demonstrate just "work". Looking forward to continuing this project.