The main bedroom is one of the big three – kitchen, bathroom and master bedroom. These are the rooms that are generally most used and have the most Chi passing through. At this time, we were redecorating our main Berlin apartment bedroom and it was in the Relationship corner. What is interesting is the lack of choice for bed linen and there is a business design opportunity here! The choices seem to be masculine navy/claret stripes or checks, girly flowers or hotel white chic. Not easy to find linen that both partners are comfortable with which also has the added relationship colours of pink and white or yellow.
Inner Knowledge – It makes sense not to have a bedroom at the front of your home as the noise levels and Chi entering would be unsettling and confusing. In an apartment however; it may be sharing a wall with another apartment so can often be on the left of the total space. This is an area of peace and self awareness so use restful colours of deep blues and black with stone for the earth element. Navy blue, sea greens or black would work here as the elements of water, earth and wood blend well.
Family & Health – Use green and wood for the key colours and elements and the use of wood and blue hues are a great partner. Consider ornaments and art work that communicate a sense of health, family and wellbeing. This is where bed linen with leaves and birds is ideal as it is about health and natural growth.
Abundance & Prosperity – For this area, blend the element of wood and use tones of purple, deep blue and green and balance with stone and earth elements for a restful look. Buy the most expensive bed linen you can afford that sends a message of richness and abundance. Use texture and fabrics that give a sense of luxury and style.
Fame & Reputation – This may be a challenging area to have the main bedroom as it is supposed to be active and energised as a sector. It is also likely that the room is seen immediately from the front door creating the ‘corridor’ effect. This means the Chi can go straight through the living area and out the window. For a remedy, ensure the door is closed or place small tables or other furniture that the Chi needs to move around to slow down the energy. The elements here are fire and shades of red which can also partner with wood elements for balance as wood feeds fire in the Feng Shui life cycle. This is too active for a bedroom and if you can change to another room, that would be a solution. You may want to consider wood elements of deep greens and small elements of red.
Relationships & Marriage – The key colours of pinks can be a challenge. A recommendation would be to use white, with touches of yellow and add elements of stone and earth. Make sure there are two of everything including any art work – to represent relationships. The five elements may need to be used in this area to ensure a balance of energy. I have done this in rooms where the colours just don’t resonate for us. Use the Bagua map in the room as if you were using it for the whole apartment and add all five elements placing furniture carefully. Keep family photos away but photos of your partnership are fine to add.
Our Berlin bedroom was in this area and the ‘five elements’ approach was adopted as neither of us is keen on pink. We had a lot of wood in the room and balanced this with a buttermilk paint (Farrow and Ball) for earth, white fabric for metal, a touch of rose pink for fire and soft blue green for water. We chose a rich multi-coloured bed linen with rose pink highlights to reflect an Art Deco feel. We both love this era and reframed original fashion prints of couples from that age.
Creativity & Children – Use white and grey paired with the elements of metal and water. Also, have fun in this area as it is about being playful and creative. Add art work that has a playful element including art done by your children and photos of family are great here. It would be a great bedroom area for children.
Career & Life Path – It would be strange to have your bedroom right by your front entrance and not ideal and I would recommend trying to create a false entrance to separate the areas. That being said, I know that studios often present this challenge. Think minimalism in this area, keep it really clean and tidy and make sure the energy has time to ‘walk in’, wait, and gently move in to the next area. Use dark colours for water and add wood as a great partner element. If you are in a studio, move the bed/sofa bed to the side wall to ensure the Chi can move in to the area.
Helpful People & Travel sector – A great sector and it is easy to use the colours of white, grey and black with the element of metal to create a chic bedroom. As it is the travel area, place books and black and white photos of travel and places from around the world. Our tiny French apartment had the bedroom in this area and it looked great with the restful tones of dove grey with black and metal in picture frames and add chic lamps.
The Bed
The positioning of the bed is a key Feng Shui point. It needs to ideally have a solid wall behind. Avoid the ‘coffin’ position with your feet pointing towards the door and don’t sleep under a beam or ceiling fan. The bed should have a solid headboard. Not a lot to ask! Of course, not all of this is possible at times. Let’s start with the headboard. I bought a cheap one via Wayfair and it works, a friend made one out of an old door and painted it, another from MBF board she bought in a hardware store.
The ‘coffin’ position is sometimes unavoidable. Our French apartment had this classic issue, a remedy is to put a trunk or sideboard at the end of the bed but not higher than the bed as you need to see who is entering the bedroom. We chose the classic crystal hung between the feet and the door. Our New York apartment had three overhead beams but draping a lovely paper cutout canopy addressed this.
Furniture and Mirrors
A big negative is when people push the bed against a wall which says you are single. For a couple, you need equal space on both sides of the bed and the same bedside tables and lamps. Don’t clutter the room, be able to move around and don’t have electronics or a TV in the room. It is supposed to be a room of rest and relaxation. Get the gym gear out. Put it under the sofa or in a cupboard.
Mirrors are a contentious topic. If you can see your reflection in a mirror when you wake up, old Feng Shui practitioners say it is like seeing your ghost! Others say to achieve balance with warm skin tones and relaxing colours. I have seen children’s bedrooms in bright red and yellow and then the parents wonder why their child is bouncing off the walls.
Light
As you would know by now, I am not a fan of curtains and prefer blinds. We added full blockout blinds to keep out as much light as possible. We have two lamps that give enough light. If you live in a studio, consider dimmers as it is likely you have down lights.
