Feng Shui – Balconies

With balconies or conservatories, they are considered as part of the house or apartment Bagua map, when attached to a building wall. A key Feng Shui practice is to mentally ‘push the attached wall out’ to include the balcony or patio as part of that area through decorating. Here is what this means. Our Berlin apartment balcony was in part of the Relationship corner and a small mirror was placed in the inside window of the bedroom wall that is next to the balcony and we stated that “this mirror expands the wall to include the balcony”.

Look at the space of the balcony if between two walls, ensure it doesn’t feel crammed between the building walls. What is the view you are seeing, is there a solid balcony floor – use your natural Chi sense of balance and space. We needed to do some major renovation – see my post on Berlin Renovation. Floorboards needed replacing and it needed a general clean up. We loved the feeling of being in a treehouse surrounded by birds and hungry squirrels and it hid other buildings.

Where to start, use the Bagua map to determine where the balcony is – we had three balconies with the major one in the Relationship corner, a small one in the Fame and Fortune area and a smaller one in the Travel and Helpful People sector. Check where the entrance to the balcony is and how the Chi energy moves through and ensure that it doesn’t rush straight over the balcony rails! Remember the ‘corridor effect’ in other posts. Use furniture to slow down the energy between the entrance and the balcony edge or railing. It will make people move on to the balcony and stay.

Career & Life Path – this means that your balcony is over your front door or where you enter the house from the balcony. If you enter via the balcony, you need to consider this as your front entrance to the whole place. As always, keep it really tidy and uncluttered using the colours of deep blues and black for the water and you can add stone and wood as a partner element.

For some this is a front porch or patio, it needs to be used frequently for Chi energy to move around the space. Make sure you feel a sense of privacy and not being exposed to what is happening on the street. I often see front porches or patios not used as people feel exposed or nervous. Put up pots of trees or plants such as bamboo for privacy but keep them watered and healthy. The key element is water and a small fountain would be good but make sure it is clean, has a gentle flow. Check out Clear Englebert for more information on fountains. https://clearenglebert.wordpress.com

Inner Knowledge – Use the colours of deep blues with stone for the earth element. Water and wood can be used as partner elements with deep greens and black as complimentary colours. It is an opportunity to create a lovely area to relax and read.

Family & Health – This area would be great here as it is about the family area and being a meeting space. Use green and wood for the key colours and elements and the use of wood and blue hues are a great partner. Plant a small garden, hang plant pots with herbs but make sure they are looked after and are healthy and thriving.

Fame & Reputation –  The elements here are fire and shades of red which can also partner with wood elements and green for balance as wood feeds fire in the Feng Shui life cycle. We had a small balcony in this area and painted the table and chairs to blend with the wrought iron. I placed some bulbs on the table and looked forward to watching them bloom each year.

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. Our balcony was in this area and we already had a white and navy love seat which isn’t a perfect colour but being practical, we needed to find a solution. We added lemon cushions and touches of lemon accessories for the earth element. We loved the space in summer.

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.