This is a question that comes up often. How to Feng Shui a place or rental space on a budget, how to follow the principles without renovating or making dramatic changes. With the Form School, the modern Feng Shui practice, there is a focus on practicality and most importantly, intent. For example, ask yourself what wealth or prosperity means? For some it is purely money, for others it is abundance in friends, good food and health. Many wealthy people, such as Steve Jobs (Apple), have died from health issues inspite of having millions. So if $50 is a lot of money for you, then that is your idea of wealth. For millionaires, they often still seem themselves as poor, otherwise, why wouldn’t they stop at a million and just enjoy life?

Renting Your Space

This has been highlighted in other posts but first ask your landlord what you are able to do. Some are fine with painting and making small changes as long as the living space is returned to a clean and liveable state. Having once lived in a shabby and not chic and tiny apartment, the landlord let me tear up some old linoleum and paint a floor with cement paint. A rug was thrown over immediately updating the place. There were three different colours on the kitchen cupboards. After cleaning them with scrubbing brushes and sugar soap, all were painted a cream colour for continuity, small wooden kitchen shelves were added and pale green accessories brightened up the space. An old dark wood wardrobe was painted white in the bedroom, the bathroom had a small cupboard added under the sink, the shower curtain replaced and instantly the whole apartment looked liveable. Go to your local hardware or DIY store and you may find ideas such as stick on tiles, motifs, or opaque patterned plastic glass that can be taken off when leaving. Just think outside of the box.

Feng Shui Budgeting

A young friend was in Berlin for a year teaching. She was renting and wanted to see what could be done with her studio. A gentle river print was hung on the back of the door with commando strips to activate the Career path sector. A small black IKEA mat with Welcome on, was added at the front door, beckoning in a career path. Entering the apartment, the double bed took up most of the living space. As this was across a range of sectors, the bed was decorated with a dove grey, white and pale lilac, paisley patterned bedspread bought in a Zara Home sale. Two pale grey cushions were added.  A tiny table with two chairs were placed in the Fame sector, battery-lit fairy lights were placed in a big glass jar on a red table mat to light up the area. The kitchen was a basic one in the Wealth sector. She bought kitchenware in the local supermarket which to her was a lot of money and with intent, stated that this was to add life and energy to her prosperity. After doing this, the most important point was she said that she finally felt that she had a calm but activated space to live in. When she left, she donated many of the items to a new teacher paying forward to help someone else.

Tips & Tricks

  1. Check out local thrift stores for china and homewares – stick to one or two colours to pull different styles together.
  2. Go to flea markets, you can often bargain and buy lovely glassware at half the price of stores and with some vintage age.
  3. DIY or hardware stores have a great range of products, ask the people there and they can often advise on what to buy. Also, many of these stores have branched out in to homewares that are inexpensive and can be painted to brighten up a space.
  4. Look for cheap picture frames in supermarkets and other places, a friend framed five lovely postcards in frames for wall art.
  5. Use fabric in different ways, a friend used a sari for a bedspread, we re-covered dining table chairs easily with a staple gun and some cutoff fabric. Curtains can easily be hung and use hemming tape to shorten them. Get creative!
  6. Paint it. Look at cheap furniture, baskets, frames and even floors that can be painted for an instant change.

Final Thoughts

Every rental place we have lived in has been improved and we always had good landlords. In some ways, it is about giving the space new life and energy and you have left the place in a better way. Your intent and changes lead the way for yourself and also the next tenant and that is what Feng Shui is also about, generating positive life energy.