Help, My Space isn’t a Square!
Now that you have your floor plan matched with the Bagua sectors, it may highlight that they don’t quite fit in the overall space. First of all, there is no perfect plan. There will always be a room or area that presents a challenge. Many friends have modern homes where the garden is in the back left hand or right hand corner. Depending on where this is placed in the Bagua sectors, a tall light and a seating area can be placed to ‘connect’ the garden with the house.
Another friend had a tiny courtyard home with a small, sad piece of lawn that was also high maintenance and happened to be in the Relationship corner. She had it replaced with similar stone tiles that she had in the kitchen and installed a tall and gentle fountain in the corner. When dinners and parties were held, the doors were opened inviting the outside to come in and it was lovely with fairy lights and candles especially on a summer evening.
Irregular Floor Plans
While the ideal Feng Shui floor plan is a square, this is not always possible, especially in today’s interior designs. Many townhouses and older European apartments are interesting combinations of small rooms and different levels. Don’t over think this, just take each floor level or room at a time. There is usually a cure in the Feng Shui world and you need to determine if you have a missing sector or if the home extends beyond the Feng Shui Bagua map. Use the following process to determine the layout impact.
Missing Sectors
Hopefully the missing section isn’t the wealth, career or relationship area. However, we all have challenges to meet when buying or renting a place and there are ‘cures’. The Relationship corner in our past Berlin apartment was on the balcony and half way into the main bedroom. Not exactly ideal. The key solution was to bring the balcony ‘inside’ to be part of the bedroom and to psychologically ‘extend’ the bedroom wall. Small mirrors were placed reflecting outwards extending the window wall and the statement stated was, “This mirror extends this wall for the relationship area with no missing corner”.
If you have your garden in a missing sector, it is likely to be in the Wealth or Relationship corner. For the Wealth sector, go to the farthest corner and buy and place an expensive light, or some sort of feature that has height that is like a beacon for the rest of the space. Buy the most expensive outdoor furniture you can afford and use that space stating “That this area is connected and that there is no missing corner”.
The Fifty Percent Rule
This is another way to measure if you have an exact floor plan of the whole space. It is a bit tricky to understand but I go by my mentor, Clear Englebert’s formula. If the part that is extending is less than 50% of the total floor plan then it is considered to be an extension of the whole area. Often long balconies across two sectors have this issue. Or a major stairway as in our case.
Our current apartment needed the Travel and Helpful People sector balanced as it was definitely an extension with our bedroom outside the floor plan. The largest mirror was bought and hung on the laundry interior wall facing inwards and we stated that, “This mirror extends the wall so there is no missing sector”. What is interesting is during some crazy recent moments including a redundancy, helpful people have turned up by chance. For example, I found an employment lawyer who happily won my case with a good outcome. Others have supported us through difficult decisions. Who would have thought it when this sector is so unbalanced?
It is Just a Missing Area?
Then there is what is called a missing area where the total building space is more than 50%. This is often seen with tiny balconies or small areas that are in stairwells. A missing area is easy to fix depending on the area and can be solved with mirrors, affirmations and furniture placement.
A past French apartment had the living room plan looking like a hatchet knife with the knife-edge as the main wall. We had to place the sofa against the wall next to the door and leave the lovely stone wall free except for a drinks bureau and display cabinet in the centre panel. Feng Shui wise, this meant mirrors. We placed a mirror on the opposite wall to counteract the knife edge wall. We added a convex mirror above the television which solved what is called the ‘vulnerable position’ allowing us to see the door and who is entering. It looked very chic and was practical at the same time.
Final Thoughts
Ideally, avoid having the Wealth or Relationship sector missing but if they are or if they extend in to a balcony or outside space, there is usually a solution. If this seems to be too difficult consult a Feng Shui consultant to see what they advise. As with all our living places, it is your energy that senses if there is an issue or if the home has internal harmony.
