“Grandma, why didn’t they like your house?” asked four-year-old Rachael Harmon after watching the local television show Good Morning Texas.
Nancy Harmon laughs as she recalls trying to explain that “some things were just wrong and we fixed them, honey.”
That’s about as simple an explanation as you’re going to receive for the Chinese philosophy of feng shui.
And just what does feng shui mean anyway? Why did Channel 8 viewers care about what direction Harmon’s computer faced – is it conceivable that the way someone’s office is arranged could affect how much money he or she makes? Why should your bedroom be decorated in reds and golds, and how on earth could a picture of your three best friends on the nightstand keep you from getting married?
Would you be willing to point your recliner in a different direction if it would improve your golf swing? Can clearing your junk room really give you inner peace and bring exciting new people or experiences into your life?
Feng shui devotees lay claim to quite a bit of evidence to this effect, however anecdotal.
Now, if you just want to sound hip and converse intelligently about feng shui at your next party, you should know that, literally translated, feng shui means “wind and water” and has been used by Eastern practitioners for over 4,000 years to encourage living in harmony with the environment. Correctly applied, it is said to promote health, wealth and happiness by harnessing positive energy (called “chi”) from surrounding objects, architecture and elements of nature.
Just say all that with authority – and hope nobody expects you to explain just what the heck it all means.
Couldn’t hurt? / Most of us wouldn’t want a house without windows or a yard without grass and trees. Isn’t it calming, cheering to sit in a sunny yellow kitchen and look out at the blue sky? In its simplest interpretation, feng shui could be considered a form of that.
“Because I’m a Realtor, many times when I was with an Oriental client, they would talk about it,” says Harmon, an Old Moss Road resident. “And I had a friend who’d done it…it just kind of all fell into place. Her husband is partner in a large company that’s gone public – she had their offices done.”
“I’ve found a number of people in this area who are interested,” says Karen Ann Tompkins, the neighborhood feng shui consultant Harmon hired. In addition to individual and business consultations, Tompkins teaches classes and works with neighborhood gift shops to stock items used in the practice of feng shui.
“I worked in Taiwan and China for years,” says Robin Brown, owner of The Nest on Henderson. “My degree was in international business. When we were opening the shop, we met Karen Ann and … .” Brown gestures to the stores’ displays of mirrors, candles and hanging art glass.
If gift and book sales are any indication, the practice of feng shui is becoming more prevalent. Borders Books on Lovers Lane has a feng shui section separate from the rest of the store’s decorating how-to’s. Pick up a couple of tomes, however, and don’t be surprised if you’re not immediately enlightened. The concepts can become pretty involved.
“The most basic function of feng shui is that the formations (outside your house) are really more important than the house itself,” Tompkins says. “But we mirror that concept in the placement of objects in the open spaces within the house also.
“You need open space in front of you for chi and opportunity and good things to come to you, and you need support behind you to hold it.”
Tompkins opines this is “probably why half of North Dallas is living on credit cards” – because the large pools in backyards right next to the house and not separated by foliage (a feng shui rule) are sucking the chi right out.
“You’re also supposed to keep your commode lid down and the door to the bathroom closed,” laughs Harmon, who isn’t taking any chances on seeing her business go “down the drain,” so to speak.
“I wrote 11 contracts in eight days after I had my house feng shuied. And my average sales price has gone up.”
To further Harmon’s career boost, Tompkins had a muralist paint a mountain scene on utility closet doors to put “strength” behind Harmon as she worked at her desk in the cubbyhole that serves as a home office. To create open space and chi, they hung paintings of moving water in front of the desk.
“One of the biggest mistakes people make in their office area is facing a wall, having their computer screen back up to a wall,” Tompkins says. “Computer desks, units, are the worst. Just get a regular desk, bundle the cords and put a plant behind it.”
Harmon reflects ruefully: “I had just paid over a thousand dollars to have that unit built.”
As a less-than-drastic remedy to tearing out the built-ins, a mirror was positioned above the computer screen – another familiar note. Decorators in Western culture have long used mirrors as window substitutes also.
Looking for love / Money isn’t the number one reason people hire Tompkins, however.
“When I work with corporations, I warn them,” she says. “I’ll talk to their staff about their offices, but when it’s time for questions and the hands go up, the questions will be about their homes, usually their bedrooms.”
Computer consultant Terry Perkins admits that romance was her principal motivation in hiring a consultant to evaluate her Town Creek home. She and Lucy and Ethel (the latter two being beagles) wouldn’t mind having a man around the house.
“I’ve been reading about feng shui for about four years now,” says Perkins over Lucy’s indignant yipping. (Lucy doesn’t see what feng shui has to do with being penned up while visitors are present.) “There are two different studies of feng shui, and I was getting confused.”
The form of feng shui practiced by Tompkins is considered the “classical” approach and includes time as well as space considerations. Without deluging you with explanations of ba-gua maps and Luo Pans (a sort of really pretty compass that costs a bundle on the feng shui website), let’s just say that some calculations and recommendations are based on the individual’s birth date.
To cut to the chase, Perkins’ birth date makes her a “west” person. And so she positions the areas where she eats, sits, sleeps and works in westerly directions. The front of her house faces west, which is good, so she is moving her home office to one of the front bedrooms for career reasons; Tompkins placed a piece of masking tape on the carpet on the exact spot where the computer should sit. Perkins also is to keep the breakfast shutters closed against a south-facing busy street (bad chi).
But it’s those “romance” corners of the house and individual rooms that Perkins and Tompkins honed in on. Multiple pictures of friends were moved from those areas and replaced with various “pairs” – a pair of red roses, two red candles, a pair of colorful jars in the kitchen (reds, pinks and golds are the romance hues in feng shui). Perkins is still looking for a painting of a couple to put in her bedrooom.
“It’s surprising how many people who want a relationship have their homes filled with pictures of groups and friends, or single objects,” Tompkins says. “Their homes and their hopes are saying two different things.”
One of Tompkins’ clients replaced a mail pile with a pair of red coffee cups, which now stand ready by the coffee maker in the kitchen; said client is now in a headed-to-the-altar romance, coincidentally.
“Karen Ann had me get a welcome mat,” Perkins says. “And the red flowers on the front porch are supposed to be important, too; I forget why.
“I’m supposed to get a wood bed to replace the metal one, and the (bedroom) curtains are going to be pink.”
Perkins also has a draped entry that hides a mirrored vanity area from the bedroom – feng shui says no mirrors reflecting the bed. And, true to Tompkins’ dire warning, Perkins has placed bushy plants between her bedroom balcony and the pool right outside.
Two by two / As for the pair of vases on Harmon’s fireplace…well, whe was in the romance market also. Divorced for 10 years with a hectic schedule, she thought it was time to give other matters some consideration. A little further exploration in her home reveals two roses and an aromatic “love” candle in her bedroom. Tompkins also had her move her bed away from a ceiling beam that, symbolically, split the bed in half. Dozens of photos of friends and grandchildren have been moved to another room – only her daughter’s wedding portrait with her new husband remain for good luck.
“I wasn’t dating much,” Harmon says. “Then I met four or five really nice men (after the feng shui changes) – and then this other guy just…walked in. And he’s pretty incredible; this might really work.”
Did she come clean about feng shui with her new love interest?
“When he walked in here, he said: This is a warm, cozy place. And somehow we got into the feng shui thing, and he actually wants to do it with his house.”
Perhaps surprisingly, neither Harmon nor Perkins has experienced much teasing about their foray into Eastern mysticism.
“I was so worried about it being a negative thing,” admits Harmon, who had some concerns that her conservative clients might not approve. “But it turned out to be much more positive. I had a couple – a lawyer and his wife – who came over here to write a contract, and I mentioned it somehow. And she says: Feng shui! He has feng shui for his office. They thought it was awesome.
“I can’t tell you how many of my Realtor friends went out and did it. My new loan officer told me her office had been feng shuied.”
Harmon was surprised how many people even knew what feng shui was.
“I thought it was just me and my collection of weird friends,” she chuckles. “Who would have thought that I’d find it from all areas? Bill Gates? Donald Trump?
“Now my daughter’s father-in-law is a friend of mine, and he probably knew better than to be negative with me…but he did pooh-pooh it a little bit. I thought I’d get a lot more of that reaction.
“I have finally reached a point in my life where I feel okay about who I am – I don’t think anyone would throw that in my face now, because they wouldn’t get the benefit of irritating me quite as much.
“If I was still married to my ex-husband – oh my God. If he reads this, he’ll say: Oh yeah, she’s crazy.”
Perkins also is something of a true believer: “I think this is such a small investment (of money and effort) for what you get in return,” she says. “There’s definitely something to this.”
On the other hand, Harmon says: “It’s been fun. I don’t think you can use it as a crutch.
“It’s just another tool for being positive.”
