Call me crazy but I was on one of shopping runs to Target
and what did I find, but several new color palettes in the home décor section! One of my favorite colors popped up, and that
color is lime. It’s a little earthy
palette I was zoning in on. It was mixed
with classic neutrals and then there it was my color, lime. Honestly, this color uplifts me every time I
see it. It’s true, it will awaken your
senses if you’re sitting and reading at your computer. It will evoke a memory (hopefully a happy
one) and inspire some creative thinking. My new color palette included slate grey, dove
grey, turquoise and lime. Where was I
going to use this new palette? In my
office!
After I got home from Target, I ran to my Color &
Texture Bible to see if I could find this scheme. There
it was on page 146 in the Naturals section labeled “vibrant”. The color lime is vibrant. When you say it, several visuals come to
mind. I don’t need to paint you a
picture, you can see it in your mind and you’re probably wondering what I mean,
Feng Shui with a twist of lime. And you’re wondering why Feng Shui? Let me tell you, I have my reasons for Feng
Shui, I needed uplifting and I found my answers to feeling so drab in the Office Feng Shui, Creating Harmony in your
Work Space book written by Darrin Zeer.
First I want to help you quickly understand Feng Shui,
because I am always being asked, “Do you do Feng Shui?” To which I always reply, “Sometimes, do
you?” The truth is most people don’t
understand the concept but would love to put Feng Shui into practice. I can tell you that a little harmony and
positive energy is all I was looking for.
So here goes, Feng Shui is a design principle. To understand the art of Feng Shui, it’s
important to be aware of this eastern belief that there is hidden moving power
within/through our space. The theory comes
from China from about the 1700’s and it’s the practice of working with energy
as it flows through our environments.
The Chinese call this energy “Chi.” The Chinese believe that the
placement of objects should be in harmony with their “chi” or energy to bring
harmony. What wall should the mirror go
on? What position should my desk be in
at my office? These are the kinds of
questions I get asked and today I want to incorporate the principles of Feng
Shui. I’m using my new office space to show
you how to the incorporate these basic principles of Feng Shui as I understand
it.
My plight begins with my cluttered, unharmonious desk. It was a 9-month disgrace; a garbage dump of
unfinished projects. We moved into our
new office in January and this was the first moment I had to de-clutter my
space. While working here, I was
avoiding it. To say I was ready for this
was an understatement.
In this
office make-over, I will de-clutter, organize and Feng Shui my work space. That was a mouthful and I haven’t even given
you a visual. So here’s my messy,
disorganized space. The first principle
that Zeer wants you to adopt is to de-clutter. Do not encourage messy desk syndrome because you
can’t accomplish anything you want, let alone be creative and take phone calls
on a desk with chaos all around you.
A clear desk, a clear mind is the thought here. The next second principle is
organization. Organize the areas of your
desk with the Desktop Map of
Success.
What the map of success says is create zones or areas on your desktop to maximize the flow of energy. I’ve created the map for you to look at above.
Do you see the zones, Courage, Care, Calm, Connectivity and
Creativity. Nice choice of harmonious
words and super layout if you have such a perfect desk. I do not have this desk, I have an “L” shaped
desk layout. I’ve interpreted the best
way I can and it really works off of creativity being central and with the
other areas, falling into place like the drawing below.
You
see my desk here in the visual. See how
each area is defined by Feng Shui and how the elements are to lay out by
task. This harmony or balance of energy
on your desk is supposed to create positive Chi. It should rev up your ability to communicate
effectively, be creative and have courage to use good business principles. Are you on board yet? In case you’re not, here is a little more
proof that there is something positively unique to Feng Shui.
What this new layout has done for me, my desk and my
outlook, is positive. Three to four days
from completing this design, I was given a tip for someone that needed a
renovation. It took me three-four phone
calls to accomplish a connection. My
courage was moving the phone to my left.
I don’t know why, but that has always been successful for me. I attribute it to that I need a lot of
courage in contacting people. I don’t
want to be annoying when it comes to that, so I shy away from more than one
phone call. This time, I did not. I figured I had nothing to lose by
continually trying to connect with the potential client. It worked.
I have a client and I really attribute it to something that I believe
Feng Shui teaches, positive attitude. My
attitude is changed. I can look at my
tree picture and feel so grounded. I can
place my computer monitor and tablet in the center and know that I am creating
good. I see positive, I feel positive, I
believe positive. That’s my story on Feng Shui with a twist of lime. My finished redesigned desk project is below {you can click on it and see it larger.}
The
last point I want to tell you is important also. The elements I chose for this project have to
do with Feng Shui and what elements must be represented in a successful design. The elements are: fire, wind, air, earth and
water. The elements you choose must be
represented from these five elements.
The elements are driven by Chi and flow through them. My earth was the lime color, like the green
carpet tile and soft back pillow. The
fire, red poppy fields of the photo represents my courage. The water was the teal accents and the wind
was dove grey, and represented by the dove on the desk in the caring section
next to creativity. The fire was also
the shiny metal objects, the pails of shells and starfish. This is how I relate to people and put in the
connectivity section of my desk. The
photo shown below details the elements I purchased, and brought from home. They were in line with the new color palette
and the principles of Feng Shui.
Whether your desk needs a makeover or you want to
incorporate the principles of Feng Shui at home, they are easy to incorporate and will yield good results. If you have
a desire to work with an Interior Designer and learn more about Feng Shui, give
me a call!
