I have been recently working with a couple who talked about the feng shui of a house and neighborhood. We have been looking at homes in West Chester, Malvern and Berwyn neighborhoods since they are interested in having their children attend West Chester, Great Valley or Tredyffrin-Easttown School Districts.  For those of you who don’t know, Feng Shui relates to energy. They wanted a home with good Feng Shui, or good energy. Good feng shui also means good health, happiness and prosperity.

A few items on the Feng Shui check list that my clients educated me about included:

1) Location and neighborhood: ensuring your house receives good energy from its surroundings – which includes a clean street and good neighbors. In general feng shui terms, my clients said they want the house to have breathing room, with more land in the back than the front of the house.

2) Strong front door: My clients said the front door is very important in feng shui because this is how the house receives its Chi, or energy nourishment. They looked at both its size and proportion in relationship to the rest of the house, as well as the pathway that led to it. They said you can always create a better feng shui leading to the door, even if you can’t change the location of the door.

3) Door Alignment: My clients said that a feng shui rule of thumb about door alignment is that no direct door alignment is good, as it creates a strong rush of Chi, thus a loss of good energy. So, they were checking to make the sure the front and back door didn’t align, as well as door alignment within the house, ensuring that the good energy stayed in.

4) Main entrance: The main door is called “The Mouth of Chi”, and this is how the house absorbs its Chi. If a staircase is facing the main door directly, the energy rushes up quickly to either the lower, or the higher floor, thus leaving the main floor without feng shui energy nourishment. Thus, my clients disliked a home in West Chester, simply because the staircase to the upstairs faced the front door.

5) Kitchen: My clients were looking for an airy, spacious, clean, and bright kitchen with different levels of lighting.

Is Feng Shui on your checklist for your next home?