What Do Colors Mean in Feng Shui?

In the practice of Feng Shui, colors are used in specific ways to affect the energy of a space and promote the well-being of those who dwell there. According to Feng Shui, each color is believed to have either healing (yin) or inspiring (yang) properties. Rooms are supposed to be painted or decorated with specific colors depending on what the room is intended for.

Facts
In Feng Shui, colors have a significant impact on areas of everyday life (such as career, money or romance). Colors are used in combination with various Feng Shui elements while decorating to balance the energy or "chi" of a living space.

According to Feng Shui, there are "yin colors" and "yang colors." Yin colors inspire relaxation and therapeutic properties, whereas yang colors are supposed to motivate individuals and create positive energy.

Blue
Blue is a yin energy and is the primary calming color. In Feng Shui, blue refreshes energy and eases pain while promoting peace and positive feelings of love.

The color of the sea, it promotes a calming water element. Feng Shui connects blue with feelings of adventure and inspiring intellect.

Red
Considered a strong yang color, red represents good fortune, fame, confidence, joy, love, relationships and money. However, using too much red can lead to aggressiveness, angst and fear.

Black
In Feng Shui, the color black symbolizes career and money. It is used to promote strength and skills. Considered a water element color, it symbolizes strength and emotional protection. It is important to use black more as an accessory, as it can be too overwhelming and negative in large amounts.

Yellow
Yellow is a yang "earth" color in Feng Shui. Since it represents sunshine, it is associated with joy, creativity and wisdom. It inspires good health. However, it is important to remember that exposure to large doses of bright yellow can lead to negative energy and nervousness.

Purple
Purple, a combination of red (a good luck color) and blue (soothing and intellectual), signifies prosperity, abundance and intuition. In Feng Shui, it inspires creativity as well as mental and physical healing. Purple is also believed to motivate prosperity.

Orange
Orange has yang energy and is often used in Feng Shui to aid concentration. A combination of red (a good-luck, passionate color) and yellow (a warm and comforting color), it inspires creativity and confidence. Orange represents high ambitions. It is also believed to amplify chi when added as an accent.

Feng Shui Bathroom Colors

Feng Shui is the Chinese art of positioning objects and selecting colors based on the flow of energy to achieve maximum harmony. The practice revolves around the belief in the opposite energy patterns of yin and yang; yin is passive, and yang is aggressive. Feng Shui bathroom colors should be taken primarily from the yin palette to create a calm, relaxing space.

Pale Blue
The color blue has yin energy and is significant in the practice of Feng Shui. Blue reflects love, creates a feeling of peace, heals and relaxes. Feng Shui translated from Chinese to English means wind and water. Blue is the color of the ocean and the sky, making it a good color choice for the bathroom. In Feng Shui, the bathroom is connected with release and renewal. The element of water is already present in the bathroom, so use a light shade of blue to keep the feel of the space open.

Light Gray
Gray is the combination of black and white, two yin colors that can also bring healing and relaxation. Black symbolizes money, power and emotional protection. As wealth is another important aspect of the bathroom in Feng Shui, a shade of black is an appropriate color for the bathroom. White represents purity, confidence and poise in Feng Shui. Combining white with black to make a light gray can enhance the harmony of the space.

Cream
Another light and airy color that works well for a Feng Shui bathroom is cream. The color cream is made by combining white and pink with yellow. White and pink are yin colors; yellow is a yang color that is considered fortunate. Painting the bathroom in cream speaks to both the wealth and relaxing aspects of a Feng Shui bathroom design.

Lavender
Purple is another yin color that is important in Feng Shui design. Lavender is a light and airy shade of purple made from combining white with purple. In Feng Shui, the color purple represents mental and physical healing along with spiritual awareness. The added properties of the color white bring purity and confidence into the design.

The Significance of Colors in Feng Shui

Feng shui is a Chinese practice in the "art of placing and arranging matter and space in the correct manner such that harmony with the environment is achieved." Feng shui is said to help you create harmony in your relationships, home, workplace and even help with infertility. In feng shui, there are many different colors that mean many different things.

Blue
In feng shui, the color blue is has yin energy. This energy is said to be soothing and relaxing. Blue color also refers to peace, trust and exploration. If you're looking for this kind of energy, you could choose to paint a room in a light and uplifting blue.

Black
Black is the color of power and money. The color is said to bring your income and good fortune in your career. If you're looking for some extra money or a big career move, decorate your office with black decorations and picture frames.

Purple
The color purple is very important in the world of feng shui. The color purple is often referred as the color of physical and mental healing, and becoming aware in your spirituality. For some enlightening in your life, try painting a room or a wall in a light purple.

White
Like in many cultures, white is the color of purity. Also in feng shui, white is the color of confidence. When white is combined with gold and/or silver, the colors are said to create a calming space. If you're looking for a space to relax in, consider painting it in those three colors.

Yellow
Again, like in other cultures, yellow is often the color of sunshine, brightness, happiness and warmth. However, according to feng shui culture, too much yellow, or too much bright yellow, can cause anxiety. Yellow is often a good choice for kitchen, to bring light, life and warmth to a family's meeting ground.

Red
Red is the color of passion, love, fire and happiness. It is often said to bring love and happiness into your home, you should paint your front door red. Not ready for a red door? You can add a drop of red paint at the top corner of the door where it will be unseen.

How to Use Feng Shui for Business Growth

It's easy to use Feng Shui for business growth. The ancient Chinese art of placement, Feng Shui can bring harmony to your office space, increase your productivity, and bring you more clients. All you have to do is make a few inexpensive changes to your environment. While the following list of steps is not an exhaustive overview of how you can use Feng Shui for business growth, these steps will get you started.

CLEAN UP. To use Feng Shui for business growth, you must first clean and declutter your office space. Feng Shui is based on the movement of Chi, or life force energy, and a messy desk will prevent this energy from flowing freely. Clearing away clutter establishes order and will promote productivity and wealth. (see tips below for specific items to place on your desk in lieu of clutter)

MOVE YOUR DESK. The position of your desk is just as important as what you keep on it. The best place to keep your desk is as far back in the room as possible with your back to the wall. You should also have a view of the door, but never be directly in line with the door. Ideally your desk would also be aligned diagonally with the door and provide you a view of a window. (see Warnings below on ways to avoid positioning your desk.)

GET A WATER FEATURE. You should include a water feature in your office if you want to use Feng Shui for business growth. You can incorporate this water feature in a variety of ways. Fish tanks or water fountains are among the most popular options, but if neither one of those will work in your space, you can always include a photo or painting of water. Water is a powerful symbol of money in Feng Shui, so however you incorporate it in your space, you must take care to keep that water clean and flowing.

ADD SOME PLANTS. Aside from being nice to look at, healthy plants will also promote harmony as well as business and personal growth in the work place. The key is to keep them flourishing as dead plants will promote negative energy. Also be sure to avoid cactuses and other plants with sharp edges; these shapes promote negative chi.

PAINT. In Feng Shui, each color symbolizes a different element (wood, fire, earth, water, metal). The colors of your business logo, marketing materials, and colors of your office space will all affect the success of your business. If you pick the right colors to represent your business, you'll prosper. The colors you pick depend on the type of your business. For example, the color red, indicative of fire, promotes digestion and represents cooking over a fire. So if you own a restaurant, you may want to paint the walls red and use red in your logo and on any fliers you mail out. To decide which colors to use, spend some time thinking about the true nature of your business. When you decide on what the "essence" of your business is, you must pick a corresponding color to enhance the right Feng Shui element. (For more information on Feng Shui and color, see resource links below.)

Can a Small Room Be Painted Dark in Feng Shui?

Feng shui, the Chinese art of placement, focuses on balance. Rather than dictating strict rules, feng shui recommends creating an equilibrium between dark and light colors, or between dark and light rooms in an entire house. To decide whether to paint a particular room a dark color, consider the room's use, its location in the house and what feels right to you.

Yin, Yang
In Chinese thought, yin represents the feminine principle, portrayed visually by darkness. Choosing a dark wall color makes a room heavily yin. This might be appropriate for a room that you want to feel quiet and restful, such as a bedroom or study. You could prevent the room from feeling too yin, or too dark and depressing, by incorporating yang elements for balance: white trim, brightly colored rugs and furniture, a fire in the fireplace, bright reading lights.

Elements
A different color represents each of the five elements in feng shui. Many of the colors are dark or come in dark shades: water is black or dark blue, earth brown or yellow, wood green and fire red. Consult a feng shui book with a bagua map to decide which element would be best to emphasize in your particular room, depending on the room's use and its location in your home. In a centrally located living room, you could emphasize earth, for example, because the earth element governs the center of the house. Then it might be appropriate to paint your living room yellow or brown or use brown paneling on the walls.

Balance
The principles of feng shui prevent the overwhelming use of one color or material. A living room with a wood floor, wood paneling on the walls and wood furniture might be an overdose of the wood element, for example. By adding a coffee table of metal and glass, you restore balance by introducing different elements and colors. You would accomplish the same balance with red upholstery on the sofa to represent the fire element.

Optimal Use
The ideal room in feng shui would have all five elements represented, with a preponderance of one element that best suits its purpose and location. As long as you choose an appropriate dark color and balance it with lighter and brighter accessories in varied materials, there is no reason not to use dark-colored walls in feng shui.

Tips on Feng Shui in Restaurant Design

Feng shui has much to offer restaurants, helping owners to create a balanced and inviting environment. Thoughtful design helps guests to relax, encouraging them to stay longer and come back again. Different restaurants create different types of ambiance, from trendy to family style, and all of them can use feng shui principles in their design.

Entryway
The entryway must communicate warmth and openness, allowing easy access for all guests. As the Spirit of Design website says, the entryway is the Mouth of Qi, which draws life force energy inside. Thus, a comfortable waiting area, with ample room for other guests to enter and exit the building, creates a great first impression. However, it should be separate from the main dining space to create a transition zone, so new guests don't feel that everyone is watching them, says Sally Fretwell in "Feng Shui: Back to Balance." Decorate the entryway with artwork or other interesting items that fit with the restaurant's theme, suggests the Spirit of Design website.

Layout
The layout should create the feeling of openness as well, with wide-enough aisles for people to move through the restaurant without disturbing diners, as the Spirit of Design website says. Also, arrange tables so people can easily navigate to the restrooms or exit without walking through a maze of tables. Likewise, in the kitchen, make sure people have ample space to work safely and well, and always make safety a first priority. Furthermore, the entire layout of the restaurant should afford a sense of balance, say Regina S. Baraban and Joseph F. Durocher in "Successful Restaurant Design." A fairly symmetrical building and outdoor environment will maintain this equilibrium.

Acoustics
In many restaurants, people have to struggle to hear each other, which doesn't create a harmonious environment. Use strategies such as smaller rooms that flow into each other, or large wall hangings, to absorb sound and allow for easy communication.

Colors
Warm colors like orange, red and pink increase appetite and conversation, says Fretwell. They also create a welcoming environment that helps people to feel relaxed. According to Lillian Too in "Lillian Too's Easy-to-Use Feng Shui," blue colors, as well as water elements like fountains, encourage people to consume more alcohol. Consider how this relates to your priorities, minimizing or maximizing these elements as desired.

Lighting
Soft lighting enhances the comfortable, welcoming feel that warm colors create. A restaurant using feng shui principles should use lighting that has a soft glow, but allows people to see each other and their surroundings well. Candles create a romantic mood, while softly brightening the immediate environment, which can create a comfortable feeling of semiprivacy.

Other Elements
Well-placed mirrors and artwork can contribute to a restaurant's ambiance. Make sure mirrors reflect pleasant scenery, and consider using them to create the effect of a larger room. Artwork that features scenes of people happily interacting creates a welcoming environment, as Fretwell says. Always choose elements that correspond with the style of your particular restaurant.

Tips to Feng Shui a Bathroom in the Area of Wealth

Feng shui is the ancient Chinese art of arranging your surroundings to maximize good fortune. In feng shui, a space is divided into nine areas (called guas). Each gua represents a different aspect of energy. The gua for wealth is in the far left corner of the area as seen from the primary entrance. Feng shui means "wind and water" in Chinese, and water is associated with cash flow; therefore, managing the wealth gua in the bathroom is important to keep your financial energy from literally being "flushed away."

Movement
Chi is the word that describes the life energy flowing through any space. In order to let the chi flow freely through the area of wealth, keep the area free from clutter. If the toilet is located in this area, keep the lid closed whenever it is not in use to prevent the chi from being diverted away from the room; the same goes for sink and shower drains. Keep the bathroom clean and shining, particularly the chrome and mirrors; these will "reflect back" positive energy if they are pristine and divert it if they are dirty.

Decoration
Red is the color associated with wealth in feng shui, so paint the bathroom a warm, clear red. If this is not possible, use red in wall hangings, or display red flowers or other accessories. Water is a powerful wealth symbol, so hang a print or a photograph of flowing water--it is particularly useful if it shows white foam, such as ocean waves, rapids or waterfalls.

Corrections
Multiply the perception of water in the room by placing mirrors so that they will reflect faucets; however, never place a mirror where it will reflect the toilet. If the toilet is in the wealth gua, hang a small round mirror on the ceiling above it to counteract the water flowing down. Stabilize the area of wealth by placing "earthy" objects in this corner such as crystals, lucky bamboo plants or pottery bowls. If the bathroom is on an upper floor, locate a spot downstairs beneath the bathroom's wealth gua and add a bird, butterfly or tree to the area (paintings, figurines or real) to encourage the chi to flow upwards.

Personalize
Since the chi in your home is a reflection of you, decorate the wealth gua with things that symbolize wealth to you personally. This may take the form of a painting of a grand house, a framed gold coin or a model car. Try to give the whole room a feeling of luxury and abundance, beginning with this area. Display a ceramic bowl filled with scented soaps or an assortment of bath salts in crystal jars. Be selective to avoid clutter.