Capturing the energy of a student apartment is as simple as feng shui
Students spend the first few days of each semester changing their rooms to find that perfect balance between comfort, functionality and mood. It doesn’t take a lot of money to change the mood of a dorm room or apartment to make it more personal.
Give feng shui a try.
Feng shui is an ancient style of design and decorating that tries to encompass and focus the energy of a room or an entire house, said Marty Cannon, an interior designer. The basic idea of feng shui is to use simple elements like light, water and plants to change the mood of the room to emphasize the positive energy of a room.
“We experience a room with all our senses,” Cannon said.
According to the University of Florida Web site that explains the history behind it, feng shui is “an ancient art based on the flow of energy or ‘chi’ through the universe and its influence on our daily lives. The practice was first established over 6,000 years ago and is related to subjects of nature such as physics, philosophy, astronomy and astrology.”
Cannon has 30 years of interior design experience, and she owns and operates her own accredited design firm, Marty Cannon ASID Interior Design in Logan. She said the key principles of feng shui have been in practice for so long that there is a lot of crossover from traditional feng shui techniques and today’s more conventional ideas.
“Trying to achieve a certain rightness to a room comes natural with design,” she said.
She gives students tips when decorating their own rooms that are simple and inexpensive. First, she said pick the right picture to be the focus of the room. Feng shui is about involving the elements of nature. A picture like a landscape photograph or floral painting helps soften the mood of the room.
Second, she said, let light come into the space. Light is closely linked to how people feel, and the right amount of light is very important. Opening a window to let in the natural light from outside is the simplest thing students can do to change the feeling and energy of the room.
“Light can give us energy. It even can help us to feel mentally healthy,” Cannon said.
The third tip she explained is how music and sound affect the mood of the room. Taking a break from the loud sounds and music to play some soft nature sounds will help give a space a relaxing feel, Cannon said. Even small fountains that can be purchased from any home and garden store can create that peace.
Finally she said to use colors and plants to shape the space into a place of refuge.
“Plants are a good way to hide some of the hard lines of a room, and it brings an element of life into the space,” Cannon said.
Though Cannon is a professional interior designer, she doesn’t call herself an expert in feng shui, and she said anyone can learn about feng shui through books and magazines. She said feng shui is also about order, but clutter and junk disrupt that order. She said students really need to go through their stuff to simplify to cut out the clutter.
The Web site stated people who practice feng shui in its traditional form believe “relationships, wealth, success and health are relative to the arrangement of our belongings. If the energy in our environment is hindered or not flowing correctly, it can cause disharmony. Feng shui aims to balance energy in order to attain greater happiness, well-being and productivity.”
-dwkoecher@cc.usu.edu