Feng Shui for Today’s Living

The Chinese have practiced the art of feng shui for centuries to bring positive energy and balance into their living spaces. In Feng Shui for Today’s Living, Mary Lambert shows how to implement it into modern living spaces.

This guide for designers, builders and architects explains the basic principles and how these principles influence a building’s space. Each element – fire, wood, water, earth and metal – is important in creating the proper ambience to produce a calm space. A detailed analysis of the home is given room by room with a specific checklist for each room. Helpful tips on accessories are also included. Plan drawings are included, with additional checklists to reduce clutter in the area.

Referring to the kitchen as the “heart of the home” comes from the concepts of feng shui. Like all rooms in a home, the kitchen has both yin and yang properties. The yang properties include hardwood units, ceramics and granite. The yin properties include softwood units, vinyl and curtains. The major elements playing an important part in this space are fire, wood, nourishment and health. The book discusses storage, lighting, countertops and flooring as kitchen fundamentals, both for feng shui and in general design.

The bath’s yang elements comprise stone, ceramic fixtures and glass tiles, while the yin are vinyl floors, towels and additional soft accessories. These elements create the feeling of relaxation and calm often found within baths. Issues of creating additional bath spaces and placement of bath fixtures, sinks, showers and colors are addressed here as well.

Living Retro

Design changed dramatically throughout the 20th Century in every room of the home and especially in the kitchen and bath. Andrew Weaving celebrates these changes and aspects of style in Living Retro. The book features uniquely designed rooms by assorted designers in 250 color photographs. Covering many different decorative styles, colors and patterns, this book will guide designers in putting together a perfectly retro room.

One kitchen is from a Copenhagen country home. The kitchen consists of a wall of cabinets, a granite island and two sinks. The curved ceiling is made of birch plywood, with skylights to illuminate the space. The central core of this area contains a bathroom, creating a retro look for the European home.