This article was inspired by a new long distance client who asked if I needed pictures of her bathroom or a room she does not use. People who work with me know that part of my job is to prioritize which areas of a home to attend to first and which areas rank last or remedies could even be optional.

The most important areas are where we dwell the most, such as a sleeping room or an income generating home office.  And yet, there are other instances when a room not used may still need attention.

When a floor plan is gridded out, we might see that an unimportant room (like a bathroom or utility room) is in the same directional zone/sector as a consequential area like a bedroom or anywhere you may spend hours a day or night.  Because of the uniqueness of each space, it’s possible that the important room ends up not being a convenient area to place a remedy.

Perhaps the area that needs an adjustment, like a water fountain, cannot be placed in the room without it being awkward, such as when there is no counter or floor space to work with.  And yet, if an adjacent bathroom is still within the same directional sector, that might be an easier room to install the remedy.  Yes, this confirms that the energy, the Qi, does go through walls and a remedy can be used in another room that will affect the whole zone.

Another example is two rooms that share one zone where the fire element is needed.  Let’s say one part of the sector is in a bedroom. The fire element can be represented with the use of red color, but also accent lighting. We’re not going to use a light  in a room you are trying to sleep in, so this is another case where an adjacent, unimportant room, in the same directional zone can be used where extra lighting could be turned on, day or night.

Another instance where an unimportant room or area matters is if the room is in the sitting sector of the home or the facing sector.  These back-middle and front-middle portions of the floor plan represent the “spine” (sitting) and the “face” (facing) of the floor plan.   Unseen energies in the sitting and facing sectors can influence the whole space.

Sometimes an unimportant room happens to be an extension of the house’s overall shape.  Let’s say the extension is a guest room hardly used or a laundry room. This space matters also in that it will accentuate the personality of the home, regardless of use.  For example, if the guest bedroom is an extension of the west sector, the youngest daughter in the house might end up very strong, willful, the center of the family’s attention.

Another example could be a bathroom that is an extension of the Northwest sector of the house.In this direction, the unimportant bathroom could still control some of the home’s energy in the northwest and make the father stronger and more authoritative.

An unimportant room might be one that is not used much or at all, but for arbitrary reasons. A classical Feng Shui audit might reveal that this unused room could be a good room to use, perhaps better than others in use.  Sometimes, switching rooms is the most powerful feng shui remedy: just to dwell in a better area.

Depending on the size of the house, unused rooms may have a more “yin” atmosphere with the energy still or even stagnant.  For larger homes, when a room or wing of rooms are not used, their yin nature might even attract a ghost.  There may be several different remedies for this situation, but for sure, finding excuses to use the room and liven it up can help make it less yin, more yang.

One could point out that some people hardly use their kitchen, preferring to dine out. Even a person who does not cook hardly at all, they may still likely venture into the kitchen for at least a few minutes a day.  The location of a kitchen, which historically represented the fire element, can also influence family members whether they linger in the kitchen or not. This can be connected to the directional location and what the fire element means for that area, unique to each house.  Even turning on the stove to boil water for coffee can be viewed as the fire element, but not as consequential as having the stove on longer while cooking.

Author: Kartar Diamond

Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®

From the Frequent Client Questions Blog Series