Want your baby to sleep? Good nursery design with good Feng Shui
Can a well-designed nursery also have good Feng Shui? Yes but I think there is a difference between well-designed and over-styled. A well-designed nursery is functional and comfortable. Yes it should look fab but in designing the space we should not forget that this room is for a baby to sleep in and not just a vanity project. Sometimes style comes at the expense of comfort – or good feng shui. Can we not have great design with the bonus of creating a calming and nurturing space? Don’t we all want babies to be calm and happy, to sleep better and maybe even to wake up in a good mood (ok at least most of the time). Now I am not going post a bunch of pictures and trash a bunch of nurseries – although some things I see make my hair stand on end. I will list my top five super styley-design trends that can equal bad Feng Shui. Feel free to disagree – these are mostly my pet peeves but they are based in basic Feng Shui principles.
Crazy crap hanging over the crib. You know what I’m talking about here. Often gorgeous and very creative, these Etsy-vintage-folksy mobiles border on elaborate installation art. I have seen everything from ‘intricate branches woven together to create a life-like projection of a tree covered with hand-made birds’ to ‘giant pink paper lanterns and pompoms clustered together to create a giant amoeboid sculpture that floats over the crib’. General rule: wooden beams, slanted roofs and giant floating hand-made sculptures create a heavy and oppressive feeling not uplifting and rising chi.
Mirrors. Okay I am going to put a photo for this one. This super gorgeous vignette from a nursery is definitely impressive but unless your baby is a champion sleeper I wouldn’t recommend mirrors in a nursery. And this is one big mirror – and it is right beside the baby. I know a lot of toys have mirrors so babies can see themselves blah, blah, blah but from a Feng Shui perspective that is adding the water element which creates dynamic and moving energy. In a bedroom you want the energy still, calm and grounding.
Metal beds. Alright I don’t see this to often but I did see one lovely room where the parents used a vintage wrought iron crib. I’m going to assume (hope) they got it standardized and safety checked – that is not why I mention it. In Feng Shui wooden beds are best for sleeping. Metal energy is contracting, cold and rigid. A wooden crib is best – it is neutral. If you want to create more stability and grounding go for a dark brown coloured wood.
Monochromatic colours (read: all white). Lovely, pristine and storybook but white represents the metal element. Rigid and cold. White is fine but add a little colour in small splashes to relax the space. Below is a great example of how to add a little colour to your white palette.
Super sleek lines and sharp edges. There is a growing trend for sleek and modern, condo worthy nurseries with furniture that looks like mini versions of what the parent’s have in their living room. I get it, just because you have a baby doesn’t mean your house has look like Dora the Explorer’s backpack exploded everywhere – you want it to be stylish with clean lines and no fussy crap. Just watch the angles and sharp edges make sure there are none pointing toward the crib. Dramatic, sharp corners and angles create fast-moving, disruptive energy.
- www.lonnymag.com
- www.high-heelfootinthedoor.blogspot.com
- www.houseandhome.com (photo credit Michael Alberstadt)