The Sunnyvale Sun

Cover Story

Photograph by Brian Connelly

Sunnyvale's Matthew and Suzi Sohn remodeled their home with feng shui principles in mind. Colors, accessories, even wall designs were carefully thought out to promote harmony and prosperity.

Feng Shui

It's a lot more than just cleaning out a closet or moving stuff around

By Joanne Griffith Domingue

There was a time when Matthew Sohn had just two words for feng shui: "Total hogwash."

But no more. He and his wife Suzi used a feng shui consultant to review the blueprints for the new home they are building in Sunnyvale. The changes they made as a result have definitely made a difference, Matthew said.

During Matthew's business travels, he encountered some feng shui success stories that changed his mind about the practice. Consider the Grand Hyatt Singapore. When it first opened, business was off to a slow start, Matthew said. The West would say it was due to traffic, or poor visibility of the entrance. The East would say it's a poor flow of energy. The hotel hired a feng shui consultant who implemented changes, and business boomed.

So when Matthew and Suzi were planning their new home, they decided to include a feng shui consultation in the design phase.

In 2001 the Sohns moved from their San Jose house in Almaden Valley back to Sunnyvale, to the Eichler home where Suzi grew up. They did this so they could care for Suzi's father, who had cancer. Suzi's mother had just died, and her father needed help. After a family meeting with their three children, all agreed it would be easier to care for their father if they could do it from Sunnyvale.

This was not an easy time for the Sohns. "The rooms were small. We were living out of boxes. It was a shambles," Matthew said. "We were dealing with life and death issues," Suzi said. "It was a time of tremendous pain."

After Suzi's father died in March 2005, they decided to rebuild on that spot, to honor Suzi's parents' love of Sunnyvale. "We feel a tremendous connection here," Suzi said, pointing to the ground.

So they decided to tear down the old house and build new. "We wanted to honor what we had and rebuild," Suzi said.

Blueprints and feng shui

In June 2005 they hired an architect. At that point they hired Jo Preston, a feng shui practitioner with a business called Designs for Living, to review the blueprints.

"I love it when the plans come to me before they begin building," Preston said. And immediately she noted some things she suggested changing.

Originally the Sohns had their daughter's bedroom in the rear left corner of the house and Matthew's home office in the right front corner. Preston suggesting swapping their locations.

In feng shui, the rear left room is the wealth or money corner. If you put a daughter there, you are saying the teenage girl is in control of the family and the family finances.

"Kids can rule the roost," Matthew said. But it was not what the Sohns wanted.

"After we made the change, laying out the rest of the house just seemed to fall into place," Suzi said.

Matthew loves the new arrangement. He stands in his new office space and points out how he can see at an angle through the house all the way to the front. Being in the rear does not mean he is stashed away out of sight.

In the old house the toilet was in the center of the home. Not good, Preston said. The center of the home should be for health, the life source for the family. With the toilet and bathroom drains in the center, feng shui practitioners believe life and energy can drain out. So bathrooms in the new house are all along the outer edges of the building.

But there is no bathroom in the wealth corner. That would symbolize the draining out of resources, like money down the drain, Preston said.

So the Sohns put their kitchen in the center of the house where it is more protected. "The house is built like a heart with chambers," Matthew said.

Ceilings are high, 11 feet in the entry and 9 feet in the living room. "High ceilings mean there is no limit on growth," Matthew said. The old house had 7-foot ceilings. "That's why we felt so limited."

There are arches between the family room and the kitchen, gentle arches, "so fortune can come in and fit through," Matthew said. The curve of the arch reflects the curve of a coin, a symbol of prosperity.

The décor is neutral so the Sohns can use color as accents. The fire element, a life force in feng shui, is present in the kitchen with the red hues in the cabinetry and in the back yard with the barbecue.

"We wanted the house to be a home for our family, to protect, to nurture, to live in harmony," Suzi said. Bringing feng shui principles to their new home has enabled them to build a house that supports their goals.

Ancient philosophy

Some might consider feng shui (pronounced fung SHWAY) just a bit of new-age chatter. But in fact, feng shui principles have been around for thousands of years. The roots are in ancient Chinese culture. But feng shui also embraces universal common sense.

Feng shui is the art of placement, a system of thoughtful arrangement of furniture and objects, artwork and plants to create a harmonious environment. It is purposefully arranging things for positive results.

Twenty years ago not much was written about feng shui, and few knew what it was. Today books such as 10-Minute Clutter Control: Easy Feng shui Tips for Getting Organized by Skye Alexander, or The Everything Feng shui Book: Create Harmony and Peace in Any Room by Katina Z. Jones, are in bookstores and libraries.

"It is getting more mainstream, especially in our area," said Marina Lighthouse, a certified feng shui consultant in Los Altos. "People are looking at [feng shui] as a consideration when buying or selling a home. If people go into a real estate office today, they can expect Realtors will have knowledge of feng shui."

Most people have experienced homes or shops where they immediately feel comfortable, enjoy spending time and want to return. And most have also walked into a house or business and wanted to walk right back out. For some reason the space evoked bad karma, a bad energy.

Feng shui addresses reasons why a place does not feel right. People live healthier, happier, more prosperous lives when home and work environments are harmonious.

To achieve harmony, feng shui practices suggest cures, practical solutions to produce a certain effect.

Feng shui means wind and water that together are harnessed to produce energy. This energy is called chi (pronounced chee) and is a vital force that animates and moves through everything. Feng shui cures allow the chi to move freely through an environment.

A common first step in feng shui is to clean house and clear out clutter. Like a clogged pipe, clutter keeps the chi from flowing freely.

"Get rid of things you don't like, that trigger unhappy memories," Preston said. "Surround yourself with things you love."

Another step is to consider furniture arrangement. If you can open the front door and see out the back, it is thought the chi will race out too fast. Placing plants or moving furniture, maybe adding a screen, can slow down the chi.

A cure might also mean rearranging furniture so you can walk freely through a room.

The goal is for the energy to flow in and through like a gently moving stream. It shouldn't rush so fast it races out the back door without time to bestow life-giving benefits. But neither should it move so slowly it stagnates like a pool. When that happens, people feel sick.

But with feng shui there are remedies. "Everything can be fixed, with a sincere heart and good intentions," Lighthouse said.

"Intention is the oomph behind feng shui," Preston said.

Townhouse feng shui

Channing Miller moved from Cupertino to her Sunnyvale townhouse in 1991. It was 12 years before she considered using feng shui. In 2003, she wanted some changes.

"Things seemed to be stagnant," Miller said. "I was a single parent. My daughter had moved out. It was hard to get energy going in my life. My energy was really, really stuck. I wasn't interacting or bringing people in."

Then she met Joan Green, a feng shui consultant in San Jose. She brought Green into her home for a consultation.

When Green meets with new clients, she asks them in what one or two areas of their life they want change. "Then I see their floor plan and their personal objectives and see how they work together. I work with adjustments that they like, that are suitable for them. I adjust the energy flow, the dynamic between the person and their space.

Miller felt a change right away. "The energy that came from that first session helped me start getting together with friends and finding a contractor." The remodeling and revitalizing that followed has made a huge difference in her life, she said.

Her first change, what she calls a drastic decision, was to get rid of the baby grand piano in her living room. It had belonged to her mother. She didn't use it. But it was hard to think of giving it up. She discovered her son, who lives in the Midwest, wanted it and would pay for the shipping. That kept the piano in the family, which pleased Miller, but moved it out her life.

"That really opened up that room, my living room, but I wasn't living in it."

Next Miller took out a bank of cabinets between the dining room and the kitchen that opened up more space. She took down the vertical blinds on the glass sliders to her patio so the light could come in. She painted with warm southwestern colors.

Miller teaches knitting and crocheting classes around her dining room table called "Absolutely Fabulous Scarves." She wanted to use her yarns as a design element in her living room. So she hired California Closets to build a floor-to-ceiling unit with cubbies for displaying her yarns.

As her home opened up, so did her life. "I was ready for it," Miller said. "Feng shui is not voodoo. A lot of it is intuitive. Now people come in and say 'It feels so good to be here.' It's a very soothing, happy place. Feng shui has made such a difference in my life."

Lighthouse said, "A house is a metaphor for a life. How people react to a home reflects the owner's life."

The way to feng shui

To learn more about feng shui, there are many books available. Websites also offer information, but some just want to sell products such as candles and plants. Check the Yellow Pages, also, for feng shui consultants in this area.

To be certified, a feng shui consultant has followed a particular course of study and received a certificate. Fees for a one-hour consultation may cost from $165 up to $500 or $600 for a home. Some practitioners have a two-hour minimum. Fees for a business begin at $175, for a small business.

People typically call in a feng shui expert when they are moving and want their new home to be in harmony and balance. Others seek a consultation when they want advice on how their environment can enhance their health, wealth or relationships.

Sunnyvale-Cupertino Adult Community Education (ACE) offered a class this fall in feng shui, taught by Marina Lighthouse: "Do You Know the Way to Feng shui?" The class covered feng shui basics, relationships, luck and prosperity and real estate. For information on upcoming classes, call 408.522.2700 or check the ACE website, www.ace.fuhsd.org.