Feng Shui Office (Tips For Maximizing Your Office Space)
A feng shui office can help you increase your energy levels, productivity and general well being. Our offices are often all work and no play. Functional to a fault, filled with file cabinets, paper clutter, and typical office furniture, this space can really zap your creativity and energy. Using some basic Feng Shui philosophies, you can create an office space that energizes and inspires. You spend so much time in your office, it pays personally and professionally to create a space that is as much Feng Shui as it is functional.
How to Bring Feng Shui Into Your Office
Having a well-organized and structured office space can help you in many ways. Here are just a few of the ways Feng Shui tips may help:
- Improve mental clarity
- Increase productivity
- Enhance your mood, reduce stress, and feel more at peace
- Emphasize a position of power in the room
- Produce a more creative environment
Feng Shui for the Office Desk
Having an aesthetically pleasing and functional space can be challenging in an office, as you want to keep things you use daily handy to make the most efficient use of your time. Use drawer organizers to hold your office supplies if your desk has drawers. You can pull out the individual organizer and place it on your desk while you use it and easily store away when it isn’t in use.
If you must have items, like pens, on your desk, look for a storage solution that is pleasing to the eye. A ceramic tea mug without handles that you picked up on vacation in Korea works great as a pen holder. Not only is it beautiful, but it holds good memories. Items that hold good memories are a great way to bring good energy into a space.
Feng Shui Office Desk Position
One of the most important considerations when setting up your office is the position of your desk. You can ensure that your desk is in a command position by moving it as far as possible from the door while not being directly in line with it.
The command position subconsciously confirms the most powerful position in the room. For the best outcome, it is advisable to have a view of both the door and a window. Ideally, you should have views of as much of the space as possible when seated.
The desk can be arranged as shown in the desk command positions illustration to the left.
Air Quality and Light
A huge aspect of Feng Shui is the environment. Flooding a space with natural light is preferable, but if you can’t do that, using full-spectrum lighting where possible is a great alternative. Office air can often be stale, stealing your good mood without you even realizing why.
Plants are a great way to rid yourself of stagnant office air and bring an element of natural beauty to your space. They needn’t be large; even a small tabletop plant or two can bring the Feng Shui element of clean air and natural beauty into your office.
Feng Shui Backing
Feng Shui backing means that you are creating good energy behind your desk chair. You can achieve this by ensuring your desk chair isn’t facing an open doorway. Having your desk chair back against a wall or a window is preferable.
If your backing is a wall, paint it a color that soothes or energizes you. If you have the floor space, this is perfect for your potted plants. You can also hang a piece of art with a strong image, such as framed art from your children or a large, framed photo of your favorite outdoor vacation spot. Photos of the ocean and mountains are also great for Feng Shui because they convey a sense of strength and support.
Feng Shui Furnishings
Your desk chair needs to be comfortable and supportive. You spend so many hours in it every day, so indulge a little and spring for an expensive chair with pleasing upholstery. If you have occasional chairs in your office for visitors, go with a slipper chair. The soft, curved lines allow your eye to move freely over the space, and there are no sharp angles or edges directed towards your work space.
The concept of Sha chi, or poison arrows, indicates that sharp edges and corners directed at you created poison arrows that can make you feel drained and tired. A small, round table in between these chairs is a great spot for a framed family photo and a small potted plant, bringing even more positive energy and clean air into your office space. Placing these items between your desk and your file cabinets and shelving also creates a Sha Chi barrier, protecting your energy from the sharp angles of the shelving.
Instead of metal file cabinets, opt for wood shelving that has file cabinet drawers in the base and open shelving on top. File your books in a pleasing manner, stacking some, and setting some upright. Add small air plants, framed photos, or other decorative items that make you happy. Don’t clutter it up though, keep it simple and light.
Feng Shui Office Colors Comparison
Picking a wall color for an office is different from picking one for a bedroom. You’re staring at that wall for eight hours a day or more, and the wall behind your monitor is the one your eyes rest on every time you look up. Feng Shui sorts color into five elements, but the practical question is much simpler. How much light does the color give back, and where in the room should it go?
That’s what LRV, or Light Reflectance Value tells you. LRV runs 0 to 100, and it’s printed on every paint chip in the stores. Anything under 25 will eat light in a room especially with only one small window. Anything over 75 can throw glare onto a screen if it’s sitting in direct sun so you’ll want to plan accordingly. One more thing before we get to the chart, is to use eggshell or matte on office walls, not satin. A satin finish bounces light off every mark and makes video calls look worse than they need to.
| Element and color | LRV | Where it works | What it does at a desk | Go easy when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wood |
30 | The wall behind your desk chair, in a room with decent daylight | Easiest color to look at for hours. Green sits in the middle of what the eye focuses on, so it doesn’t fight your screen | The room is north facing and already dim. At LRV 30 it’ll read almost gray |
|
Earth |
58 | All four walls of a small or windowless office | Keeps a tight room from closing in without going stark white. Warm enough that afternoon light doesn’t turn it yellow | You already have oak floors and oak furniture. Three warm neutrals in one room reads flat |
|
Fire |
20 | One accent wall, or the inside back of a bookcase | Wakes the room up. Good for work that needs momentum, like sales calls or pitching | It would land in your camera frame. Warm saturated walls push color onto your face on video |
|
Water |
8 | The wall behind your monitor, in a bright south facing room | Kills screen glare better than any other option here. Deep color absorbs the light instead of throwing it back at you | It’s the only window in the room. At LRV 8 this needs real daylight or it goes cave dark |
|
Metal |
90 | Trim, ceilings, and basement or garage offices with poor light | Pushes every bit of available light back into the room. Makes shelving and files look organized even when they aren’t | Direct sun hits that wall midday. At LRV 90 it turns into a glare panel |
Swatches above are approximate. Screen color shifts by device, so test a real sample on the actual wall before you commit.
Most offices only need two of these, so you can pick one for the walls and one for the wall your eyes focus on most often, and let elements like wood furniture, plants, and a metal lamp cover the rest. You don’t need all five elements in paint.
Feng Shui Colors for Office Using Natural Elements
Feng Shui requires a balance of the elements of water, earth, metal, wood, and fire. Too little or too much of any element can leave you feeling drained, tired, overwhelmed, or uninspired.
Feng Shui for Wood Element
It is likely that your desk and shelving will be made of wood, add a few plants and powers of creativity, intuition, and strength that it brings will be fulfilled. Don’t totally fill your space with wood though, too much wood can make one feel a bit stubborn and overwhelmed. If you have heavy wood furnishings and wood flooring, you may want to invest in a rug that nearly fills the room to soften the space and balance out the element of wood.
A rug this size softens all that wood and keeps the room from feeling heavy.
Feng Shui for Earth Element
You can feel it anytime you walk through the woods or hike a trail, earth makes us feel grounded and balanced. It lends a sense of stability to our world. But too much of it can make us feel a bit bored and less likely to laugh and be playful. Bring earth with tones of brown and green and with photos of landscapes. Your desk can bring in two elements at once, wood for the material from which it is made, and earth for the rectangular shape.
A forest print brings the earth element in without taking up any floor space.
Feng Shui for Fire Element
Fire can be a tricky mistress. It creates boldness and inspires leadership but can also be aggressive and angry. Bring in fire with a photo of a great sunset or artwork that your child did that has purple, red, or pink as the main colors. Use candles or electric candles if you can’t have open flame. Let the sun shine in, open your blinds on a sunny day and bathe yourself in the warmth of the fiery sun.
Feng Shui for Water Element
Water brings insight, inspiration, and wisdom when properly balanced with the other elements. Not just the bright blue of a tropical ocean but the deep midnight blue of the ocean floor are the colors that bring the element of water to life. Mirrors are also useful for bringing the element of water to a space and reflect natural light, which also brings the element of fire in line.
A mirror pulls double duty here, adding water while bouncing daylight deeper into the room.
Feng Shui for Metal Element
Include this Feng Shui element in your office space to bring out your logical and organizational skills. Use any metal you like. A fun wire and glass terrarium filled with air plants is an elemental powerhouse and beautiful to look at. In lieu of a paperweight, use a river rock that you found on your last trip to the mountains. White is the elemental color of metal, so if you have bright white walls, you have this element covered.
Don’t be overwhelmed with this information, most items have more than one element in them. Your potted plant might be nestled snugly in an orange terracotta pot, bringing in wood and fire elements. The upholstery on your occasional chairs could be a wavy, abstract pattern, bringing in the element of water. Arrange these items to take advantage of the energy they give and you will have a beautiful office based on the tenants of Feng Shui.
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