I Sent a Feng Shui Expert Photos of My Bedroom & Here’s What I Changed
My bedroom is the one room in my apartment I struggle the most with decorating. It’s not a room I spend a lot of time in (I literally only go in there to sleep or change my outfit), and because of that, it often becomes a dumping ground for any displaced items, laundry, and miscellaneous decor. One of my main goals for 2025 is to finally figure out a plan for this space and make it feel as cozy, functional, and serene as possible. So I tapped a feng shui expert to help me achieve these goals.
What Is Feng Shui?
Feng shui is an ancient Chinese method that’s all about balancing the energy of a space to invite harmony, peace, and prosperity. The practice involves arranging furniture in a certain way that allows for energy (aka qi) to flow through your space, inviting in five key elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, and water), and some other basic principles, like making sure your door is easily accessible, opening up your curtains to let some natural light in, and keeping your surfaces mostly clutter-free.
Decorating With Feng Shui in Mind
Before sending photos of my bedroom to Anjie Cho, the coauthor of Mindful Living: A Guide to the Everyday Magic of Feng Shui, I started decluttering. At the time, I didn’t know this was an important component of feng shui, but I had a sneaking suspicion that clothes on the floor weren’t ideal for creating balance and harmony.
Once Cho reviewed my bedroom, I was happy to hear that she thought it wasn’t a total disaster and actually seemed set up well from a feng shui perspective. “There is a good mix of all the five elements,” she noted, adding that the orange pillow on my bed represents fire, the brown wood dresser represents earth, the white bed linens represent metal, the dark flowing curtains represent water, and the green plants represent wood.
“The bed is in a commanding position, so you can see the door without being directly in-line with the door — that is the best position for the bed,” she added. However, she did note that the lack of a headboard wasn’t ideal for the bedroom, since it can be a supportive component that helps promote existing relationships and can even help attract a long-term partnership. “The headboard provides stability and connects the yin and yang as well as both partners,” she noted.
Cho also saw my under-bed storage and said, in an ideal living situation, you wouldn’t keep anything under your bed. Decluttering this area can provide better energy flow and support healthier sleep. But, if this storage placement is a must, Cho said to stick to sleep-related soft items, like extra pillows and bedding. “Stay away from emotionally charged items, like tax returns and mementos from ex-partners,” she added.
Another concerning area of my bedroom didn’t shock me at all. “The door looks like it probably can’t open the full 90 degrees because of all the hats on the back,” Cho said. Between my husband and I, we own a lot of baseball hats. I bought an-over-the-door hat organizer on Amazon last year and quickly regretted it because it makes my bedroom’s entryway feel too cluttered. And Cho was correct; it restricts the door opening.
According to Cho, not being able to fully open the door will limit how much qi (or life force energy) can come back into my life, which can even reduce opportunities for new friendships, partnerships, and work successes. “If that hat rack can go elsewhere, it would be better — maybe on the wall just left of the dresser,” she noted.
My dresser area is a major work-in-progress situation, and Cho definitely picked up on that as well. This spot has a mix of random decor I couldn’t find a space for when we moved into this apartment almost four years ago. “Ideally, you can place something inspiring on the dresser that represents a goal or aspiration, [since] it’s what you face while in bed,” she noted. Cho also zeroed in on an old portrait of my grandmother that I’ve been meaning to relocate and said the obvious: A photo of a relative isn’t very sexy or romantic looking at you in bed.
It’s also worth noting my dresser sits next to the “wealth corner” of my bedroom — aka the right side of the dresser — which represents finances and abundance, and curating items that are associated with wealth (such as plants and meaningful items) can help promote harmony in this area.
“There are some nice treasured objects there, but there are some things tucked away there on the side,” she noted. “You could hang up the artwork and give the area some movement, which would also enhance movement in your wealth.” One way to do so is to incorporate more fire elements into that corner — which represents movement — through decor. Maybe I can add a candle or crystal to this spot?
Lastly, Cho commented on the plants in my space, focusing specifically on the large tree in the corner of my bedroom. “The large plant there looks like it’s doing well and could support a healthy, thriving partnership, especially because it has two trunks,” she noted.
What I’m Planning to Change
Unfortunately, since I live in an apartment and don’t have a large enough closet, I’m not able to get rid of my under-bed storage situation that Cho called out. I’m also not sure if I’ll make the investment of buying a headboard just yet, but I did take her advice and started looking for a better hat rack solution for my space, like this hanger or this hook for my closet.
I also revamped my dresser corner, taking down my grandmother’s photo and finding a new spot for it in my living room. I “shopped” my apartment for decor, too, and found a citrine crystal (which has fire elements) to place in the corner of the dresser — proof that you don’t need to go out and buy anything new to give your own home a feng shui makeover.
Further Reading
I Just Discovered the Smartest Way to Store Paper Towels in Your Kitchen (It’s a Game-Changer!)
Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Article’s DTC Furniture
