The Front Door: The Feng Shui Art of Attracting Good Chi

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If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my experience studying Feng Shui, it’s the importance of a home or business’s front door. The front door, also known as the “mouth of chi”, serves as either an attractant or deterrent of positive energy and nourishment for a home or business. Often overlooked as a simple aesthetic or curb appeal enhancer, the front entry actually dictates what enters a home and what passes it by, both literally and transcendentally. A well kept, solid, clean and attractive front door invites positive chi, opportunity, wealth and general well-being into a home, while an unkempt, cluttered and tattered entry can serve as a deterrent of those factors and actually attract negative chi and unfortunate circumstances.

This past week, I finally took the plunge and had our old 65 year old worn and tattered entry and screen doors replaced and it has made a WORLD of difference in the look and feel of our home. Not only were our front doors unattractive and in total disarray, they barely even functioned. The screen on the storm door was torn all the way up the side (picture doing the pizza delivery exchange through a torn screen door – high class) and also wouldn’t latch, so the door would swing open and bang when a high wind came through (picture woken toddler from nap due to loud bang). The main entry door would stick and there was a complicated art to lifting the handle and getting it to open (also high class) . As a practicing Feng Shui consultant, there was no way I could continue to be aware of what this door situation was doing to the energy and environment of my home and not do something about it. So we got some new lovely, perfectly-functioning doors. But that’s not all.

In the same way that the CONDITION of the front door plays such an integral role in the overall energy of your home, the COLOR of the door also plays a significant part in what your home attracts and brings into your life. I painted our front door red. A red door is the quintessential Feng Shui symbol of a welcoming, prosperous and vibrant home.  This tradition dates back to ancient Chinese culture, but has also picked up other various meanings along the way. In early American pioneer culture, a family would paint their door red as a way to welcome in tired travelers. Families traveling by horse and buggy would know by the red door that the home was a welcoming place they could come to enjoy a meal and rest. In old Catholicism, churches painted their doors red to represent the blood of Christ and those that passed through it were said to be protected from evil. In Scotland, a red door still represents and proclaims the happy news that the mortgage has been paid off. In Feng Shui, red is also said to serve as a neutralizer, “cutting” the negativity out of any destructive energy (hence the tradition of Feng Shui Practitioners receiving their payment in a Red Envelope).

There are numerous opinions/theories on the best color for a front door – dependent on the direction the home faces, the area of the bagua the entry lies, age of the home, etc. However, because my mission is to make Feng Shui simple for folks to understand and implement, I’m keeping the following front door and entry recommendations simple.

Colors to consider when painting your front door:

• Red – Most auspicious color for a front door. Welcoming and attracting positive energy and opportunity. Looks great on grey, blue or white painted homes (see traditions, examples above)
• Blue – Brings a calming and soothing energy to a home – also portrays abundance and prosperity
• Green – Said to represent balance, peace, compassion, growth, renewal, and harmony
• Yellow – Evokes mental clarity, perception, understanding, wisdom, confidence, curiosity, humor and merriment.

Other Important factors to consider to improve the Feng Shui of your front entry:

• Ensure it is in good overall condition – make any necessary updates (i.e, repainting trim, replacing fussy knobs and handles, etc.)
• Entry is free from clutter/debris to allow chi to flow freely (both outside and immediately inside front entry)
• Add at least one element to attract positive chi and opportunity into your home (see below):

Elements to attract good “chi” could be several things including:

• Bright wreath hanging on door
• Windchime
• Bright potted flowers on stoop
• Painted front door (any color other than white)

What energy are you bringing into your home or business with the current state of your front door? Updating the front entry can truly make a dramatic difference in your home and those who inhabit it. I recently had a client who simply cleared the clutter and debris and made a few minor updates to her front entry – less than a week later a contract her husband’s business had been waiting on for a year came through (see testimonials). So have some fun – play around, try something new and remember that nothing is permanent. What do you have to lose??