Feng Shui bathroom with central bath and bamboo

Bathrooms are one of the most important rooms in the house – they are used every day by every member of the family. But what if the energy in your bathroom is bad, or you can’t quite seem to keep it clean and tidy? Feng shui could be the answer.

What is feng shui?

Feng shui is a practice that looks at homes and built environments and means to align them with the principles of the natural world. The Chinese belief comes from an ancient poem that reflects on the importance of connecting human life with the environment. The basic principles of feng shui come from observations of nature.

The principles of feng shui

The five elements

Feng shui comes from the Taoist tradition, defining all life into categories are interrelated and interdependent. The five elements of wood, fire, earth, water and metal make up a complete system in a constant dance – these elements should be balanced to achieve a state of feng shui.

A bagua map helps you to identify areas that need attention in your home. The map is made up of 9 guas, which can be used to balance the energy.

Earth

  • Qualities: grounded, self-care, stable
  • Shape: flat, square
  • Colours: brown, orange and yellow
  • Season: transitions between the seasons
  • Guas: Tai qi, Gen, Kun

Metal

  • Qualities: efficient, precise, beauty
  • Shape: circular, spherical
  • Colours: white, metallics
  • Season: Autumn
  • Guas: qian, dui

Water

  • Qualities: downward, flowing, shifting
  • Shape: wavy, curvy
  • Colours: black
  • Season: winter
  • Gua: Kan

Wood

  • Qualities: expansive, vitality, upward
  • Shape: Columnar, rectangular
  • Colours: green and blue
  • Season: Spring
  • Guas: Zhen, Xun

Fire

  • Qualities: passion, illuminating, brilliant
  • Shape: triangle, pointy
  • Colours: red
  • Season: summer
  • Gua: Li

Top tips for feng shui in the bathroom

  1. If a bathroom faces the front door, good energy could escape through the bathroom. If this is the case for you, be sure to keep the bathroom door closed or create a focal point in the entry area to direct energy away from the bathroom.
  2. Commit to keeping your bathroom clean and tidy, as there can be no feng shui without order and cleanliness. Think about bathroom materials that can make your life easier: bathroom wall panels, for example, are very easy to keep clean.
  3. Decorate your bathroom with lush green plants and use incense or reed diffusers to create a pleasant scents in the area. Natural landscapes are ideal for decorating the walls, and add a water feature or mirror to enhance the feng shui even further.
  4. If the bathroom and kitchen door are opposite each other, create division to increase feng shui. Tall plants like bamboo can divide a room well, or use paint to delineate specific areas of the room. A focal point between the kitchen and the bathroom would work well too – so consider a light or water feature as well.
  5. A bathroom over the front door is well known to be good feng shui.