This house in Carmel, California is a vintage beauty. Known as the “Butterfly House”, it was designed in 1950 by architect/owner Frank Wynkoop and restored by his sons recently. Find out more about the home at trendsideas.com: architecture, kitchen and bathroom design: Turn of the tide. I could live in this. And you?
Monthly Archives: April 2011
BUTTERFLY HOUSE HAS GREAT ENERGY
Filed under Architecture, Design, Feng Shui, Feng Shui Home, Interior Design, Uncategorized
ROYAL FENG SHUI
The happy couple on their wedding day.
What a day for Love & Relationship! The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton took place this morning. Congratulations to this beautiful couple. Inside Westminster Abbey the nave was lined with 20 foot tall potted English field maples, bringing nature inside the gothic cathedral. The trees will be planted at Highgrove after the ceremony (it’s a green wedding!). The English field maple symbolises humility and reserve, and was used to make loving cups in medieval times, while the hornbeam signifies resilience. Apparently Kate knows the importance of symbolism and chose wisely. Symbolism is an integral part of feng shui and Feng Shui By Fishgirl feels this is a very auspicious beginning for the pair.
Note the placement of the trees along the aisle at top of pic. (Reuters)
Now let’s talk wedding dress: I’ve heard comparisons to Grace Kelly’s dress but I was reminded of a very young Elizabeth Taylor when I saw Kate in her splendor this morning. Maybe it’s Kate’s gorgeous mane of dark hair that reminds me of the late great Liz. In any case, the dress designed by Sarah Burton under the Alexander McQueen label definitely has a 1950’s demure quality to it. The nipped in waist with flaring skirt, the chaste deep v neckline, the traditional lace…the LA Times reports that the skirt was meant to echo an opening flower and that Kate wanted to represent lacemakers of the Arts & Crafts Movement. What do you think? Did you watch the Royal Wedding? Did you like Kate’s choice of dress?
Grace Kelly on her wedding day to Prince Rainier of Monaco.
Elizabeth Taylor (and Eddie Fisher?) on their wedding day.
Filed under Celebrities, Design, Feng Shui, Fun, Love & Relationship
BIRDHOUSE CONDO
A wicked birdhouse condo complex from the Milan Furniture Fair 2011.
Filed under Architecture, ART, Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui
LOVIN’ THE USA–the USA bookshelf by Ron Arad
USA bookshelf by artist Ron Arad.
Don’t you just think this is the most cleverest bookshelf you’ve ever seen? I think it’s an art piece so don’t get all critical about the functionality. As more of us turn to digital e-readers like Kindles and Nooks and iPads, books may end up serving as objets d’art after all. From a feng shui manifestation viewpoint, I would put all my raciest liberal subversive books in the Texas and Florida sections of this Ron Arad bookshelf. Hehehe.
Filed under ART, Design, Feng Shui, Fun, Getting Organized, Interior Design, Reading
ART SMART–3 solutions to dress your bare walls
A digital giclee print from m-dc.
Hanging art in your crib lifts ch’i energy. It’s important to get the scale right. If you have a large wall, fill ‘er up! If you aren’t a DIYer you can still find inexpensive ways to fill a wall with creativity. Take for example the digital wall art shown here from Modern-Digital Canvas— “Love”– is a 43″ x 58″ print on stretched canvas. Although it is an obvious riff on the original by Robert Indiana, it’s a good symbol of Love to place in your Love & Relationship area. If I were too lazy to paint something myself, I’d order this print and then paint the white parts another color like red or pink (or maybe paint each section different colors). Then I’d slap some varnish over the entire thing to make it even more difficult to discern if it was an original painting or a print.
Stretched fabric from Textile Art comes in a kit you stretch yourself.
Another good way to put up some larger art pieces is to stretch some fabric on stretcher bars. Textile Art has a great selection of kits (the one above is $125) or you can find your own fabric (vintage textiles such as tablecloths and kimonos? You decide!) and buy the bars at an art supply store.
Cherry Blossom art decal available through Amazon.com
Decorative wall decals are another art solution. The one shown here is $13.99 from Amazon.com–a steal when you compare it to a handpainted mural. I always choose to go with original art and to support living artists whenever possible (after all, I am one myself!). But if you cannot afford originals, be original yourself. Don’t live with bare walls–your feng shui needs visual art.
FOOD FETISH: Furnishings in the shape of food…
Now you’ve seen next to everything…
Filed under Creativity & Future Projects, Design, Feng Shui, Fun, Interior Design
BATHING BEAUTIES
Bon Bon cupboard by Hiroshi Kawano.
This bathroom follows the curves of the Mandela Custom Home walls.
The tub and the tiling has beautiful curves.
The "bracelets" are a stairway to the soaking tub by Tub-E.
Classic ceramic tiles for a totally circular bathing tub.
This teak wood bowl tub is the bomb!
Adding curves and circles to your bathroom is adding yin energy feng shui–and these bathing beauties make me want to take a bubble bath, pronto! Will you join me?
Filed under Design, Feng Shui, Feng Shui Home, Interior Design, Qi
RED POWER! Boosting Feng Shui With the Color Red
A beautiful design from Period Corsets.
Red is a powerful color. The symbol of passion. (That 1950’s corset from Period Corsets shown above would not have the same erotic power if it were made of blue satin.) Red stands out. Red is the color of fire. Red is HOT! It’s used as a warning, attracting our attention. Just think of the Red Carpet at the Oscars…would it hold the same power if it were yellow? Red attracts. We use feng shui to attract opportunity and strengthen power points within a space. In feng shui the best sectors for applying the color red are Wealth, Fame, and Love—the upper 3 sectors of the bagua.
Adding red accessories to these areas of your home will add instant feng shui punch. You can use the color red to accent a wall or select red furnishings carefully (one red chair for example). At work, red shows up in “power ties” on men and all red suits on women (remember Hillary Clinton’s campaign suits?) but there are other ways to use red for career. Red can secretly make us feel our own power (try wearing that red satin bustier completely concealed under your grey flannel suit next time you go to an important meeting!).
Do you have the color red in your home? Tell Feng Shui By Fishgirl how you harness the power of red in your life…
Here's a great example of a red accent chair providing feng shui PUNCH!
LETTING GO OF LOST LOVE: The John Kennedy & Christina Haag Story
Christina Haag has written a memoir (see my review here) about her 5 year romance with John F.Kennedy, Jr. and ‘Come to the Edge‘ is currently on the NY Times Bestseller list. My path crossed with Christina’s a handful of times in Los Angeles in the early 90’s when we attended the same yoga classes in Larchmont and occasionally our circles of friends overlapped. I realize now that I met Christina quite soon after her breakup with John; her natural warmth was concealed under an actress’s fragile veneer of aloofness, self-protection in the aftermath of the media frenzy that accompanies celebrity breakups. ‘Come to the Edge’ is a tender love story told with sentimentality and innocence. The pain is gone and the memories are happy ones. The author writes that she did fall in love again (more than once) since John. But she never married. And the book is mostly about her time with him. She still dreams about him. It would seem that this relationship is still very much on her mind but perhaps the book provides a catharsis that will bring some closure for her two decades later.
If you’re one of my clients or a longtime reader of Feng Shui By Fishgirl, you already know that the path to finding new love requires a clearing out and letting go of past love so you can move on. It takes as long as it takes. Sometimes we are paralyzed by the thought of falling in love because we might get our hearts broken again. Is it worth it? For many the answer is no. Or a half-hearted yes. Taking the plunge takes courage. Courage to let go of the past. Courage to honor your story at the same time you move on. Writing in a journal can bepart of the recipe for healing a broken heart. Exploring your dreams in a dream circle with others or studying with Connie Kaplan or Robert Moss can be of great benefit. Reading the stories of others can also help–‘Come to the Edge’ is a book that many women will relate to (even if we’re not involved with a celebrity). It’s a fun, quick read for a rainy afternoon.
Filed under Celebrities, Dreaming, Feng Shui, Love & Relationship, Reading, Self Help, Uncategorized
CLEAN ENOUGH: 4 Tried & True Methods to Housekeeping for Good Feng Shui
I found this instructive and liberating post on The Inspired Room blog. Don’t you just love the long blue/green sink in that kitchen pic? With 3 dogs in the house, it’s difficult to keep up with the cleaning. Housekeeping can be overwhelming and take the joy out of life. You don’t have to have a sterile home to have good feng shui. You can have a “clean enough”home. Four tried and true methods can be found at Melissa’s Inspired Room blog below:
Filed under Family & Health, Feng Shui, Feng Shui Home, Getting Organized, Pets
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