The Canary Hotel in Santa Barbara, California was one of the stops I made on my recent visit to Los Angeles. Go to their website and you’ll find out how fabulous the rooms are and the service is. Be sure to book a spa treatment, too, and they will come to your room to do it. That being said, I was happy to see the feng shui of their lobby was so fresh and welcoming.

Canary Hotel lobby.
Check out the photo above as there are some great ideas for your own home. Note the large textile piece hanging over the couch. This is perfect for rooms with high ceilings and it takes the place of fine art. This would also work behind a bed to create a mock headboard effect, anchor the bed, and to balance out the bed with a taller chest of drawers in the room. This particular textile is wonderful because of its colors as well as it adds some round yin energy to the otherwise squarish yang shapes. Note there are matching lamps to either side of the couch yet the art next to the textile on either side is different. You can use this approach when hanging objects and art in your home–create a balanced look even though it is asymmetric.

Great use of round mirror.
In the lobby lounge and restaurant bar, the bright colors used for the furnishings lifted the dark color wood flooring and bar. Here you see a bright red very large round mirror—great feng shui! The yin shape balances out the square lines of the chairs and even the chairs have rounded edges. The mirror brings light into a dark corner as well.
Most people are afraid to use color in their homes but as you can see from the top photo, you can have a neutral color couch and add touches of warmth through the wall color (ie: yellow) and the bright accents in the textile piece. A quilt used as a wall covering would do the same thing.