Inside Front Door Design

The primary entrance to your house is called the "mouth of chi" in feng shui. It is an extremely important area to focus on because so much of the energy that comes into your house comes through this primary entrance. A few small changes here can make a big difference in the rest of your house. Here are a few ways to make the most of what's good about your front entrance and how to overcome any existing problems.

1) Use your front door

So many people come through the garage now that it is quite common that no one has even stepped over the real threshold to your house in the last few days. Make a point of changing that by walking out your front door to get the mail, or just to look around your front garden.

2) Make sure the lock works well and the door opens easily

Blocked entrances are very bad in feng shui, and the front door is the most important entrance. If your door leaks heat, get it sealed. If it sticks, either oil the hinges or get a locksmith to fix where it is stuck. Absolutely make sure that the door can swing open all the way inside, with no coat hangers or anything else behind it.

3) Widen the path

The wider the path to your door (and the wider your door, too) the more energy and, symbolically, the more money can come into your house. Ever notice how big, expensive houses tend to have double doors and wide paths? Make your house like that, even if it just means adding a row of paving stones on either side of the front path.

Having steps in front of your house can be good, bad, or not matter too much. Having steps going up to your house can slow chi down, whereas steps going down to your front door (like a basement apartment), can slow it down so much as to create stagnation. So long as there are just a few steps, and they seem in proportion to the rest of the entrance, they will not affect too much. But if someone has to climb lots of steep stairs to come to a little door, then you need to take some steps of your own to increase the flow of chi so it can overcome that barrier.

4) Consider the direction

The direction your front door faces is very important in feng shui. Most directions are positive, but doors facing North and particularly North-East are not auspicious. If your door faces either of these directions, you want to insulate the inside of your house from this energy. You can do that by having a winding path to the front door and adding bushy evergreen plants so the energy has to meander in. Painting your door with high-gloss paint will also reflect back some of the negative chi, as will using shiny metal fittings on the door. Other ways to block this energy include putting a reflecting globe or a convex near the front door.

Front doors facing East are excellent for building up a career or getting started in life. A South-East facing door helps with communication and steady progress. The South is a high-energy direction that may even need to be toned down with a dish of sea salt if you find yourself arguing with people. A South-West door gives more settled feel, but there is a risk of some not-so-good energy settling in, too. A Westward facing door will help with romance and contentment. A North-West facing door is good for authority and stability.

5) Consider the activity beyond your door

What's going on just beyond your property line will also determine whether you want to block or increase the energetic openness of the front door. If your house is at the end of a street, or in the direct line of a traffic flow, you want to put up some blocks to slow the speeding chi down. But if you are on the inside curve of a quiet street, you want to bring the energy in and activate it, possibly with a water fountain or wind chimes.

An attractive entrance to your home or office will encourage good ch'i, or energy, to enter. If you can arrange your front door so that it faces your overall harmony or great prosperity direction, it will help bring in wealth, love and happiness.