How to Decorate the Foyer: 9 Universal Feng Shui Rules

Often people treat the foyer as a passage and an unimportant room, but the quality of the entrance and foyer setup determines how the Chi energy behaves after entering your home. About how to decorate the entrance area according to Feng Shui and attract favorable energy into your home, as well as new opportunities into your life.

1. Welcome

The main way Chi energy enters the house is through the front door. Consider what feelings you and your guests have about the entrance, porch, steps, and door. Entering the building should be pleasant and comfortable, not the opposite. If you're trying to get through it as quickly as possible, it's time to update your entrance or the building entrance.

Good lighting is very important for the foyer area: light attracts energy. The path to your apartment should not be cluttered (often the common corridor with neighbors is used as a storage for junk, out-of-season items, and anything that doesn't fit in the apartment). Such a situation can mean obstacles in your life, so it's better to clear the space and get rid of unnecessary items.

The garbage chute in the stairwell also belongs to objects generating negative energy: make this area as unobtrusive as possible, for example, paint it the same color as the walls. Also pay attention to smells and use air fresheners if needed. The more unobtrusive the garbage chute area is, the better the negative influences will be neutralized.

2. Perfect Condition

The entrance and door are the business card of your home. How do guests see you? A pleasant and convenient entrance attracts positive energy into your home. Check your door based on the following parameters: presence of apartment number, lock and bell function, cleanliness of the door itself and the mat in front of it, and whether it opens easily without creaking.

3. Buffer Zone

The foyer is a buffer between the external (stranger) and internal (personal) space, so the foyer should be pleasant, spacious, and inviting to the home. This is the place where incoming energy should calm down before mixing with the house's energy and then smoothly distributing throughout it. For this, place a stool, chair, footstool, or armchair next to the front door (depending on the foyer size) where you can sit comfortably, change shoes, and put things down.

4. Sense of Space

When entering your home, you and your guests should not feel cramped. If there is a solid wall right in front of the entrance and the foyer is very tight or narrow, try to visually expand the space with lighting, color, furniture shape, or a beautiful wall landscape. Avoid lowering the ceiling height at the entrance (e.g., with chandeliers): the more spacious your foyer feels, the easier new opportunities will come into your life.

5. Light Theory

The foyer should be well lit. Ideally, it's better to provide both general bright lighting and additional dim lighting. Even by etiquette, the light in the foyer should remain on during guest reception, and side lighting works well for this. Choose light tones for the foyer, and use bright color accents and decorative items to redirect attention and movement: this way Chi energy will flow smoothly and can distribute evenly throughout the home.

6. Magic of Reflection

If a mirror in your foyer hangs directly opposite the front door, hang it on the same wall as the door or to the side of the entrance instead: otherwise, the mirror’s placement will repel the favorable energy entering your home.

Preferred are full-height mirrors, at least as tall as the tallest member of your family. It's important that the mirror surface is whole, not made of fragments. Contrary to trendy design, glossy, mirror-effect flooring in living spaces is not recommended as it can disrupt the energy of stability and comfort.

7. Cleanliness to Shine

The area in front of the house entrance and in the corridor should be kept in absolute cleanliness and order. Try to regularly do damp cleaning of the threshold, wipe dust off, and especially clean corners thoroughly. Symbolically, this will purify and renew the energy entering your home, as well as positively affect the health of residents.

8. Everything in Its Place

A cluttered foyer blocks the path of favorable energy, affects the amount of energy entering your home, and hinders the well-being of residents. Keep shoes and clothes neatly arranged, try to clean out seasonal items as soon as you stop wearing them. For valuable items, it's better to provide a special place and not leave them right at the entrance. This allows you to move forward psychologically and not get stuck in the past.

9. Searching for a Landmark

Long narrow corridors are a problem in many standard layouts, especially older ones. Long straight corridors create an active and destructive flow of energy, so it needs to be softened by visually "breaking" it into shorter segments using any decorative techniques that stop the gaze.

Decorate the foyer so that the trajectory to the living room is clearly defined: for example, with floor covering color, carpet, door decoration of the living room, lighting, color accents, and ornaments. By the way, a lush plant also redirects attention and the flow of movement well. Guests should unambiguously understand where the living room is, because the golden rule of Feng Shui says: wherever attention goes, there energy flows.