Home Design & Decorating Feng Shui

How to Bring Good Feng Shui Into Your Home Office

Feng Shui Office Rules, Design Tips, and What to Avoid

light airy home office

The Spruce / Letícia Almeida

In feng shui, parts of your home represent areas of your life. Your office and desk, for example, are connected to your career. If you want to give your work life a boost, you may want to take a look at what’s going on in this part of your home and make some shifts so that it is more supportive of your intentions. For example, the placement of your desk is the most important part of achieving good office feng shui.

What is Feng Shui?

Feng shui is a traditional Chinese practice that involves arranging objects, buildings, and space in a way that promotes harmony and balance in the environment. The phrase can be translated as "the way of wind and water." Feng shui has origins in ancient Chinese culture but has become increasingly popular in modern-day Western cultures.

Ideas to achieve good feng shui can also be implemented into office space outside of your home. Whether you’re setting up a new workspace or looking to refresh your existing space, here are some office feng shui tips for optimizing your space.

What Are the Elements of Feng Shui?

Feng shui divides the world into five elements, each invoking a unique mood. To have good feng shui, you need to incorporate each element into your space in a balanced way.

Fire

Fire evokes expressiveness and boldness. It promotes inspiration and enthusiasm though too much can lead to irritability and impulsiveness. Increase the fire element in your space by adding more sunlight, burning candles, and using tones of red and pink.

Water

Water is often associated with emotions and spirituality. When you incorporate water into your space, it can bring a sense of wisdom and insightfulness. An excess of water can make you feel overwhelmed or overstimulated. To achieve a balance of this element in your space, you can use dark tones, wave-like patterns, and features such as fountains that have water flowing.

Earth

The Earth element generates a feeling of strength and grounding in the room. Too much Earth and you may feel heavy or sluggish but with the right amount, you will feel organized and stable. Anything in earth tones such as green, brown or sand will help you achieve balance. A painting or photograph of a landscape and low flat surfaces also brings this element to your space.

Metal

Metal will be felt in the room in characteristics such as focus and organization. It will help with mental clarity and intelligence. Too much and you may be prone to speaking hastily and overly critical thinking. Any object made of metal such as iron or silver as well as rocks and stones will add this element to the space. Colors to add are white, gray and silver.

Wood

Wood symbolizes growth, strength, and flexibility. It harnesses creative energy. An excessive amount of this element can make you feel overwhelmed and inflexible. You can introduce this element into your space by adding houseplants or trees, using natural fabrics like cotton, or incorporating wood furniture.

Incorporate Feng Shui Into Your Desk

First, make sure you have a dedicated desk, which represents a stable career. If you can put your desk in a separate room that’s used only for work, that’s ideal. However, that isn’t always possible. If you do need to put your desk in a multifunctional space, try to choose a room other than the bedroom. Having your desk in your bedroom can be a distraction when you are trying to work, and can also make it harder to wind down at night.

If a desk in the bedroom is the only option, do what you can to separate the space with a room divider, bookcase, or curtain, and be sure to put away your work supplies at the end of each day.

Position Your Desk for Success

To create good feng shui, you’ll also want to make sure that your desk is in the command or commanding position. This means that you can see the door to the room while you’re sitting at your desk, without being directly in line with the door. This allows you to feel more in control of your life and career because you can see anything that's approaching. The command position works on a subconscious level, too, even if you aren’t expecting guests in your home office. 

You may be a little more limited in the placement of your desk if you travel to an office outside your home but it's worth checking if it can be positioned this way in an "away" office as well. If you can’t set up your desk in this way, place a mirror so that you are looking at the reflection of the door while sitting at your desk. Moving your desk is the best solution, though.

Create Good Flow

Pay attention to the flow in your office. Is there enough space around your desk? Are there any obstacles that prevent you from getting to your desk chair easily? This could represent blocks, which could mean that you are making things unnecessarily challenging for yourself.

If you do notice any physical blocks or obstacles, see if you can remove or rearrange them. You want to be able to approach your desk and your career with ease while having room around you to grow.

home office with wood desk and blue chairs

Gian Paolo Aliatis / Unsplash

Choose the Best Desk

When it comes to choosing a desk, select one that is solid and sturdy to help you create more stability in your career. Make sure it’s also big enough for you to work on comfortably. Ideally, you’ll want to avoid desks with a glass work surface, because ideas and projects can energetically fall through and become lost.

Add a Desk Blotter

Adding a desk blotter or desk mat brings in more earth elements that help you feel grounded and stable. Choose a blotter in a color you’re drawn to or pick one according to the element that you want to invite in. Here's guidance:

  • Water element: Choose a black blotter to invite intuition, wisdom, and social connections.
  • Wood element: A green or blue blotter represents growth, new beginnings, and rejuvenation.
  • Earth element: Select a yellow or brown blotter to strengthen your nourishment, boundaries, and support.
  • Metal element: A white blotter signifies precision, organization, and beauty.
  • Fire element: A red blotter may bring you inspiration, passion, and recognition.

Use the Bagua on Your Desk

You may be familiar with the feng shui bagua, which is a mandala consisting of eight areas around a center. It’s often laid over homes or rooms, but it can also be applied to a desk at home or in any office outside the home.

Laying the bagua on your desk can give you clues as to what might be happening in different areas of your career. For example, look at where the clutter tends to accumulate on your desk.

  • Top left corner: Do things often pile up in the wealth and abundance corner in the top left? This might mean that your wealth may be tied up or stuck.
  • Top right corner: Is there clutter in the top right corner, which is connected to relationships? This might symbolize blocked relationships or partnerships.
  • Top Center: Or is the far center area the most cluttered? That area is the fame and recognition area. Clutter here might mean you are not being seen or recognized for the work you are doing. 

Choose a Supportive Chair

A comfortable office chair with a high back represents more support in your work life. Choose your chair color by consulting the five elements guide above. The color of your chair will embody the element you'd like to invite more of into your career.

desk with laptop, pencils, cell phone, and coffee cup

DuoNguyen / Unsplash

Activate the Wealth Corner

One of the areas of the feng shui bagua is the wealth and abundance corner, called Xun in Chinese. This area of an office is very popular and activating it invites more wealth and prosperity to flow to you.

To find the wealth corner of your office, stand in the doorway facing in and locate the left corner furthest from you. You can also locate the wealth corner of your desk in the same way. To activate the wealth corner of your office or desk, place an amethyst or citrine crystal here with intention.

Boost the Fame Area

The fame and recognition area, called Li in Chinese, is related to how you are seen and recognized by others. To find it, imagine a three-by-three grid overlaid on your office space or desktop. The fame area is the center section along the far side when you are looking into your office or sitting at your desk.

If you feel like you are sometimes overlooked at work and want to be recognized more for what you do, or if you are working on a business that could use more visibility and recognition, this can be a helpful area to activate. You can do this by adding something red to this part of your desk or office, or add life to the spot by adding a houseplant.

Incorporate Feng Shui Colors

The colors you incorporate into your home office impact how you feel when you are in the space and should be chosen with intention. It helps to approach it like you would when selecting colors for any room in your home using the 60-30-10 rule. Choose a main color and two less dominating hues using these feng shui color guidelines:

  • White (metal element) represents mental clarity, productivity, and completion.
  • Warm, earthy grays with some brown (metal) point toward helpful people and calmness.
  • Green (wood element) in feng shui represents growth, renewal, fresh energy, action, and vitality.
  • Yellow (earth element) is associated with the energy of the sun, joy, and harmony.
  • Black (water element) is associated with stillness, wisdom, purpose, and quiet contemplation, in addition to money and wealth.
  • Mid-tone blues (wood element) represent growth, vitality, and compassion.
  • Purple (fire element) invites nobility and wealth, as well as harmony and balance.
  • Red (fire element) is powerful and auspicious, activating and energizing.
  • Earthy browns and neutrals (earth element) are grounding and balancing, and ease stress and anxiety.

What to Avoid for Office Feng Shui

Of course, there are things to avoid doing when optimizing your office according to feng shui, such as:

  • Clutter: Clutter in any area of your office will block opportunity, stifle creativity, and decrease mental clarity.
  • Sitting back-to-back or face-to-face: If you share an office, do not sit face-to-face (confrontational) or back-to-back (you won't have each other's back).
  • Sharp angles: Do not have any sharp angles pointed towards you, including sculptures or a piece of furniture set at an angle. A jagged edge or angle pointed at you can direct too much "chi" or energy your way, which can be damaging.
  • Too much color: Too much of one color, even white, can feel unsettling, overwhelming, and distracting. Balancing colors in your office will help you feel levelheaded.
  • No natural light: A dark, drab office will not feel energizing. The more natural light you can let into the space, the better—minus the glare.
  • Dead plants: Get rid of them. They do not have any positive or life energy left in them.
FAQ
  • What direction should your office desk face?

    When sitting at your desk at home or in any space, you should face east, which invites luck and prosperity. To find the east direction in your home or from your office building, track where the sun rises, which is the east (the sun sets in the west).

  • Should my desk face the wall or the window?

    Sit at your desk so your back is up against a solid wall. You should not face the wall when sitting at your desk or you will feel trapped, blocked, and anxious while encountering obstacles in your work. Place a mirror on the blank wall as a solution to expand your view. Facing a window isn't ideal, either because your energies will fly right out the window and you won't be able to focus, according to feng shui principles.

  • How can I decorate my office for positive energy?

    Bring positive energy into your office by placing things in there that make you happy. That means putting up family pictures, beautiful artwork and accessories, fun plants, and even a small water fountain for moving energy around in your office. To add positive energy, find a feng shui money frog and money plant for your space but add them with intention and only if you appreciate these items.