Photography: Kate Enno/ Styling: Annalese Hay
If you’ve heard anything about feng shui, it’s probably that mirrors are crucial. Feng shui is an ancient practice that originated in China and within the world of interior design, is often thought of as the art of placement. It’s about understanding how energy moves through your home, and how the placement of objects and furniture can affect these energies — and, therefore, your life.
When it comes to mirrors and feng shui, the stakes are high. Mirrors can manipulate the energy within a space with positive or negative results depending on their position. In feng shui, mirror placement can enhance light, grow wealth, or even cause fights. “Mirrors are quite complicated from a feng shui point of view,” explains Feng Shui Master Jane Langof. “They draw energy in and they also bounce it out.”
So, how do you use mirrors to your advantage, and not your detriment?
Where not to put mirrors in feng shui?
1. Don’t put a mirror at your entrance
Never place a mirror directly opposite your front door. This repels welcoming energy back out again, Langof tells Home Beautiful’s podcast, The Edit. Instead, have a mirror perpendicular to your front door to move the energy onwards.
2. Don’t put a mirror in your kitchen
Kitchens are active, high-energy places — often with open flames, heat, stress and high vigilance. In traditional feng shui, a mirror in the kitchen can clash with its innate ‘fire’ energy. This may enhance or circulate negative energies in your home, particularly in this room.
3. Don’t put a mirror in your home office
A feng shui superstition is that having a mirror above your work space doubles your work load. Nobody wants that. Keep the mirrors out of the home office, particularly around the desk space, so any stress isn’t reflected back on you.
4. Don’t put a mirror opposite your bed
“Mirrors directly reflecting the bed are said to amplify unresolved issues between couples,” Langof explains. Say no more! However, if you’re burdened with mirrored wardrobes opposite your bed, Langof also offered some non-invasive solutions that won’t necessitate a complete change of the wardrobe doors. (Though, you could do that too…) Scroll on to find out.
Where is a lucky place to put a mirror?
It’s said that having a large mirror in your dining room will increase your wealth and luck. As an entertaining room, a mirror here is said to represent your capacity to hold wealth. So, hang a mirror on the wall and reap the rewards!
As for further beneficial placements, the idea is to use mirrors to reflect things you want more of, such as gorgeous views, natural light, or open space. This is a common trick among interior stylists, not just feng shui masters.
Meanwhile, you can also place mirrors along hallways to help expand the space and also move energy through. (But don’t put it at the end of a hallway, as this can slow the energy flow, pushing it back the other way.)
What to do when you can’t change your mirrors
If you’re in a rental or stuck with mirrored built-in closets, for example, you may not simply be able to move your mirrors around. Fortunately, Langof has a feng shui solution.
For example, if you have a built-in mirror opposite the entrance to your home, Langof suggests placing a plant or other decorative object you like in front of it, so it’s not the first thing you see upon entry.
If you have built-ins with mirrors in your bedroom, Langof says hanging a sheer curtain above the wardrobe can look quite nice. Draw this across to keep your bedroom safe from arguments with your partner.
Other options are to use wallpaper (which Langof concedes can “look a bit dodge”) or simply replacing those doors and hanging your mirrors elsewhere.
Hear more from Jane Langof on The Edit podcast:
