Customer Reviews

Feng Shui Chic: Stylish Designs for Harmonious Living

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
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Sharon Stasney gives western culture a book that fits our aesthetics and our cultural needs. This book takes the mystery and confusion out of Feng Shui and allows readers to really get down to making some changes in their life. Many of the feng shui books I have read have left me in a perpetual thinking loop-meaning no action taken, no change.

Feng Shui Chic is well organized in an understandable, practical format. The exercises are very helpful and highlight the versatility of feng shui as a healing tool. The room by room guide is essential for being able to diagnose one's own home.

As a student and practioner of Feng Shui, I know how powerful a tool it can be, but very few books offer ideas that are as aesthetically pleasing, versatile and practical as Sharon's. The other very impressive part of the book is that it truly gives the reader gentle and practical ways to look closer at the connection of the physical space to the whole person and see how these two things are connected and the beautiful energy dance that happens between them.

The color photographs are beautifully done and essential to digesting the information being presented in each of the sections.

I will be giving and recommending this book to everyone I know.

Maura Powers Salt Lake City, UT

I have owned Feng Shui Chic: Stylish Designs for Harmonious Living for years and have given it as a gift more times than I can count. It is by far one of the best, most practical, useful, understandable resources on the market. The pictures, illustrations, and text help a beginner or experienced decorator who is intergrating feng shui into design or home improvement projects. I bought a lot of other books before I found this one and none have ever compared. Buy it! Also a great gift. Every person to whom I have given this book has raved about it, too!

As a feng shui practitioner-in-training, I take all feng shui manuals and books with a grain of salt. In other words, don't believe everything you read. That's not to say Stasney's book doesn't contain some interesting concepts. If you're looking for some fresh interior design ideas, by all means read and enjoy this book. The photos are attractive, and the book itself is well ordered and thoughtfully written. On the other hand, if you're serious about authentic, traditional feng shui -- meaning real, honest-to-goodness theory and application -- start somewhere else, and pick this book up later as a study to test your knowledge and eye for authenticity. Stasney authorizes liberal use of intuition in your interior design. Which is fine ... but just remember that feng shui is a science, not solely a mere feeling or preference. As with all feng shui books, consider this just book just one of many layers in your living-space analysis.

Feng Shui Chic is a great resource for people who want to apply ancient principles of feng shui to modern-day living and individual tastes. This is one of the most clear and organized feng shui books I have read, and I have read many. The room-by-room guide is especially helpful, and the photos are fantastic!

For each of the 9 ba gua sectors, she lists what to do with each type of room. I excitedly opened the book and began thumbing through it. Let's see, Self-knowledge, my office ... wait - there's no office listed. Ok, let's try Intimate Relationship, Dining Room ... "have fun with it." I wonder what she means? Ok - Creative Offspring, kitchen ... "use all four burners on your stove, even if it is only to boil water." Huh? Ok then - Health, bathroom ... "large mirror and upward sconce lighting above the sink." Ok, the bathroom advice is a little weak, but at least it means something. Hopefully you get the idea. I really wanted to like it, but bottom line is that it's not all that helpful.

I liked the this book's integration of feng shui and interior design. Set up more like a decorating book with lots of pictures, it gives you many interesting, specific ideas on what you can do to improve your interior spaces as it relates to feng shui. I didn't agree with all of the ideas, like naming your plants after your relatives, which I found a bit odd, but at least they were creative ideas. This book would be a good addition to anyone's feng shui library as it explores the subject from a different angle than most of the books on the market.

Feng Shui is about room decor that makes you feel good and the more detailed the book the better you'll arrange each room in you home. This book could use more detail and I do recommend that if you like it you get a Lo Pan and this other book to go with your Feng Shui collection, The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room (Feng Shui) (Paperback)
by Terah Kathryn Collins.

Using the principles of Feng Shui with respect to interior design Feng Shui Chic: Stylish Designs For Harmonious Living: seeks to elicit specific physical or emotional responses based on home decorating choices. Employing Feng Shui with respect to designing the rooms of a home can open up new body/mind/spirit experiences; sharpen focus on detailed tasks; strengthen the immune system; encourage confidence; help release unwanted clutter; and much more. If you are considering an interior design project for your home or apartment, begin with a careful reading of Sharon Stasney's Feng Shui Chic.

I attended a lecture from the author a few years ago. Ms. Stasney was engaging and informative- her book is equally so. It is the best book I've ever read on decorating with Feng Shui; it clearly states the fundamentals, uses easy to read diagrams, and features many stylish, modern concepts to fulfill the ancient principals. The pictures are gorgeous and not intimidating, and Ms. Stasney makes it practical to incorporate a little bit of Eastern wisdom into your home, or a full Feng Shui makeover. Buy this book first if you are starting out!