Customer Reviews

The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

My son gave me this book for Xmas, what a wonderful gift! As a beginner to Feng Shui, I find many books on the subject too complex for me at this time. I needed a book that was clear and uncomplicated. I found it! Not only did I learn how to incorporate feng shui into my home but also in my attitude and way of life. Unlike many authors I have read, Terah Kathryn Collins emphasizes the importance of changing our attitudes along with our living space. Only by combining the two can we truly utilize the power of Ch'i. I look forward to incorporating the principles I have learned from this book into my home and life!

I collect, read & study every book I can on Feng Shui. I have close to a hundred books in my own library on Feng Shui. This book is by far, the easiest to understand and use. It just tells you how to do it and improve your life. I highly recommend this book.

I loved The Western Guide to Feng Shui, but I was unsure what more the author could say in Room-by-Room. I had no cause for concern! Collins continues her breezy and easy to understand style of breaking Feng Shui into quickly digested pieces (in The Western Guide, it was Bagua regions, in Room-by-Room, it's the common rooms and exterior areas of a house). For each piece, she explains the basics of Feng Shui as applied in that situation, gives real life examples (both success and failure stories), and ends with a quick reference list for your later use. Room-by-Room also contains great color photographs that make the descriptions come alive.

Although The Western Guide is a better all-over explanation of Feng Shui, Room-by-Room gives you enough information to get started. Where Room-by-Room really shines is describing how to pick out the pieces to enhance the bagua areas. It is not enough to simply slap artwork depicting a naked couple in your relationship area -- if that area happens to fall in your entrance foyer, you'll be making guests uneasy with an overly intimate piece of art. If you're serious about giving your home a Feng Shui makeover, you should probably get both books.

The first guests I had in my home after its makeover used words like "cozy," "comfortable," and "homey" to describe their impressions of the house. Feng Shui really works!

While this book is good in providing real-life examples, I found her examples were too situation-specific. She shows real situations that don't apply to my own, hence, most of the book was unhelpful. This is not a particularly good book if you want to know what to do specifically - unless the examples in the book match your own. Her suggestions of what you can do to improve a room are either too broad or too specific to the particular case she uses. I've seen more helpful hints on the Internet than in this book, and do not recommend it unless you have other Feng Shui books. Not completely useless, you can use this as a supplement.

This is the first book I read about Feng Shui. I found I really enjoyed Collin's breezy style of writing, but more than that, after reading 10 other books on feng shui, I can honestly say this is the best book out there for the beginner feng shui reader.

Collins goes over all the feng shui basics in this book - the bagua, enhansements, colors, the five-element theory (nourishing and destructive cycles), etc. She then goes on with the theories of each Room beyond the bagua (such as that bathrooms are watery, etc, and how to prevent them from being overly watery). I found this very helpful. I also enjoyed how Collins had affirmations for each gua and each room. The affirmations, for example, for the bathroom, involve letting go of toxic thoughts and emotions.

This book is also full of photos, both black and white and color, that are really helpful in allowing you to see what the author means when she gives an example of good or bad feng shui. The photographs are really gorgeous, too, and simply make the examples stand out really well!

After reading this book, I went back and read her book, "The Western Guide to Feng Shui", but didn't enjoy it nearly as much. It doesn't has the photographs, the writing is stilted, and she doesn't go into as much detail with enhansements and color theory as she does in this book. If you had to choose which book to start with, start with "The Western Guide to Feng Shui: Room by Room"! Simply the best First book to read about Feng Shui!

I read several books on feng shui before this one-mostly slogging through all the history and technical information that was not at all useful to me. Then I found Ms. Collins book. She presents just enough history and technical information to be useful, and offers many simple and practical ideas which can change the energy of your home and your life. The pictures were very helpful in illustrating how a few small changes can dramatically change the energy of a whole room. I highly recommend this book.

I found this book to be an excellant place to start on a study of modern feng shui. She touched on most of the major points of the study, and gave appropriate examples. It was very easy to get started on my house after reading this book.

It is a real act of courage to open your Feng Shui eyes and take a detailed look at what your home is saying about you. It usually leads to extraordinary insights, immediate calls to action, and deeply empowering inner and outer changes. ~Terah Kathryn Collins

Feng Shui (fung shway) is a 3,000-year-old Chinese design philosophy that encourages you to analyze and change your environment for personal growth and relaxation. As your mind starts to change, this change is reflected in your environment. You can also change your environment and adjust your viewpoint or even bring more success and peace into your life.

Terah Kathryn Collins is an internationally recognized consultant, speaker and teacher. Her writing style is highly creative and filled with positive energy. Her ideas are enlightening and comforting and they changed how I viewed my environment. Through the application of her ideas you can improve your creativity, change your health, bring positive energy into your home and create a home that reflects who you are becoming. This is a practical approach with personal flair. You can personalize the ideas to suit your goals. There are 125 black-and-white and color photographs to give you ideas and to explain the text.

After a quick introduction to this art, Terah Kathryn Collins introduces "The Bagua Map." This was great fun to draw (This just looks like a tic-tac-toe board drawn over a footprint drawing of your home.) and by the time you have your house mapped out, you can start to map your office and bedrooms. Then, you can make notes around the drawings. Additional chapters include:

Yin and Yang and the Five Elements
Romancing the Home - art, color, crystals, lighting, living things, mirrors, nature objects, sound makers, water features and wind dancers.
The Front Entry and Foyer
The Living Room
The Dining Room - Nurturing Body, Heart, and Soul
The Kitchen - Nourishment's Birthplace
The Family Room
The Home Office
Bedrooms
The Sancturary
Bathrooms
Laundry Rooms and Garages
Attics, Basements and Other Storage Areas
Hallways and Stairways
Windows and Doors
Cleansings and Blessings - Creative ideas for making a home yours, especially if you are not the first owner.

This book also explains why you can buy dried flowers, but presents the idea as a long-term arrangement instead of a permanent arrangement. There are also cautions against placing crystals in windows with direct sunlight and other cautions that can keep your home safe.

I realized the power of Feng Shui personally when I moved my desk so I could see the door and the window. The gift of a wonderful Zen fountain and the placement of a lamp on the desk also brought more serenity to my writing experience. It is amazing how much more relaxed my relationship with my husband has become just because I moved my desk. Now I can see him entering our home and even when I'm deep in a writing trance, I can acknowledge his presence and Princess Sasha cat now enjoys looking out of the window while I'm typing. Air can flow more freely into the room and the scent of flowers from the planter drifts over the desk as I type. Just one simple example of how Feng Shui changed my immediate existence. The desk on page 167 was my guide for arranging a more effective writing space.

This book would make a wonderful house warming present! Especially with a Zen fountain, plants or candles.

Personally, I'd recommend making changes over time. Moving furniture could be the first step and then you could purchase items over a few months or years. Even the author explained how she made small changes at first and planned for changes in the future when she could afford to buy a new couch, etc.

Half the fun is making changes over time and seeing wonderful energy start to flow into your life. The author promotes inner and outer work. She explains how "you" breathe "the magic" into the changes you make. When your environment is more positive and nurturing, you will feel more creative and this can lead to lasting changes.

If you love to decorate you are going to love this book! This is my favorite Feng Shui book because it has ideas that have changed my life.

~The Rebecca Review

This book is very helpful and a joy to read. So many easy to understand ideas that I can actually use! Going to the bookstore and trying to pick out a Feng Shui book is difficult with all of the choices, but I'm glad I choose this book because it is so helpful. I would buy more books by Terah Kathryn Collins.

This book was a great introduction to Feng Shui. Prior to purchasing the book I had only heard a little about the practice. I found it to be intriguing; a relaxing read and the advice easy to follow. Decorating the Feng Shui way is wonderful way to do it. A true pack rat like myself can truly benefit from advice offered in this book!