Thirteen years ago we moved into our current house. I didn’t want to move from our home at the time, but we needed to, and if we were going to live in a place that I was determined would be a transitional location, the house we bought worked well enough. It had a Black Lab mailbox out front (we had a Black Lab at the time), was near an animal shelter where I could admire dogs whenever I wanted, and there was a street nearby with a family name. It was impossible to ignore the signs that this was where we should go even if I was resistant to the idea. 

Despite the obvious signs that this was the place we were meant to be, I could never fully love being here. Part of it was resentment over having to leave a house I already loved, part of it was not wanting to get attached to a house I was just going to leave someday anyway—it was a heartbreak I didn’t want to repeat. So, I put little effort into making the house feel like home. For as much time as I spent in it, I kept my distance, doing the bare minimum of some cosmetic updates and being grateful for having a roof over my head. 

Fast forward a dozen years. The end of 2019 brought a breast cancer diagnosis to my door. The beginning of 2020 brought a business partnership, chemotherapy, and a pandemic (I know, I look like an overachiever). My house was no longer transitional. We were staying and staying in it a whole lot. I needed to start treating it like a home or we’d never get through quarantine with our sanity intact. More than anything, I wanted a change—to my mindset most of all, but I wanted to begin shedding what I could of the things in my life that I believe brought cancer to it.

Enter Feng Shui by way of Amanda Gibby Peters. Once I was feeling better physically, I started considering projects around the house that would make us feel more uplifted and abundant instead of stagnant and mired in circumstance. In September, Amanda did a series of inspirational Instagram Lives reading her September prompts from her book Simple Shui for Every Day: 365 Ways to Feng Shui Your Life. I took some notes, picked up her book through our local bookstore and got serious. 

I decided to start showing my house some real love by welcoming prosperity into our home through both the main and in-name-only entryways. Some of the prompts I picked from various points throughout the year were simple: cleaning off and sweeping my porches regularly, putting down new welcome mats, adding some plants on either side of the doors, and putting red envelopes under the mats with 9 coins in each. I also took on a little bit larger project by painting our north-west facing, unused, long-neglected front doors a light gray called “Destiny.”  (We still have some major work to do on both porches, I just wanted the house to know I was committed to the job.)

While I did the work with hope, I had no real expectation for results because I was already feeling good about the changes I was making and that was satisfying in and of itself. My family also seemed to appreciate the new vibe in the house from other improvements like weekly fresh flowers in various rooms. They are all still excited to see what I bring home each week. But that was just the start. Within maybe a week of finishing the first round of feng shui suggestions—maybe less—I was suddenly selling jewelry daily without advertising or marketing my work. We got surprise reimbursements from places we didn’t even know owed us money within a couple of days of each other. Talk about a swift reassurance that I was on the right path! And this was just the most superficial “test.” 

Probably the most important result has been building a relationship with my house making it feel like a home. I’ve done this not just through projects, but through rituals like putting it to bed at night by closing the curtains and waking it up in the morning by opening everything back up. We tidy everything and clean up the kitchen at the end of the night. I make sure to show this house how much I appreciate it becoming a refuge and not just someplace I’m stuck being. In return, the house feels lighter and more open to possibility. With having to be home as much as we are, I enjoy it. I love my home and the way it makes us feel supported and taken care of when the world seems out of alignment. 

If you want to make your house feel like it’s in a partnership with you and your success, we can help you! Check out our collaboration with Amanda Gibby Peters: Sweet Life Feng Shui Starter Set that includes her wonderful book, or the Sweet Life Feng Shui Boxed Set.