What Makes a Floor Plan Good Feng Shui?
A floor plan is good feng shui when the energy that comes in the front door, which practitioners call chi, can move gently through the home and settle in the rooms where people live. Much of that comes down to where the front door, the stairs, the kitchen, the toilets and the bedrooms sit against each other, and that can be checked on a floor plan before anything is built.
On Dudils, plans that pass six layout checks carry a purple feng shui friendly label. This guide explains the six checks, how they are read and what the label does not claim. Schools of feng shui differ on many of these rules, so treat this as a layout check, not a full reading by a practitioner. Every plan with the label also has its living areas facing north, which is what every plan on Dudils is reviewed for. Browse them on feng shui friendly house plans.
What are the six feng shui layout checks?
They are the six rules buyers raise most often about a floor plan, and each one can be seen on the drawing. First, the front door is not in line with a back door or a rear slider. Second, the stairs do not face the front door. Third, the kitchen cannot be seen straight from the front door. Fourth, no toilet door faces the front door. Fifth, no toilet or kitchen sits in the centre of the house. Sixth, no bedroom sits over the garage.
Each rule has its own guide: a front door in line with a back door, a staircase facing the front door, a kitchen seen from the front door, a toilet in the middle of the house, which also covers a toilet door facing the front door, and a bedroom over the garage.
How does Dudils read the checks off a floor plan?
Each check is read off the builder's own floor plan drawing, the same drawing you see on the plan page. Every check is marked as a pass, a fail, not applicable or unclear. A single storey home has no stairs and no room over the garage, so those two checks do not apply to it. A check is unclear when the drawing cannot settle it, for example when a door is not drawn, and an unclear check keeps the label off.
The architect who reviews the plans on Dudils can correct a reading that is wrong. The checks are only ever about the layout as drawn, so a builder's change to the plan after you sign is not covered.
What does the purple feng shui friendly label mean?
It means every one of the six checks passed or did not apply. One fail, or one check the drawing could not settle, and the label stays off.
The label never replaces the north check. A plan only appears on Dudils if its main living areas can face north, and the feng shui label sits on top of that. The feng shui friendly house plans page lists the plans that carry it, with the north filter still on.
What does the feng shui label not claim?
It claims nothing that depends on the compass or on the people in the home. The compass school, Eight Mansions and Flying Star read a house against the direction it faces, the year it was built and the birth dates of the household, which some practitioners turn into a kua number for each person. None of that can be read off a builder's floor plan before the house is placed on a block, so the label claims none of it.
It also says nothing about the site: a T junction, a corner block, the slope or the house number. Those are covered in the guide on feng shui blocks to avoid, and the compass question in is a north facing house good feng shui in Australia.
Is good feng shui the same as good design?
Often, yes. Most of the six rules line up with things an architect checks anyway. A front door that looks straight through to the backyard sends the wind down one corridor and leaves the living areas with no privacy from the street. A kitchen in view of the entry puts the dishes on show to every visitor. A toilet door facing the front door is a view nobody wants on arrival. A bedroom over the garage sits over car fumes, a cold slab and the noise of a roller door.
Where the two pull in different directions, Dudils puts the north facing living areas first, because the sun decides how warm and bright the home is every day of the year.
Can a plan that fails a feng shui check be fixed?
Usually, yes. Most fixes are small: a screen or a partition at the entry, a different door swing, a solid door in place of a glass one, or a plant or a rug to slow the path through the home. Moving a toilet or a bedroom is a bigger change, and a builder will price it as a variation.
If feng shui matters to you, ask the builder about the change before you sign, and have a practitioner look at the final plan with your block and your household in mind.
Common questions
Is the feng shui friendly label a full feng shui reading?
No. It is a layout check of six rules that can be seen on a floor plan. A practitioner's reading also looks at the compass direction of the house on its block, the surroundings and the people who will live there, and schools of feng shui differ on many of those points.
Do feng shui friendly plans still face north?
Yes. Every plan on Dudils is reviewed so its main living areas can face north, and the feng shui page keeps that filter. The label is an extra check on top of north, never a replacement for it.
Why does a single storey plan pass the stairs check?
Because the rule cannot apply. A home with no stairs and no room over the garage has nothing to fail on those two checks, so they are marked not applicable and do not block the label.
Does a plan without the label have bad feng shui?
Not always. A plan can miss the label because one check was unclear on the drawing, not because it failed. Open the plan and look at the entry, the stairs, the kitchen and the toilets yourself, or ask the builder for a clearer drawing.