Cecil Lee

Dear Bea, If one is not too sure or does not apply Feng Shui, the best colours are often pastel shades or neutral white or colours that are white but with a tinge of other (light colours). Often, colours like bold yellow etc... especially where there are sectors with #5 may not be appropriate as this may result in sickness. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Christina, Firstly, Congratulations! To your brother! I will provide the write-up soon. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear David, I believe, in Singapore and everywhere else, needless to say, usually "better" Feng Shui homes or apartments (especially in choice) locations often common a higher premium than others. Thus, this is why for most condos, units facing "good views" such as the water feature (pool) etc often can command a higher price than say a unit next to, facing the dustbin area etc... Although Feng Shui is a major consideration, often when it comes to resale apartments, the usual "bad comments" are: 1. This is a "west" facing home or apartment - - quite hot 2. Fire station Yes, not so much of Feng Shui, but imagine the "noise" of the sirens ringing or the station activating their siren etc... 3. Temple In particular, best not to have the temple facing one's apartment. Or if one's home or apartment is low level, have the roof of the temple slicing or becoming a sha qi to the apartment. In particular, it is best that one's apartment or home is not in a North-east to South-west alignment with the temple. (NE = devil's gate and SW = devil's back door). Previously, I had written the senario that majority of Singaporeans are a country of salaried workers. And given this senario, and aging population, come 20 to 30 years time, and currently with so many condos, and new condos added, unfortunately with limited CPF, inflation and many are not on pension or government subsidy, there can be a substantial number of Singaporeans -- retiring (but with long life of more than 20 to 30 years). Down grading from a condo is a great possibility. And imagine, if one had invested in a common or "lousy" condo, how to sell it or even if we want to sell, sell at rock bottom prices! Thus, in my opinion, therefore, and not so much on Feng Shui, we should be very prudent on selecting our current dream home. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Please see below:- Warmest Regards, Cecil.

Dear Gayle, Would it be possible to provide a simple sketch. Thanks, Cecil

Dear Edmund, To bring "sanity" out of house hunting, it is best under such circumstances to: 1. First, try to find an apartment that has relatively good shapes and forms. Simple Shape and Forms clues include: 1.1 If possible, the view from the balcony is "unobstructed". 1.2 Where are the roads? If possible, the flat should not face the road (noisy) 1.3 Afternoon sun? (West) Are any of the bedrooms directly or partially facing into the West (afternoon sun)? Living room also? 2. Under the Flying Star Theory If one knows how to apply it, especially for a new apartment or one that will have an extensive renovation done; there are some homes that have better Flying Star luck than others unders say Period 8 etc.. 3. Eight House Theory Where possible, try to check where are the death/ disaster sectors. It would be good if these do not land at the main entrance or bedroom. If so, check the layout to see, who can sleep where. For example if the bedroom is your favourable but your partner's "death" sector, she should sleep further away from this sector, while you shield her. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Guest, Frankly, in my opinion, there is no best time to sign the contract. Sign it at your convenience. More importantly, for the Chinese, it is more important to be considered about: 1. Ground-breaking date or initial things to do when first opening the door 2. Start of renovations 3. move-in These are considered more important than say the date and time to sign the agreement as these are merely paper transactions. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Frankly, you are not alone in this situation. If we look carefully at all high rise buildings, many offices and even "bosses" rooms or individual rooms have their back against such a glass wall. What one can do is to have a back cabinet up to e.g. waist height or around 42 to 43 cm high. Often, we do see such cabinets behind us or our table. In doing so, what is left is the "top-half" windows. While the lower half is covered or taken-up with such low-back cabinets. Therefore, frankly, don't be too concern over this. But check to see if you can place such low -filing back cabinets behind your seat Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Hoa Luong,

Further to what I had mentioned earlier, to-date, I personally feel therefore that the color of a main door is not going to make any major difference. This is why, majority of doors are in wood tones or wood tone colors. What is more important is the external shapes and forms as well as Shapes and forms plus other factors other than simply the door color. This includes the number of steps etc... Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Crisa, In my opinion, currently, the most important consideration is not so much of the colour of the door, but rather, are there any threats to this door (main entrance). Since the main entrance is as important as the "mouth" of the house, one has to make sure that it is truly protected. For example, a lone lamp post across the road that seems to slice themain door or a pointed neighbour's roof aimed towards the main door are considered threats to the home, thusaffect our well being. From what I can understand, the most pleasant color of a door is especially if it is in wood tone colors or simply wood varnished orlacquered door. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, A horse-shore has more to do with western beliefs e.g. much like the rabbit foot than Feng Shui. Frankly, I have seen some persons hang it in an upside down U shape. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Joan, Frankly, if this is your home (not shared or rental), it is best to have clear space e.g. air-circulate around the room rather than have a portable screen (since this is the side of bed facing the door) and not one's leg facing the door. If you do feel uncomfortable, then in the evening, simply close the bedroom door. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear MK, In my opinion, the balcony is not the best place to place an altar - especially if it is subject to the elements (e.g. rain or direct sunlight). For plants, there is often no specific plant but rather, for indoor plants often, they should have "waxy" leaves and darker green colour. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Kenny, In the past, a new charcoal stove is used until it becomes old. Nowadays, it is only used to perform this action. After performing this action, it is best to gather a few pieces of charcoal e.g. 3 pieces, wrap it up in red paper. Note: the charcoal represents "gold" or wealth. Clean up the charcoal stove and place the charcoal on-top of it. the entire stove is kept inside a cabinet e.g. in the kitchen. It (the charcoal stove) should not be thrown away or given away. Throwing it or giving it away especially to strangers is like giving away our wealth. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Elena, If the main door is at the facing direction, you may consider tilting it to away from this double facing position. Otherwise, frankly, there is no way of "tilting" the entire facing direction -- just not possible, here. For some homes, or landed property, some even correct it by changing the "facing direction" i.e. relocating say the living or rooms with high activity... Warmest Regards, Cecil

Further to what I had mentioned, if the glass blocks are squarish or rectangular - piled together to form a "wall", this is OK. Do avoid circular glass blocks - much like the pothole of a ship or those found on a ship i.e. circular windows. Here, circle is considered not auspicious especially since it could symbolise a "sinking" ship. Where, the pothole of a ship seeps in water and thus sinks a ship. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jen, Yes, the idea is much like a partition or screen. Since there is no real air moving in a straight-line between the back glass blocks towards the front door and vice-versa this is OK. Even if the back can be seen thru this glass, it is still ok. Imagine drawing a straight arrow thru the air. If it hit's a solid object such as a glass block, then this is not a straight path directly thru to the back. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Try to visit this resource:- Discuss :: Free Advice (General Feng Shui) Conference: Part I - Facing direction of a home dated 4/22/2004 Part II - Facing direction of a home dated 4/22/2004 For a better understanding on this matter. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Ming Le, Frankly, at your "age" since you are a student, one is often totally have little say in where our bedroom / cum study area or location is. Thus, in my opinion, like the millions who had gone thru this stage, it is good to entirely "scrap" the idea of Feng Shui or the notion of it. In fact, many people like yourself has completed their studies successfully -- withou the notion of "Feng Shui". This is because, firstly, your room is a "tiny location" and as mentioned above, you do not have full control of your environment. It is best to look at the holistic approach to Feng Shui or the holy trinity of Feng Shui: 1. Heaven Luck 2. Earth Luck 3. Human or man luck Having said this, since heaven luck is what is given to us, while your earth luck is not within your full control, you like the millions or billions who are studying should rely more on the Human or man luck factors. Here, human luck can suggest e.g. studying smartly, good exam techniques, healthy diet and good frame of mind. In addition, you can apply the Yin and Yang concept for your bedroom. For example, if it is time for you to study in your bedroom, have sufficient light especially during the day or evening to "encourage" you to study". When it is time to sleep, you should be able to feel cosy to sleep. For example, if your room seems too cosy -- that one could fall asleep immediately, then, it is best to find other alternatives e.g. another place or location e.g. such as the school library or corridor with table and chairs. Under Feng Shui, usually, the key success has more to do with its influence on a large location than say a "tiny" room. Of course, technically speaking, it would seem that we should study facing a good direction but, often, I have seem the young, growing up, without even applying Feng Shui. Instead, such young persons often, have their own rooms, a specific table where they neatly place all their "study tools" e.g. pens, pencil case, and all their books are right at their finger tips! I strongly believe, this is much, much better than all the Feng Shui in the world! The morale of the story: "Scrap the notion of Feng Shui, and get on with your life -- to make a success out of it! " Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Glenetta, Frankly, as mentioned earlier, this has more to do with beliefs than Feng Shui. In my opinion, one could place the evelope perhaps at the same location where we often have a "central" focus or display or on a table. Sometimes, we could place it at convenient locations such as next to or close to the set of keys or the table where we place our wallet or set of car keys etc... I have never done this before -- i.e. the placement of a "wish" envelope, thus, perhaps, this could be the wrong place for such a question. To me, any place will do so long as the wind does not blow it away or a place where, it does not collect dust or placed into a location that after sometime, we have forgotten it. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Anon, Under Feng Shui, there are several ways to go about it: 1. One's personal feelings. Often things like a small turtle or small water bowl, we often can place it at any location that we most likely, feel comfortable with. For plants, especially a single plant, we can still often, find a comfortable corner e.g. in the living / dining or around a corner of a home. But if one is growing a "jungle" or forest of plants or trees, it would be better to have them at the balcony or around the garden area of a landed property. For a singular fish tank, we can still place it often in a location for us to enjoy e.g. the living room. For a fountain, often, most likely, it can be placed in the front garden or balcony (fountain) 2. Feng Shui applying both Shapes and Forms But if we are going to have several fish tanks or fountain in the "name sake of Feng Shui" than we should first, approach this by identifying areas under Shapes and Forms -- such as the most likely locations are usually in a "clear space area" such as the balcony or living roomarea. After this, to be more exact, apply Flying Star Feng Shui to determine where is the water stars compatible with such a water position e.g. it can be double #7's (to drown it) or #8 water star to activate water wealth etc... Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jen, From what you have written, there are basically two types of exit: 1. Entry/exits of "convenience" 2. an exit to fullfil a statutory requirement e.g. fire safety 1. Entry/exits of "convenience" ==================== As you have mentioned, often, many have a garage. And for ease of entry and exit to the garage an "exit" or entry door is located in this area towards the home. In addition, many homes do have a backdoor - to allow human activities at this location e.g. bringing out garbage, hanging or drying clothes etc... 2. an exit to fullfil a statutory requirement e.g. fire safety +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sometimes, an exit has to be built to satisfy a fire safety requirement. In Feng Shui, especially under Flying star Feng Shui, we have what is known as the "facing" and "sitting" position. And frankly, under the Flying star Feng Shui, we do not need to literally locate the front door at the facing nor the back door at the sitting position. More importantly, for most homes, it is always favourable to have windows "all round" the home so that air-flow can circulate througout the home. (Less those staying in regions that often this may be a disadvantage. For example, especially those staying in the northern hemisphere, such as Beijing, it is best to avoid having a back door or window facing north (i.e. the cold winds and yellow dust ). For a home therefore, we should not purposely create a door just because of or in or under the name of Feng Shui, but rather, do we have a USEFUL need for it? (the exit or door?). Thus, the saying goes " You live, here we don't!" Our home should be reasonably thoughout -- comfortable, practical to stay in! Imagine! If a FS practitioner suddenly says "Hey! don't have a garage entry/exit door to the home since " there could be thecar's exhaust". So what do we do? Just because of this,and if our garage is tight, we may have to do a crap-walk (sometimes walk sidewaysdue to the tight space) out of our garage etc... What also, if there is a heavy rain? The morale of the storey is "to build a home,that is practical, and fits our lifestyle -- most. Rather than built constraints onto ourselves just because of or in the namesake of "Feng Shui". Under Feng Shui, the major consideration is i.e. the external environment. For example, if our main door or back door is "hit" by a neighour's sharp roof, then we should try to "protect" it. Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Jen, Thanks for your description. From what I understand, since you are only installing glass blocks with the idea that it let's in light into the home and not an opening, then there is no direct path for qi (chi) to leak out from the front to the back of this "wall". Warmest Regards, Cecil

Dear Glenetta, To be honest, this has more to do with beliefs than Feng Shui. Since the Chinese consider red as auspicious, usually, anything to do with red is favourable. For example, for us, the Hong Bao or red packet - which is a small red envelope is often given (with dollar notes e.g. $2 or $10) each. A sample of the red packet can be viewed under this link:- http://www.geomancy.net/mypictures/cgi-bin/mypictures.cgi?img=0&search=red+packet&cat=all&bool=and Often, the Chinese would buy red paper i.e. red on one side and white on the other side. They would write "lottery" numbers on this paper. If you want to you can do the same. Or if there is a pink paper, you can write-down on it. As to whether blue or black ink, there is no issue. Traditionally, Chinese calligraphy uses black ink. Thus, black is OK. Warmest Regards, Cecil