Choosing the right apartment

By Dianne M. Villafuerte
Inquirer News Service

LIVING in an apartment building does not necessarily mean one has to give up practicing good feng shui, especially if one finds safety and security applying it to his or her home environment. There are still some things one should look into when choosing the right apartment building.

The main entrance to apartment buildings, as in a house's, should be proportional to the size of the building. A small building with a too large entrance will let inauspicious chi (energy) to enter the apartment while enabling favorable chi to escape. A large building with a too small entrance, on the other hand, will contain the unlucky chi inside the building while making it hard for beneficial energy to enter.

In feng shui theory, feng shui practitioner and writer Zaihong Shen says that it is ideal when there is a vestibule -- a passage or room between the outer door and the interior of a building -- in an apartment building's main entrance. The vestibule slows down good interior chi so that it will not quickly leave the building.

Questions to think about

Feng shui consultants also advise apartment hunters to consider even the building's lobby when searching for apartments. Shen shares with her readers the following questions to think about when looking at apartment lobbies:

• Is the lobby's size proportional to the building's size

• Is it inviting?

• Is there good air circulation?

• Is there good air circulation?

• Is the temperature controlled?

• Is the lobby kept clean and uncluttered?

• Is it in a good condition?

• Are the lobby's colors neutral and calming?

Why should apartment building lobbies matter? Because this place has the same purpose as a house's foyer. A lobby makes beneficial chi to linger much longer within the building while hinders the entrance of unfavorable chi.

Controlling noise

Remember that commercial whose jingle goes by the words, "Traffic / So bad nakaka-bad trip..."? That primarily sums up what every single one of us feels when caught in the middle of the famous and horrendous Metro Manila traffic. But just imagine what those living in an apartment built smack in the middle of a busy street feel every single day?

In feng shui theory, high noise levels are believed to cause irritability, frustration or aggression in people. In addition, excess noise drastically disturbs an apartment's energy which may also lead to headaches, depression, anxiousness and insomnia in the occupants.

Since those living in apartments have virtually no control over their street's traffic levels, Shen advises those living in apartment buildings in traffic-congested areas to reduce the noise coming into their apartments by installing double windows to isolate the apartment against noise, using a white noise machine to turn down street noise below, getting a small water fountain to add a soothing-sounding water element to the environment, or providing soothing and calming ambient music.