Home Office Feng Shui Tip: How to Choose The Best Desk
Laura Cerrano
A common Feng Shui Question, “What is The Best Type of Desk for Your Home Office in Feng Shui?”
A quick response is to begin by choosing a desk that has a solid flat surface. Second, most desks are encouraged to be made of wood, as this symbolizes strong support and a growth mindset. But if you can’t find a wood-designed desk, at least make sure the surface offers a solid surface and not a glass design. Third, you’ll also want to make sure you choose a desk size (length, depth, and width) that suits the nature of your work. This meaning, do you need a lot of surface space to work on, or not so much. In any case, you want to be reasonable with what you choose so you don’t feel restricted when utilizing the desk surface. These are the most foundational observations to start with when considering what type of home desk to choose from a Feng Shui perspective.
After that, most other considerations are based on spatial and storage needs, paired with asking yourself do you prefer a desk design that is sit-down, stand-up, or both.
Not too long ago I suggested to my husband to use my back office while his office was being remodeled. He jumped on the idea with excitement and commented that he has always enjoyed my office because it felt good and inviting since it was remodeled at the beginning of the year. After we discussed the idea, I stepped out of my second office to grab some paperwork (mind you this is where we had the conversation) and when I came back up this is what I found.
My husband took my desk from the second office I was using, along with my chair, and immediately moved into his ‘new space’. To replace my desk he set up a tiny foldable dinner table and a foldable chair. I have to admit, I laughed so hard when I saw how he “Feng Shui-ied” my other office. I called out to him and asked, “What did you do?" Where are my desk and chair?!” He responded, “I set you up with a table and chair and you have an office with a view”.
So, here we have a perfect example of what NOT to do when selecting a desk and chair. Using what I have for the time being, I grabbed another table which provides a grander surface space, along with a more supportive chair. This is still a work in progress, but it’s a lot better than working on a tiny foldable dinner table.
Observing tiny details, you’ll see my desk position faces toward the windows. In Feng Shui, there can be debate within the community on that position being fine to do vs. not. It’s also worth noting, that this arrangement possibly puts me in an uncommanding view of the office doorway.
Everything has been done with clear intention and reasoning. Regarding the ‘commanding position’, my desk has a view of the outside which happens to provide a vantage point to the front of the home. So even though I don’t have a direct view of the interior office door, I can actually see who is entering the entire home from my office windows from the main front door. Besides that, I still have a pretty good peripheral view of who enters the office and have also set up BTB Feng Shui-inspired cures to offer another level of feeling secure. In regard to choosing to face toward the window, I agree that I do not want to have my workstation completely exposed with windows from floor to ceiling while looking out. If you notice, you’ll see there is a wall between the two windows and that is where I’ve set up the main computer which encapsulates all the work I do for marketing, Feng Shui/Dowsing report creation, blogging, teaching, etc. For me, that is how I feel the energy of wealth, production, and focus is retained vs. flowing out the window.
Why do Feng Shui Consultants suggest avoiding placing your desk facing a window, and the same goes for a cash register for businesses. In modern-day Feng Shui, windows hold the metaphor of letting energy out. Having a wall or even a makeshift wall by the window if you choose to work facing toward the window is a way to retain the energy vs. letting it flow out.
Referring back to my office, I’ve chosen to arrange myself as you see based on my home’s flying star natal chart because it has the #9 in the wealth position, within this area of my home. With that noted, I’ve chosen to face toward the #9. This is very good because as we inch closer to Feb 4th, 2024, #9 becomes stronger in power and I’ve been experiencing the benefits already.
One last quick notable home office Feng Shui tip is to make sure you maintain a clutter-free work zone. My profession requires a lot of heavy analysis, deep listening, energetic investigation, and problem-solving, so that means my office environment needs to be visually calm. When I say clutter, think of it in terms of, when you are doing work, do you find your surroundings adding to a level of ‘noise’ and distraction or focus? This is how you can begin to determine what is ‘clutter’ for you.
Naturally, there is much more I could comment on about how to establish a home office with Feng Shui. As you can see, the ‘logic’ behind how to arrange a space with modern-day feng shui can be personalized depending on various factors, however, this is a great start!