Nescafé Dolce Gusto: The Must-Have Holiday Gift of 2008
Holiday shopping has never been an easy task seeing as my family never gives me an idea of what they may want or need. I always visit the store intending to find something special and unique – something like ‘I never would have thought I needed but am so glad I have it’ sort of gift. If you have run into the same predicament, this post will help you immensely this holiday season for the people on your list that have it all.

As many times as you have visited Starbucks for that signature gourmet drink, there had to be a moment while dozing off into the inviting atmosphere where you thought of how great it would be to become a barista. The soothing sounds of steamed, frothy milk mixed with the rich smell of brewed espresso can put anyone into an intoxicating daze, including those on your gift list that are tricky to shop for.

The Nescafé Dolce Gusto gives anyone the opportunity to become a talented barista from the comfort of their own home by following a simple brewing procedure. Create several hot and cold gourmet beverages like a smooth Latte Macchiato or a rich cup of Café Mocha in under one minute. The early morning or after dinner drink could never be so easy and fun to make! Not only will you get high-end beverages that cost less than half the price of one from Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks, but you can enjoy showing off the sleek design of this must-have modern kitchen accessory. Nescafé Dolce Gusto offers the whole package – great flavor and a unique design at an affordable price!

Source: Modern Design Blog

Children’s Furniture:: ducduc
If you’re needing great inspiration (and fabulous furniture) for your child’s room, look no further than ducduc. Not only do they have amazing modern furniture for children of all ages, but their website is one of the most helpful I’ve ever seen. They have a photo gallery that shows their furniture collections set up for an infant boy, and infant girl, a youth boy, and a youth girl, with a complete list of the items used in each scenario. It really takes the guesswork out of decorating! Here’s a look at some of my favorite rooms:

Alex collection

Austin collection

Cabana collection

Campaign collection

Morgan collection

In addition to being gorgeous, ducduc’s furniture is also environmentally friendly. The furniture is made from sustainably harvested hardwoods, and all of the finishes are non-toxic and Hazardous Air Pollutant-free. Also, their products contain no MDF or particle board.

To be honest, there are a few of those pieces that I’d love to have in my home…and I don’t have children! To see more, you can visit the ducduc website.

Be inspired, and happy decorating,

Source: Blog–Addicted 2 Decorating

Petra Borner
Swedish artist, illustrator and designer Petra Borner is well known for her beautiful cut paper collages, like the one below, called Pomegranate Tree.

Her work can be found on lots of different surfaces, including an impressive range of book covers.

Her cutout designs are known to grace textiles too, in both fashion and homeware. She’s recently done a collection of gorgeous fabrics for Ikea.

It’s only since I visited Petra Borner’s website and blog that I realised that she’s a skilled embroiderer as well as paper cutter.

Above are two embroidered panels that she made for the home of Jonathan Adler, and the embroidery below is a design for Ikea Sweden.

Petra Borner’s website is filled with breathtaking work and well worth a visit.
Source: Elle Decoration SA

20% discount on indoor air quality test kit

Both home buyers and sellers are concerned about living space air quality.
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Source: Journal

C-Shaped Apartment Layout
Q: Dear Stephanie, I came across your site and was delighted to find a simple yet easy to use Feng Shui. I then bought your ebook and find it very down to earth and useful for me. However since we’ve moved to a new flat, with an irregular C shape, I cannot make up my mind on how to position the ba gua.

The front door of our flat is in the top side of the “C”, so if I align the ba gua with the front door I will only cover the top section of the C (which contains the hall, kitchen and living room) but it leaves out the rest of the flat (2 bedrooms, a corridor, a toilet, and a bathroom).

I hope you can help cleari my confusion on how to position the ba gua, because I really want to decorate our new flat according to Feng Shui. One of my goals is to have a baby. In addition to activating the dui area of our bedroom, I would like to do something in the tai chi area as well, but am not sure how to do that because I’m not sure where that is.

A: Although I greatly prefer to use the modern “doorway” approach to the ba gua (as detailed here), it does get trickier the farther a layout strays from the tidy rectangular structures for which the modern ba gua works best. There are three ways to approach an odd-shaped layout like this:

1) Toss out the doorway ba gua and use the compass directions instead.
2) Apply the ba gua to that part of the home that lies “ahead” of the doorway as you enter (that would be just the top section of your “C”). Yes, that does leave a big area of the home “outside” the ba gua. You can see those areas as a kind of extension of the Knowledge, Career, and Helpful Friends areas, but it is literally quite a stretch to do so.
3) Don’t worry about trying to contort the ba gua sufficiently to get it stretched over your home, and focus instead on the ba guas for each room in the apartment.

If you’re wondering what I’d do, pick option 3.

When dealing with very irregular shapes such as this one, it’s a good idea to set the ba gua aside (at least temporarily) and take a look at the shape as a whole. You’ve already done that by describing it as a “C” shape, which it is.

Activating the tai chi is going to be difficult, because you don’t have one. It’s in that big empty space in the middle of your C layout, regardless of what you decide to do with the rest of the ba gua. The tai chi is the center, and this apartment doesn’t have a physical one (unless you are on the ground floor and have exclusive use of a garden or courtyard in that area, which is probably not the case). You can’t do anything about that. It is what it is. You do, of course, still have a tai chi for each of the rooms in the homes, and you can if you like designate one particular space (such as the living room) as the emotional center of the home even though the physical center is missing.

The best advice I can give you is resist the temptation to view this layout as a problem. Yes, it’s unusual. Yes, it does make working with the ba gua a bit of a challenge. But why not decide that this unique and unusual home is the perfect place for you to conceive (and birth, and raise) a child? Hey, look at that: conceive and child both start with the letter “C”. What a happy coincidence… I think we could even call that a synchronicity.

I suggest that you get a nice big piece of poster board, and in great big letters in the middle of it, put the phrase “C is for CHILD!” Surround that phrase with pictures of mothers and babies. Or, if you make the letters really big, you could make each letter a mini-collage of pictures of pregnant women and of mamas (and daddies) and their happy, healthy, charming children.

Frame your collage and put it either in the room that will be the baby’s (if you’ve got one), or on the wall wherever the baby’s crib/bassinet will go if bambino will be sharing your bedroom for a while. Spend a few minutes each day looking at your imagery (first thing in the morning or last thing at night are the best times) and feel how wonderful it will be when you are holding your child in your arms in your C-shaped apartment.

Although I like having a physical collage hanging on a wall somewhere in the home, I’ve recently discovered a new technology which you may enjoy. It’s called MIND MOVIES (click on the banner on the right at the top of this page for details: it’s a software package that makes it really quick and easy to create an inspiration slideshow of any words and imagery that addresses your dreams and desires). My husband and I have already made 3 Mind Movies (I’ll post a link to a sample in the upcoming email newsletter) and are having so much fun with it. I think a Mind Move would be a phenomenal asset to you in your quest to have a baby, so if you make one be sure to let me know how it works out!

Wishing you a joyful motherhood, and much happiness in your new home,
Stephanie R.
Source: Fast Feng Shui Blog

Q. Our master bathroom is on the second floor above the kitchen, and our sink is directly above the stove. Is that a problem? Is it “fixed” because I have a microwave and a wood cabinet above the stove and other wood cabinets that cover the complete length of the kitchen?

A: Yes, it’s a problem (water-fire conflict, especially since water is overhead and likes to run downhill). Fortunately, having the sink above the stove is less serious a problem than when the toilet is directly above the stove.

And no, your wooden cabinets are not fixing this. The cabinets do create a bit of a buffer, which is better than nothing, but they don’t correct the problem.
Just because wooden furniture is made out of wood, that doesn’t mean it represents the wood element. I know some people say it does, but I strongly disagree on that point. For one thing, any kind of furniture made from wood has no living wood chi left in it, and when we want to add “wood-type cures” to a space what we’re looking for is that natural vitality of plants and tress. Keep in mind, too, that wooden kitchen cabinets are brown and rectangular which means they have “earth-type” color and shape.

When a bathroom is in a tricky position, such as over the kitchen , the recommended remedies are to:
1) Hang a faceted crystal ball in the center of the kitchen
2) In the bathroom, place a three- or six-inch round mirror on the ceiling directly above the toilet to visually reverse the downward flow of water (use double-sided tape to hold the mirror in place)
3) Place earth-type objects in the corners of the bathroom to stabilize the energy
4) Add an image such as a bird or tree to the downstairs area below the bathroom to help lift the energy there. For example, perhaps you can file a decorative tile with a bird or tree motif that could hang on the wall between the stove-top and the cabinet.

Thank you for your advice. I’ve enjoyed your books and web sites very much.

You’re very welcome, it’s my pleasure to help,
Stephanie R.

Q+A POLICY
The purpose of this Q+A service is to clarify modern feng shui principles and remedies, and to help you make sense of contradictory teachings you’re likely to come across. If you are new to this blog, please read the Q+A Guidelines (see sidebar on left) before sending me a question. Do expect that I will edit your message for clarity and focus, and that it will be several days (often longer) before I post a reply. Keep in mind, too, that you’re getting my personal opinion on the topic. If you ask someone else, you might get a different answer.
Source: Fast Feng Shui Blog

Angled Front Door
Q. Our front door is on an angle at the left corner of the house. Where do we place the bagua: at the angled front door entrance or at the front path step that leads to the porch?

A: The ba gua is always determined by the door, not a path, step, or porch. But when the entry is on a corner angle, you also have to look at what side of the house is the “front.” Unless you are on a corner lot (as discussed here), that’s probably fairly obvious based on the relationship between the house and your street. You might find my discussion of a single room with angled entry, here, helpful as well.

Q (con’td): As you enter our front door and walk into a large entry hall, on the immediate right is our dining room. The dining room has 3 large arched entrances with one into the kitchen and the stove is clearly visible as you come in. I believe the kitchen view of the stove from the front entrance is a problem. Is that correct?

A: Not if the kitchen and stove are off to the right when you come in. A stove visible from the front door is only a problem if it’s directly ahead of you when you step through the door, and if you stand with your back to that door when cooking. Because your door is on an angle, you don’t have that layout. If you want to remedy this anyway, a faceted crystal in the kitchen archway will interrrupt the flow of chi between door and stove.

Hope that clears things up,
Stephanie R.
Source: Fast Feng Shui Blog

Plumbing in the Wealth Corner
Q: My washer & dryer are in a closet in the wealth corner of the first floor of my house. I heard that plumbing in the wealth corner is not good. Do you agree? If so, is there a cure for this?

A: Please read the article here:
(Plumbing “remedies” apply to laundry room, too.)
And the blog post here:

Everyone, this is why I respectfully request that you do your feng shui homework before sending me your questions. Basic stuff has all been addressed elsewhere, either on my site or someone else’s, and certainly it’s all covered in books and classes. The more questions like this I get, the less time I have to answer the juicy ones.

Just a hint,
Stephanie R.
Source: Fast Feng Shui Blog

Modern Baby Bedding & Textiles: Kikebu
Decorating a nursery can be such an exciting task with all of the vibrant colors and fun shapes to choose from in baby bedding and accessories. The yards of bright colors and bold prints create an ultra chic and modern bedroom theme while inspiring your children to be as creative as the patterns printed on their bedding, bath towels, and room décor.

When deciding which print works for your children, consult Kikebu, a leading manufacturer in modern baby bedding. With a site that is easy to use and modern fabrics that are sure to make your nursery furnishings look amazing, Kikebu is a great source to use when outfitting a children’s bedroom. From beautifully bold crib sheets and blankets to soft hooded bath towels and slippers, it’s easy to keep your kids looking hip and chic any time of day! In addition to stunning modern prints, most Kikebu items are reversible, allowing them to be mixed and matched with existing décor. Kikebu’s unique and versatile line of baby bedding and textiles are a collection that you don’t want to miss out on!

For more modern baby ideas, be sure to visit Born Modern for a collection of nursery furniture, toys, décor, and more for the modern baby.

Source: Modern Design Blog

Modern Tots:: P’Kolino Klick
I love to see brilliantly designed modern products for children. I came across this table and chair design at Modern Tots, and I think it’s just fabulous!

[photo from www.moderntots.com]

Usually great modern design costs a small fortune, but this is actually quite reasonable at $198.85. To see more color options, visit the Modern Tots website.

Happy decorating!

Source: Blog–Addicted 2 Decorating