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You always hear people say, “Keep up the good vibes,” but what does that even mean, really? Often, it’s about changing your outlook on life so that you’re not too bothered by the small things that come at you; other times, it may mean adjusting your environment to make things smoother.

 

We spend about 7.5 hours in the office every weekday – sometimes even longer if there are deadlines to meet. With such a large chunk of our days spent there, it makes sense to optimise the office so that you and your employees can work together in comfort. One way is to integrate feng shui into your office design. Feng shui is the Chinese philosophical study into promoting harmony between people and all elements of their environment. Literally meaning “wind water” in Chinese, feng shui has become increasingly popular in applications both at home and at work.

 

What are some of the ways feng shui can be applied in the office though?

 

Warm, vibrant colours

Warm colours generally fall anywhere between the red and yellow spectrum. You can spread these colours throughout the office either through wall paint, artwork, or even furniture. Sometimes, however, it’s not possible use warm colours in the office because of company branding or productivity colour influences. Besides, you personally may not even find “warm” colours all that warm – and that’s okay. The point is to liven up the workplace through colours that you and your employees feel are vibrant. If you’re not limited by company branding or productivity goals, start a poll among your employees for ideas on the most popular, vibrant colours.

 

Light

Having enough light – both natural and artificial – is very important in the office because it’s one of our main sources of energy. Invest in large windows so everyone gets ample natural light, but also make sure to install lots of warm, ambient lighting. You can supply offices or cubicles with individual and/or hanging warm-spectrum lamps if employees need extra lighting at their work space.

 

Feng shui energy areas

This is where things start to get a bit technical in feng shui. Essentially, different areas in the office represent certain elements and aspects in life. To encourage success in those aspects, you should decorate those areas with complementary objects. For example:

• Fame and Reputation: Located in the south area of the office and represented by the Fire element. You should mount your company logo here and keep the area brightly lit. Avoid water-related objects, mirrors, and the colour blue here since they’ll counter the Fire element.
• Career, Business, and Life Path: Located in the north area of the office and represented by the Water element. You should put up images – in black or white metal frames – that are inspiring to your business. You can even display a project model here. Basically, anything that speaks to your business aspirations or goals should be placed in this area. Water-related objects can go here, too.
• Prosperity and Abundance: Located in the southeast corner of the office and represented by the Wood element. You should place plants and especially water-related objects like a fountain here to nourish the Wood element. Images or symbols of wealth (e.g. jade sculptures or crystals) go well here. Avoid objects related to fire or metal, which counter the Wood element.

 

Desk positions

How you position your desk is also important in office feng shui. It may be difficult to optimally rearrange every desk, but it’s something worth trying so that you get total harmonious flow in the office. At the very least though, the desk of the CEO – as the leader of the company – should be carefully positioned with feng shui in mind. These are the main feng shui principles for desk positions:

• Seeing the door: You should be able to see your office door with ease while sitting at your desk. Try not to have your back to the door; if there’s no way to avoid that, strategically place a reflective surface by your desk that allows you to see the door that way.
• Strong backing: There should be a solid wall behind you instead of a door or window; if that’s not possible, mitigate that with a row of large, healthy plants behind you.
• Unblock facing wall: If you end up facing a wall, cover it up with artwork, bookcases, or inspirational images.
• Avoid sharp corners lines: Make sure you’re not sitting in the line of any sharp corners from other office furniture.

 

Plant life

Add life and fresh air to your office with indoor plants known for cleaning up air quality. These plants are especially effective at doing that: bamboo palm, Boston fern, English ivy, peace lily, and rubber plant.

 

As with any makeover, the best time to do it is when you’re ready to start from scratch in revamping the whole thing. It’s quite easy to apply these feng shui principles to your office while you’re planning out your office renovation. Here’s to wishing you a prosperous business!

 

We’ve all been through a move at some point in our lives. Unless we’re using a professional moving company though, it’s actually a bit funny in a shake-your-head kind of way how we never seem to learn from the mistakes of our last move. We don’t realise we’re messing up the same way until we’re on the other side of the doorway with our face pressed against the sofa, screaming at the person on the other end to tilt the stupid thing.

 

So, for the sake of breaking that cycle right here and now, check out these 15 tips to avoid damages while moving into your new luxury home:

 

Plan out the move-in order of heavy objects

Most of the headaches that come with moving can be alleviated by actually sitting down and planning the whole move out beforehand; in fact, pretty much 87% of these tips here are pre-move preparation steps. In this first step, it helps a lot if you have a basic map of the room layout in your new house. Figure out what heavy objects (i.e. anything that needs to be carried by two or more people) go in which room and label them with “1”, “2”, “3”, etc. (with “1” being the object that goes in the room furthest away from the entrance). That way, you’d minimise the amount of haphazard, double-back traffic you have to make during the move; the more efficient beelines you make, the less risk of unnecessary damage during the move.

 

Get your crew together

Make sure you confirm with the friends and family who are helping you that they’re available on the date and time of the move. Count the number of confirmed helpers and see if you have enough; at the very minimum, you should have enough people to carry the heaviest object you have on the move. A day before the move, remind everyone again on the meet-up time for the move.

 

No-shoes policy

One of the best ways to avoid damage during the move is to minimise the amount of dirt and sand that’s tracked throughout your house. They create friction and will quickly scratch up your floors with all the back-and-forth moving traffic. What you can do to prevent that is to ask people to take off their shoes before entering the house. If you do decide on a no-shoes policy during the move though, make sure to tell everyone in advance to bring shoes that are easy to slip on and off.

 

Measure doorways in advance

This ensures all your large and heavy objects will actually fit through each doorway so that you avoid the all-too-familiar scenario described at the top of this article. Or this one.

 

Take apart large furniture

It’s great if some of your large furniture can be disassembled and carried piece by piece to make the move easier.

 

Empty out the contents from drawers and appliances

Again, this will make it easier to move your furniture and appliances as they won’t be so weighed down with stuff inside.

 

Clean and dry appliances

It’s very difficult to get a grip on appliances when they’re greasy. Clean them all up and make sure you dry them, too; they’ll be much less slippery during the move. Plus, it’ll be nice when you finally settle in the new house with already sparkling clean appliances.

 

Tape drawers shut

This will give you the freedom to tilt the furniture however you need during the move and not have to worry about the drawers opening to take out people’s knees or to mark up the walls.

 

Pad large furniture and appliances

Tape blankets or thick layers of newspapers around the sharp corners and edges of large furniture and appliances.

 

Attach felt or cardboard pads

These small pads attached to the bottom of appliances and furniture feet will lessen the likelihood of scratching your floors.

 

Cover up the walls

Hang up thick cloths or cardboard to protect the walls along narrow hallways and rooms or at least the areas that’ll encounter the highest moving traffic.

 

Cover up the floor

Tape down carpet runners or plastic sheets to protect the flooring of high-moving-traffic areas like the hallway. Sweep out all the dust and dirt before taping down the floor protectors though.

 

Clean the floor

Sweep the whole house to clear away all the sand and dirt and then use a damp mop on the bare floors to keep the dust down before the move.

 

Use furniture glides

During the move, place furniture glides at the bottom whenever you need to slide heavy furniture or appliances across the floor. On hard floors, it’s best to use Masonite, towels or carpet pieces as furniture glides; on carpet, cardboard is more effective.

 

Don’t use the “pivot” method

The “pivot” method – dragging one side of a heavy object across the floor in the direction you want to go and then dragging the other side – may seem more effective, but it’ll actually damage your floor more. By dragging on the one side each time, you’re actually piling on a lot more force on one side and the uneven distribution of that force will cause that side to dig into the floor more as you drag it. Always try to slide the whole thing uniformly across the floor; don’t be shy to get the whole crew to pitch in to achieve that smooth glide.

 

These tips should help keep your luxury home safe from harm while you move in. After all, you’ve spent months watching it transform from dream to reality; it’d be heartbreaking to see it damaged right off the bat on moving day.

Nowadays, everyone – including employers – recognise the benefits of taking breaks at work. Even with that widely accepted notion though, many people still don’t take their breaks as often as they should. There are a lot of reasons why people choose to skip their breaks, but the two common reasons that come up time and time again are: 1) they’re afraid of looking like that slacker; and 2) there simply isn’t anywhere they feel comfortable enough to relax for a break. So rather than going through the stress of dealing with those issues, they just opt to stay at their desks instead and try to squeeze out a little more productivity out of their overworked brains.

 

As employers, you have the opportunity to break down those issues in one fell swoop: investing in a fun, tricked-out lunchroom. In doing so, you’re not just providing an attractive place for employees to hang out on their breaks – you’re also making a strong, silent statement to employees that it’s okay to take breaks and that breaks are actively supported by the employer.

 

To build a lunchroom that your employees will want to come to, here are five cool ideas:

 

Distinct space from rest of office

You want to create a relaxation zone that’s different from the rest of the office because it’d defeat the purpose if employees feel like they’re just in another conference room, except this one happens to have a fridge and a microwave. You can change up the look and feel of the lunchroom by using a different wall colour scheme and putting up casual or even quirky décor.

 

Bright colours

Apart from using a different colour scheme from the rest of the office, integrate bright colours that complement each other in the lunchroom design. Whether it’s through wall paint, artwork, or furniture, bright (non-garish!) colours will stimulate employees’ minds and help them recharge their energy.

 

Comfy, re-arrangeable furniture

It’s difficult to lounge in hard, lumpy chairs or couches and just as difficult to eat at uneven tables. Get good-quality furniture that fit the lunchroom colour scheme you’re going for. For long-term planning’s sake, make sure all the furniture – or at least the tables – are of a matching set so that they can be easily put together for office parties in the future.

 

Coffee and snacks, on the house

Although this does add to ongoing office supply expenses, it’s actually a smart move to make. People who go out to get their coffee fix often spend between 15 – 20 minutes away from the office with all the extra travel and line-up time; that can quickly add up to a lot of wasted time that could be eliminated by the less expensive option of keeping the lunchroom stocked with never-ending coffee and snacks. You’d save money in the long run and your employees would love you for it because, after all, who doesn’t like free coffee and snacks?

 

Fun and games encouraged

Besides a place to eat and have coffee, the lunchroom should also be somewhere employees can unwind and have a little fun. Set up a pool table, foosball table, or a ping pong table; hook up a television; put in board games and even video games. Other fun ideas include: a chalkboard for employees to doodle on, a bulletin board for personal announcements, and silly words fridge magnets.

 

When designing the lunchroom, you should make the size of it proportionate to the number of employees you have because you don’t want it to feel too cramped or empty all the time. Also – if you have the space and budget for it – the ideal scenario is to set aside space for an additional and separate quiet break room. This is for employees who prefer a more tranquil break time where they can read, catch a nap, do yoga, or just sit in peace.

 

The key to all these ideas is to give employees the chance to let loose and creatively interact with each other. They’ll then be much more energised and ready for a fresh round of productivity after their breaks. It may seem like a lot of money for “just a lunchroom”, but that’d be missing the point: because it’s not “just a lunchroom” – it’s an investment in employee well-being and the productivity returns you’ll reap in the end is priceless.