Feng Shui Shuffle

A bit of Feng Shui happened around our house this past week. It all started a month or so ago when my husband expressed a desire to get a plasma TV. I know that left to my own devices I’d be watching a TV with rabbit ears—I’m just not that interested in what it offers. Yeah, I’ve gotten into "Brothers and Sisters" and "Numbers" but, actually, if I’m not around to watch it, I don’t really care that much. However, my ex-athlete husband loves to keep up with sports so hence his request for an improved way to do just that.

The television arrives but, of course, doesn’t fit in the cabinet in which our current one is nicely placed. We decided to move the old television and cabinet into the lower level for those moments when I can no longer tolerate the roar of stadium crowds or the squeak of tennis shoes on gymnasium floors. Then we moved an Asian-looking chest from near our front door and put it in the corner to hold the new television.

In order to integrate the old TV and its cabinet into the lower level family room, we had to move out a Chinese rice chest, so we brought it up to our second floor. We have a sitting room off the master bedroom that has never been able to define itself. It has been through at least three or four transformations without any success. But as soon as we got that chest in the room, a major shift happened and everything else seemed to fall into place. It’s the first time the room actually "worked." In order to incorporate the rice chest we had to move a side table that was originally made by my grandfather. We brought it downstairs to replace the Asian-looking chest that was originally by the front door.

It was kind of a domino dance and one which we never would have predicted the day the new TV arrived. Each piece of furniture led us to the next one as they traded real estate around the house. The furniture has taken on renewed life in their different positions; it’s as though we bought all new stuff. And we solved the issue of a long-standing problematic sitting room. The plasma television is pretty nice, too.