Almost every feng shui school of design uses a grid to determine the significant areas of a building or a room. Each area of the grid is equal in size, and features a different theme, including colors and other design elements. In most schools of feng shui, this grid is called a bagua, or a Lo Shu chart.The bagua is placed over the floor plan of the house, and its outside edges align with the outer walls. An irregularly shaped house may have areas that protrude outside the grid or seem to have a “missing” area, but we try to match the grid and the outer walls as closely as possible.

The grid is identical in most forms of feng shui. What changes is its orientation.

In Black Hat Sect feng shui (BHS feng shui), the bagua is orientated so that the main entrance of the house (or the room) is on the Career side of the grid. (The Career area is usually indicated by black and white, or silver.) On the grid at the left, the front door–or the door that people usually use–would be at the bottom edge.

Each color on the grid signifies a different design theme. For example, the back left corner of a home or room is its “money corner.” That’s indicated with purple on the bagua grid; purple is a color long associated with royalty and wealth. The back right corner, in pink on the bagua, has a theme of relationships, romance, and marriage.

So, if you’ve heard people say they’ve used feng shui to enhance their money corner, that’s what they’ve been talking about: They applied feng shui design principles to that back left corner of their home, bedroom, or office.

Although the popular Compass School of feng shui uses the same bagua (spelled “pakua” in these traditional schools), it is more clearly based on Lo Shu “magic squares.”

According to legend, these squares are based on the design on a turtle’s shell, and have been used by the Chinese for over three thousand years.

At the right, you’ll see a Compass School pakua grid, or Lo Shu color key. Like the bagua above, the colors indicate design themes when you overlay the grid on any floor plan.

(Turn the grid so that it matches the directions of your house: North should be at the north wall or corner of your house, and so on.)

In both Black Hat and Compass School styles of feng shui, the areas feature the exact same design themes. The only difference is the orientation. In Black Hat feng shui, the “money area” is at the back left corner of the house. In Compass School feng shui, that area is still indicated by purple, but it is at the southeast corner of the building.

In most articles among these Bella Online pages, we will use the simpler Black Hat style of feng shui. However, these design concepts apply equally well to corresponding areas in Compass School feng shui.

Here is a quick overview of the areas used in feng shui design.

At left, you’ll see a chart of the colors from the grid. The list follows the colors clockwise around the grid, concluding with yellow at the center. Compare this with the bagua and Lo Shu charts; the colors match areas on those grids.

Using Black Hat feng shui orientation on the floorplan of a home, the front door will be in the Knowledge, Career, or Helpful People area. Blue indicates the Knowledge area in your home; the Career area is black or silver; and the Helpful People section is generally gray, silver, or tan.

The center of your home is the Health area, indicated by the color yellow. At the middle right, white indicates the area of Children, sometimes called the Creativity side. Opposite it, at middle left, green marks the Family area, also called Stability.

Across the back wall, you’ll see–from left to right–purple for Money and Prosperous Living, red for Fame and Reputation, and finally pink for Romance and Marriage.

In other articles, we’ll discuss each area in greater detail. You’ll learn how to energize each corner for better interior design, and perhaps more wide-reaching benefits.