January 05, 2023

Feng Shui Wood Element Decor For Growth & Vitality

The Wood element is one of the most important in Feng Shui as it directly connects us with the fundamental abundance and vitality of the natural world.

Long before scientists and researchers proved the effect of things like forest bathing on mood and physical health, Daoists understood that our connection with nature is an essential factor in being healthy and living a good life.

When it comes to bringing this force into our spaces and homes, the Wood element helps cultivate growth, expansion, abundance, vitality, and vision. As a yang energy, Wood is active and action-orientated, making things happen instead of just allowing them to happen around you.

Due to its strong yang energy, Feng Shui practitioners often incorporate Wood into their homes to build more financial wealth and prosperity for their families. However, Wood also represents spiritual wealth and the growth of compassion and kindness towards ourselves and others.

If you find yourself lacking in forward momentum in your life or in a time of transition and new beginnings, adding in and balancing the Wood element in your spaces is a great way to spark change and fresh thinking.

It’s important to know that too much growth too fast can lead to burnout or overwhelm. Make sure to balance the Wood element throughout your spaces using the following guide on colors, shapes, and materials associated with Wood.

Feng Shui Wood Element Decor Colors

Working with specific colors is one of the simplest ways of introducing an element into your surroundings. When it comes to the Wood element, there are two colors that stand out above all others: brown and green.

Brown Feng Shui Color Meaning

When it’s dark and rich, brown represents Wood. When it’s light and pale, it represents Earth. For example, instead of leading to a sense of growth and potential, an abundance of light wooden furniture and flooring may lead to a lack of ambition and drive.

Rich browns represent nature and the strength and stability of plants and trees. The color can help encourage feelings of rootedness, safety, honesty, and homeliness. This makes it a great base for family rooms and bedrooms.

Green Feng Shui Color Meaning

Green is a supremely important color in Feng Shui. Representative of growth and renewal, it is demonstrably beneficial for personal health and is a way to connect interior spaces directly with the natural world.

From deep, dark hunter green to light, pale green, all tones activate the Wood element. The best way to find your tones is to observe the environment around you, considering the varying greens of leaves, flowers, and plants and drawing inspiration directly from nature itself.

Feng Shui Wood Element Lines & Shapes

In the same way that the colors of the Wood element can be seen in the flora around us, so can its representative shapes, lines, and structural elements.

In an architectural and interior design context, the Wood element is represented by tall, columnar shapes (like tree trunks), vertical lines, skinny items (like stems and branches), and rectangular shapes that resemble the profile of trees.

The Wood element is often expressed in the shape and forms of building materials and structural work. Think of thick wooden beams, hardwood flooring, and eaves that define a space and make it feel grounded to the Earth.

Feng Shui Wood Element Decor Products & Artwork

One of the most powerful ways of activating the Wood element is by bringing living plants, trees, flowers, and living wood into your spaces. This introduces vital chi and can add life to a rigid, cold living plan. That being said, it’s not always necessary or the best option for every space.

Items made of wood represent the Earth element because the wood isn’t actively growing. Too many pieces of non-living wooden furniture and objects in a space can have a very different effect than the Wood element, hindering growth and risk-taking in favor of stability and reflection.

Here are a few ideas for activating the Wood element in your spaces:

Wood element paint colors, including all shades of green and rich browns
Tall floor lamps
Columns and communal furniture
Wood element crystals
Pictures or artwork of plants or trees, including landscapes
Botanical prints, patterns, and wallpaper

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Feng Shui Wood Element Decor Principles

Each of the five elements in Feng Shui are not separate independent things, but rather interconnected stages or phases. Each is a part of the same whole and is broken down by and brought into being by another.

In Feng Shui, the ways in which the five elements interact with one another are explained by three main cycles: The Productive Cycle, The Controlling Cycle, and The Weakening or Destructive Cycle.

To balance the fire element in your spaces, you need to know what nourishes, feeds, or creates fire (The Productive Cycle), what fire is controlled by or heavily affected by (The Controlling Cycle), and what exhausts or drains fire (The Destructive Cycle).

Wood is nourished by Water. You can feed the Wood element by introducing Wood-energy furnishings and accessories into a space (too much Wood can lead to too much growth).

Wood is controlled by Metal. Adding a lot of the Metal element can cut through Wood energy and slow it down. The metal element cuts the Wood element, dividing it up and creating chaotic energy.

Wood is exhausted by Fire. Another way to say this is that Wood feeds the fire element. Adding in the Wood element can feed the creativity and inspiration of the fire element.

There are many ways to use these three cycles and the above tips to help balance the Wood element and bring growth, abundance, and vitality into your spaces. The main thing is to be able to assess what a space needs and to be aware of how each element interacts with another.

Need help infusing your spaces with wisdom, harmony, and balance? Book your free consultation with Leslie Close, our Principal Designer & LA-based Feng Shui Interior Designer.

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