Deciding on a facing direction for a new home

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We recently received a question on Facebook from someone asking for advice on a new build property that is still in the middle of construction. The original post was the description below explaining the layout of the property which is always quite hard to imagine so we asked for some photos of the house and surrounding area to get a better look of the external factors. The text in blue is the Facebook user and I will be making comments in red text as we go on. I really enjoy discussions like this as it gets you thinking about all the different aspects involved in facing directions; taking your facing direction is not simply turning your back to your front door, as you will see below, there is much more to consider!

Help! Determining facing direction, please! Thank you so much for your reply on your website. I’ve taken your advice to post the details here.
My house is located on a hill (google image attached, red marker is the street, it wasn’t built yet but you can see it). The road (a residential street) leading up to the house leads up to the only house entrance from the street and this entrance faces NE and is on the upper level of the house (house has 2 levels). Stairs descend to the lower level. The living area (lower level) and bedrooms (upper level) are both on the opposite side from the main door and they look onto the large back garden which faces SW with a view looking on a bay. The SW facing side of the house has large windows & patio doors leading to the garden with a pool at the end then a drop before the next residential street (not seen from the garden and no access to my house).

I’d say the architectural side is SW facing. There is lots of sunlight in both the SW and NE facing sides. Does the house face NE because the residential road leading to the house is there and the back garden is opposite. Or because it’s on a hill with the higher mountain side behind the main door, is that the sitting direction? But higher up on this hill there’s a main road (Brouwer road on Google map). Maybe the side with the front door is more yang because that’s where cars and people are, and the garden is private so only the family use it mostly. But the garden side also has the most windows and living room and view of the ocean.

A great big THANK YOU for any help & explanations so I understand why too!

After reading this, although it has been well described, I was having a bit of trouble visualising the property so I asked for some photos to be sent over so I can get a better idea of what is around the house although from the description above, it is pretty safe to say that the facing direction is either the southwest or the northeast.

Google Earth Map

After seeing the satellite photo, I am starting to confirm that the southwest is the facing direction which is actually a great position to be in as you have the secluded beach area down the bottom of the facing direction where new energy is coming in and concentrated towards the property where the little red arrow is located on the map. This house is looking like a good property and this is without even considering what the house actually looks like yet.

Lower level picture plans. NE facing side has no windows. All windows & garden face SW looking onto a bay below

From looking at this floor plan, you can see a nice open garden with a beautiful infinity pool at the end with lots of fresh growing plants and trees around the border (at least this is how it will look when its finished) and a nice open plan inside. It looks as though there are double doors to the left and a long row of bi fold doors on the right which will allow all of the fresh Qi to enter the home and flow around. If you look at the bottom of the floor plan (NE) you can see their are no windows as the original poster explained.

Lower Level Plans

Upper level plans, main entrance faces NE, bedrooms with balconies face SW

At this point I am starting to get house envy. This house ticks nearly all of the boxes and it is not even finished yet! The two main bedrooms face southwest on to the sea view with big sliding doors from what I can see which again, will let a lot of fresh qi in to the rooms and also provide a really beautiful view and let a lot of light in. 

If you look at the bottom of the floor plan below (NE side) you will notice there are not many windows on this side and not much light will get in through here.

Upper Level Plans

Looking straight out from the main entrance (only entrance from street), looking onto the hill (looking NE), with a main road above, see the lampposts

Now that we have photos to view the outside area of the home, my mind has been made up that this house definitely faces southwest. Although the front door is located in the northeast, there is a big hill on the other side of the road which is actually a great thing to have on a home as this offers mountain support which is one of the first things you learn about when studying Feng Shui; even to this day, I remember roughly around twelve or thirteen years ago with my dad teaching me about the four celestial creatures. I’ll explain more about this under the picture of the outside of the home.

Looking straight out

The four celestial animals

In ancient Feng Shui, a good property was decided if it had the support of the four celestial animals around it. The four celestial animals consist of:

The green dragon – sits on the east of the property
The white tiger – sits on the west of the property
The red phoenix – sits on the south of the property
The black turtle – sits on the north of the property

Feng Shui four celestial animals

When you stand inside your house facing outside, you will have the green dragon sat on your left, the white tiger sat on your right, the red phoenix in front of you and the black turtle behind you, all of which supply support in different ways. To have this layout in your home is deemed very auspicious and a perfect structure for your home.

The black turtle will be present when you have a strong mountain support to the back of your home which is present in this home although modern buildings are much harder to achieve although large buildings, telephone lines etc all allow the black turtle to support a home. The house in question here is a perfect scenario for the black turtle.

The green dragon would traditionally be supported by a woodland area with tall trees (not taller than mountain behind home). It is important that the trees are not too far from the home as this would be seen as the green dragon sitting distant from the home. In modern days, a row of houses can also be seen as support from the green dragon. As you can see, this home will have good support with other homes on either side of their property.

The white tiger is usually sat on a hill to the side of the home and should not be bigger than the green dragon side although this is very hard to achieve in modern times and I would not worry too much if this side is supported by houses the same size as the side of the green dragon. As you can see in the pictures below, this home does not seem to be supported by the white tiger although they could still plant trees here or a large bush to activate the white tiger . Traditionally, the white tiger becomes most active when there is a white hill or home painted in white. This house is starting to look more and more perfect as we go through the map, floor plans and pictures with 3 out of 4 celestial animals present around the home.

The red phoenix should be a big open area where fresh Qi can collect and flow freely towards the home; the area should not be too exposed too much and should have enough space for the Qi to flow freely. This home has a fantastic area for the red phoenix and although on a hill, there will still be a lot of Qi flowing towards the home and entering through those big doors. in most town homes and city homes, the red phoenix is best supported by an open street although it is not good to have cars driving fast straight towards your home; you would place a Ba Gua Mirror outside the front of your home to avoid and negative Qi  This house gains support from all four of the celestial animals

Standing at front entrance, looking to the right

You can see that this side of the home has homes alongside it which signifies support from the green dragon which is brilliant.

Front facing right

Standing at entrance looking out & to the left

This area is quite calm and not much energy will enter the home from here which strengthens my opinion of the facing direction being the southwest.

front standing left

Computer generated picture showing main entrance, behind the blue sign. It’s a semi-detached, so you see the main door of both houses.

I now have full house envy; this property ticks nearly every box and is absolutely stunning although if you look above at the floor plans, you may notice that it looks as though the middle of the home towards the back seems to be open plan; you would need to place a large object or veranda roof here to activate the Flying Stars in this area or you will not benefit from the influence of the Flying Stars although you could argue that this would help avoid if you have bad Flying Stars present. Only a complete Flying Star chart would tell you this.

Cgi Front of home

Plot of land before building started.

Such a stunning view and nice and open so a lot of fresh Qi can flow towards the home. 

Plot of land

Down the hill looking up at the house. Here you see the other side of the house (not where main entrance is). Looking up the hill is looking NE.

You can see where the four celestial animals are active here with the black turtle behind the home, the red phoenix at the front and the green dragon on the right; if you wanted to, you could plant some palm trees on the left of the home.

back of home

Computer picture of the side of the house that faces SW, looking onto the sea (opposite side to main entrance from the street)

Such a beautiful home and very open which will provide a lot of light and energy to enter and flow around the home with the big doors. If possible, I would recommend placing a roof over the gap in the middle although this is not essential as there as still walls around the area.

back of home

Looking downhill from house (so facing SW)

Although there are houses in front, there will still be a strong flow of energy towards the home due to the large open space. 

looking away from home

In conclusion, this is looking to be a fantastic house and one that will have positive Qi flowing regularly in to and around the home and is also supported by three of the four celestial animals. Combine this with decorations to appease the fixed Flying Stars in the home, this can make a fantastic house for the new owner and I would love to see some pictures of the finished home

9 thoughts on “Deciding on a facing direction for a new home

  1. I did not write that the stream is at the bottom of the plot and that there is a forest, I can send you pictures to have a better overview, greetings.

  2. Dear, please help with the best direction of the house to be built,the owner is a woman and I belong to the eastern group,The orientation of the land is northeast plot is located on the slope below and at the end of the plot is a stream, to the right the plot overlooks the mountain.the road is above the plot, thank you in advance and I wish you all the best.

  3. Hi,

    This article is really very informative and i found this really helpful..While reading i thought of our home.. Sadly we are having a North East facing house and I feel like we are having feng shui problems because Black turtle(north) is in front of our house rather then at back for support .. Always your advice is highly appreciated..

    1. Hi Kash,

      If you have the black turtle at the front of your house, try to introduce clear pathways that fresh Qi can flow towards your home.

      I was recently at a home that had very large conifers all around the front of the home for privacy and they made sure that the driveway entrance was always kept clear and clean to attract fresh energy which worked well for them.

      Kind regards,
      Daniel

  4. hello this is such a great article and great property! I have found something for sale which is very similar and I was wondering about the turtle mountain being behind the property with the sea views infront… does that mean I need to move the access to the property and the doors? So that the property is accessed from the sea view? I’m a total novice at all this and don’t quite understand what makes a front and what makes a back. I don’t know the compass aspect of the house I’ve just found , but it has sea views with a mountain “behind” it… Thank you so much.

    1. Hi,

      If you are able to move the entrance around, having the mountain support at the back and an open area at the front is optimal although this is not always possible. I would not worry about moving the main entrance to the front as this will not necessarily change the facing direction.

      It is actually very hard to obtain a mountain around the home so this is a bonus on its own.

      Kind regards,
      Daniel

  5. Hi Michael/Daniel, I found this article very interesting and naturally began thinking about our own home (sadly not remotely like the one in the article!!!). Our house faces east. I was wondering if this means that we automatically have feng shui problems, eg, because the Black Turtle (north) is at the side of our house rather than at the back for support? As always, your advice or suggestions are greatly appreciated, Jo

    1. Hi Jo,

      The easiest and most cost effective way to achieve this is by using conifer trees although this does take a long time to grow if you do not plant large ones. A lack of the four celestial animals does not necessarily cause problems, it is used to strengthen protection of a property so I would not worry if you have the black turtle at the front of the home; try to keep the area as bright as possible with nicely coloured plants and decoration.

      Kind regards,
      Daniel

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