Mia Staysko, Feng Shui Design Professional | Feng Shui Directory

Mia Staysko, Feng Shui Design Professional | Feng Shui Directory

The Simple Things

Every year I wait eagerly for it to be warm enough to set up my expandable laundry line. There is something about the smell of damp cotton, the crispness of fresh line dried sheets, and the satisfaction that comes with not using any energy to perform this necessary task that just makes me feel good!

I once saw an incredibly beautiful handmade laundry line in a Martha Stewart magazine. Made of solid wood posts, with a retractable tented cover for fine linens, it was a work of art. It even had the option for hanging a hammock below the line when it was not in use. I still have the article somewhere.

After lobbing several hints at Steve, I finally gave in and bought this fold up spider web one. It is hidden amongst trees so its less than stellar looks don't bother me, and I have in fact come to love it. It weirdly makes summer laundry a true pleasure.

One day, I vow to have the Martha one built, and when I do I will site it right in the middle of a giant lavender patch!

The Impermanent Beauty

Every year I eagerly await the chance to cut my first bouquet of peonies from my garden. I missed the majority of my very early 'Pink Hawaiian Coral' and 'Coral Sunset' ones this year as I was in Mexico when they bloomed. However, the 'Raspberry Sundae',  'Sarah Bernhardt', and mystery white (given by a friend) are coming on strong, and I still managed to catch two of the secondary Coral Sunset buds for my vase. The later varieties have buds that are just beginning to fatten.

Hawaiian Coral Peony

The flowers in my garden, and particularly the tulips and peonies are a yearly reminder for me to take notice daily and to not take beauty for granted.

My first bouquet

Peonies are a popular symbol of love, femininity, wealth and honour in Chinese culture. They are often portrayed in Chinese paintings, hung in the home to symbolize good luck and strong relationship.

For me, they are most strongly a symbol of beautiful impermanence. Even if I manage to temporarily capture their beauty and fragrance for my own enjoyment, I know that it will only last for a short time. So it is with all things.

108 Chi Changing Things

While in Puerto Vallarta this week on a little girls getaway I met a fascinating young woman named Marci Nault. Marci has an interesting life and appears to live it to the fullest. In 2008, while her brother was near death, she wrote a list of 101 dreams she wanted to fulfill. 4 years later, she is about three quarters of the way through the list. Her dreams included riding in a race car, getting a book published with a major publisher (due out this May with Simon and Schuster), and learning to figure skate competitively. She blogs about her adventures here.

It seems that Marci kinda got under my skin. She is an ordinary person who has chosen to live her life fearlessly, and I am a bit jealous. Fearlessness seems foreign to me. I know it does to a lot of other people too.

She has me really thinking here and I am going to try to come up with my own list. I am having a hard time even contemplating 100 things but I am going to really give it a go. In fact, I'm gonna try for 108, an auspicious number!

Lots of us talk about 'bucket lists', but how many of us actually take the time to write them down? What about do them? I know I haven't. Have you?

What to do when walls are too dark

I recently had a client hire me to create a unified design and color scheme for a wall color that she was finding too dark. She loved it in the builder's show home because it was beautiful and dramatic, and so chose to use the same color in her new house. However, once living in the home, she was finding it both too dark, and difficult to choose colors that worked with the walls.

I started with a large and neutral area carpet, both to define the space, and to lighten it up a bit. A durable sisal was a good choice as the couple has a large black retriever. Then I suggested that she change the sofa from black to a dark but warmer grey-brown with a more modern shape, and added some punches of a brighter and more uplifting orange (so much less predictable than red). A good balance of yin (soft, round) and yang (harder edged) was introduced to create a more balanced space.

Upstairs she was enjoying the one hit of bright citrus green that she had in the room so I gave her the two options above. The first brought in the orange from the lower floor, the second utilized a pretty blue. Lighter neutrals were still the order of the day to help lift the space and to contrast with the walls.

This was a really quick job that just entailed design boards as she was on a restricted budget (a wonderful friend had bought her a gift certificate - how thoughtful!). I hope I might get to see if she follows my suggestions for taming dark walls!

Public art or Public Nuisance?

I was driving in Calgary today in the rain and noticed what I think was a city worker taking a photo of a bit of graffiti art on a concrete retaining wall. I presume that he wasn't stopped just to admire it but was likely documenting it so that crews would know where it was so that it could be removed. It got me thinking, as many things do.

Would I rather see a plain, ugly concrete retaining wall, or a kinda cool, black and white stencil of Charlie Chaplin? Personally, I vote for Charlie.

So, the question is, is graffiti free public art, or a costly public nuisance? I get that not all graffiti is beautiful, but I also get that in some cases it actually adds beauty to otherwise ugly places. I watched an episode of 'What the Future' a while ago, which talked about Faith 47, a South African graffiti artist.
 

artworks by Faith 47

There was a story about a homeless woman who lived in a doorway beside one of Faith's street artworks. Similar to the one above, it was a figure of an angel, and it made a difference to this woman's otherwise difficult life by bringing beauty to her environment.

So, what do you think? Art or nuisance?