Happy Friday 13th everybody! Just curious to know really, how many of you actually treat Friday 13th differently from any other day? In case it really does bother you I thought I’d step in with a fun little post about decorating tricks that can supposedly make you luckier. Of course please take it all with a fat ol’ pinch of salt (or toss the salt over your shoulder if you’re so inclined). Oh and let me tell you a little story about the time I dabbled in feng shui too…
BAMBOO
Now this is one I can get on board with! I love bamboo – mainly because I’m an inpatient gardener, so I need something that will grow quickly.I’ve planted it all over my garden as a screening plant. There’s a variety of bamboo actually called Lucky Bamboo, which is said to bring you happiness and prosperity. Apparently you have to count the stalks of a plant – the more the luckier, with three being the real charm. Watch me get out in my garden obsessively counting stalks now! I’m wondering does bamboo furniture count? I’ve got a bit obsessed with it recently and I’m looking at getting some really sweet new bamboo baskets and tables in for next season, so I hope so!
FLOWERS… JUST NOT IN THE BATHROOM
Flowers are said to boost your fortunes, and apparently they’re more powerful the closer they are to the centre of your home. So I’m thinking a huge vase on the dining table or kitchen island filled with fatheaded hydrangeas. Hey I don’t know if it’ll work, but any excuse to treat myself to flowers is OK by me! Perhaps just to be safe we should all get a huge bunch to counteract the Friday 13th vibes, right? But whatever you do just don’t put them in the bathroom, as it supposedly reverses the bad luck. Lucky I’ve stuck to ferns and succulents in mine then I guess. Also bad luck – leaving dead flowers around. Fauxs are fine (good news for me, of course!) but not dead flowers.
REPAINT THE FRONT DOOR
The colour you paint your front door is meant to be able to affect the whole vibe and energy of your pad, but you should get out your compass first. South-facing doors should be painted fiery red or orange hues, north-facing doors are better with blue or black, west should go for grey or white and east is brown or green. I’ll be honest, this is a pretty puzzling one. I’m pretty sure my front door faces south-east. So am I supposed to go for a warm brown? Or green and red striped?! Hmm… think I’ll pass on this one thanks and stick to black. (Clearly my neighbour is more clued up on their feng shui than me!).
What do you reckon? Now generally I’m not a very superstitious person… until it comes to flying that is. Then all rational thought goes straight outta the window. Now I know this sounds crazy but I have this old bit of string that I tie round my wrist – (by the way it doesn’t have to be the same bit of string it just has to be string and a bit manky looking). Whenever I fly, on goes my string and as far as I’m concerned it’s that that keeps Gem and I safe as we hurtle through the air (Obviously I don’t really 100% believe that, but I’m the world’s worst nervous flier, so anything that distracts and makes me feel better is A-OK in my book).
Gem always sighs, raises her eyebrows, rolls her eyes and gets generally huffy with me. Admittedly it’s not the smartest thing to wear in the business lounge – whilst other people are popping champagne I’m busy tying manky old bits of string tied all over my wrists and sitting there with everything crossed. Not so long ago I left the house in a rush on the way to the airport and couldn’t find my old string. The only thing I happened upon was a bit of old tattered orange rope. It worked perfectly – it’s just not so cool standing in the security queue with a great wad of rope tied around my wrist! I don’t care by the way – it’s keeping us safe/placebo making me feel better, which is the main thing right?
Oh and coincidentally in another lifetime I used to be the interiors editor for a magazine entitled Feng Shui for Modern Living. Probably one of my worst career moves to be honest with you guys! The founder was (obviously) obsessed with Feng Shui. Unfortunately when it comes to interiors I can only get really excited when it looks amazing. So constantly being told to plonk turtles on window sills for photo shoots because they did who knows what (created luck/wealth I really can’t recall) caused huge rows and eventually my dismissal – I just couldn’t handle it! So, maybe feng shui isn’t that lucky for me, as I got fired?