Spaces speak

Why is that some spaces feel so good to us and others turn us off? In my experiences of house and apartment hunting, I've seen many spaces that strike me strongly.

When we first moved to (state of current residence), my parents had to rent a house for a few years. There was no center to the house; once you came in the door, the interior scattered in all directions. It never felt like there was a place to relax and settle.

When they started looking for houses again, they considered several options. Funny that I remember the duds best.

One house was nice inside, but the house felt completely exposed on the lot. It was a fairly large house, on a corner lot with little landscaping. Strangely enough, it felt as if the gaze of the entire neighborhood was focused on that one house with nothing to shield us from that gaze.

Another house was light and airy upstairs, but the bedrooms were little dungeons below ground level. It felt oppressive.

My in-laws chose their current house based on the "feel" when they first walked into the kitchen area. I find it ironic that they have something like 4000+ square feet--and their favorite part of the house is maybe an 1/8th or less of that space. They are just rattling around in the rest of the house--even the kids bedrooms are huge, like living in a warehouse--but the kitchen/dining area is full of windows and light and efficient, cozy arrangements, and that's where they spend most of their time.

In our current house, we fell in love with it just walking through it. Many people come in the front door and exclaim over how homey or how *good* it feels. It does have about the right amount of coziness. Even though it's a smaller, older house, the space just feels right. Some of that is from changes made by the previous owners. They widened a doorway between living room and dining room to line up with the fireplace. They put a full-length mirror on the door to the basement. Little things that really worked.

At the time, I had been reading about Feng Shui, and I was struck by how nicely the house fits many of the principles, how elements flowed or lined up. Later, we had a chance to talk to the owner, and it came out that they were aware of Feng Shui principles, and had even actively incorporated many of their renovations to help balance the Feng Shui in the house. I was impressed! And pleased. Because Feng Shui seems to formally create many of the same things that make a place feel good to us.

I think there must be a Feng Shui of nature too. Some places feel distasteful. Others speak to us and "make the heart sing." In our living spaces, it seems we try to recreate our ideal space. That is, if we are aware, if we have a little spatial sensitivity, if we have time and inclination, and enough animus to make it our own.

Tomorrow, maybe: arranging space to personal inclination.