Why the living room is the room the outdoor thread walked toward
The July outdoor thread walked the dragon from the sidewalk to the back gate, gate by gate, and now that the dragon has crossed every outdoor line on the property, the next read is the room the dragon settles into once the dragon is inside. That room is the living room, and the living room is the room the foundation articles skip on purpose the way the side yard article skipped the side yard. The foundation articles skipped the living room because the living room is not a gate — it is a settling volume, the room the dragon enters and stays in for hours, and the settling volume is the read the gate-by-gate foundation was building toward without naming.
The living room is also the room most homeowners read wrong, because the living room is also the room most homeowners inherited from someone else. The sofa came with the apartment. The coffee table came from the first apartment after college. The TV stand came from a sale that was too good to pass up. The rug came from a wedding gift list that did not match the room. Each piece of furniture is a small decision that did not know about the other decisions, and the room is the slow accumulation of those decisions over fifteen years of living. The room the homeowner has today is rarely the room the homeowner would choose today. The living room read is the read that names the gap between the room the homeowner has and the room the homeowner would choose.
The outdoor thread taught the homeowner to read the dragon's line of travel on the property: where the dragon enters, where the dragon climbs, where the dragon pauses, where the dragon settles for an hour, where the dragon crosses every day. The living room read teaches the homeowner to read the dragon's settling volume — where the dragon lands when the dragon is home, where the household gathers, where the family spends the most hours per day. The settling volume is the read the foundation articles could not measure from the sidewalk, because the settling volume is inside the house, and the inside is the read the outdoor thread has been walking toward all month without naming. Today's article names the inside read.
The seven-position walk: what the homeowner looks at, in order
The seven-position walk is the foundation of the living room read, the way the four-defect walk was the foundation of the courtyard read and the foundation read on the dragon vein was the foundation of the outdoor property. The seven positions are the seven places the living room has a job, and the seven positions are the same in every living room regardless of size, layout, ceiling height, or furnishing style. The walk takes about fifteen minutes the first time and about five minutes once the homeowner knows what to look for. The walk is worth doing once per season, because the room the household wants in July is not the room the household wants in January, and the room that worked last summer is not the room that works this summer.
Position one: the doorway side (where the dragon enters)
The doorway side is the position closest to the room's entry. In most homes this is the side of the living room that faces the entryway or the hallway. The doorway side has one job: it catches the dragon as the dragon crosses from the Ming Tang into the living room and gives the dragon a soft landing. The doorway side fails when the doorway side is cluttered (a coat rack, a stack of packages, a side table piled with mail), when the doorway side is dark (no lamp, no window, no light source), or when the doorway side is hidden from the rest of the room (a corner sofa that blocks the view from the seating cluster to the door).
The doorway-side test is simple. Stand at the seating cluster, the position the household sits in most, and look toward the doorway. Can the household see who is coming into the room? In most living rooms the answer is yes, because most sofas are arranged to face the room and the doorway is in the line of sight. In some living rooms — the open-plan living room with the sofa back to the entry, the basement living room with the sofa around a corner from the stairs, the studio with the sofa against the wall the door is on — the answer is no, and the doorway side fails the test. The fix is rarely a remodel. A small mirror on the wall opposite the doorway, angled to reflect the entry, gives the household a view of who is coming in without changing the seating.
Position two: the settle wall (where the dragon wants to land)
The settle wall is the wall opposite the doorway, the wall the dragon crosses the room to reach, the wall the dragon settles against. The settle wall has one job: it backs the household's main activity. In a TV-focused living room the settle wall holds the TV. In a conversation-focused living room the settle wall holds a fireplace, a piece of art, a large window with a view. In a multi-use living room the settle wall holds a bookshelf, a daybed, a long low cabinet. The settle wall is the visual anchor of the room, and the visual anchor is the position the household's qi orients around when the household is sitting.
The settle-wall test is harder than the doorway-side test because the settle-wall test requires the homeowner to know what the household does in the room most nights. A living room arranged for conversation (two sofas facing each other, settle wall behind one sofa, no TV) and used for TV-watching (the household pulls chairs around to see the small TV on a side table) is a room with two settle walls, and the household's qi is split between the two walls every evening. The fix is to choose. Either the conversation is the activity and the TV goes in another room, or the TV is the activity and the conversation seating is the lean-into. A living room that does both jobs does neither job, and the split is the read the foundation articles cannot see from the sidewalk.
Position three: the seating cluster (where the household gathers)
The seating cluster is the group of seats the household uses at the same time. In most living rooms this is one sofa, two armchairs, and a coffee table. In smaller living rooms it is one sofa and one armchair. In family living rooms it is one large sectional and a row of floor cushions the children use. The seating cluster has one job: it gathers the household in a way that lets every seat see every other seat. The seating cluster fails when one seat is the back-turner (the armchair behind the sofa, the bench against the wall no one can see over), when one seat is the isolated seat (the reading chair in the corner the household uses alone), or when the cluster is so large that the household spreads across it instead of gathering in it.
The seating-cluster test is the one the homeowner can do alone. Sit in each seat in the cluster. Look at every other seat in the cluster. Can the homeowner see the faces of the other people in the cluster without turning more than forty-five degrees? If yes, the cluster works. If no, the cluster has a back-turner, and the back-turner is the seat the household stops using first when the household is tired, when the household is in a bad mood, or when the household is in a hurry. The fix is to remove the back-turner, not to move the household. A living room with three working seats gathers three people. A living room with four seats and one back-turner gathers three people and wastes the fourth.
Position four: the TV wall (where the household watches)
The TV wall is the wall the TV sits on, and the TV wall is the position most homeowners read wrong because the TV wall is the position most homeowners chose for furniture reasons (the wall with the cable outlet, the wall opposite the only comfortable seating angle, the wall the previous tenant used) rather than feng shui reasons. The TV wall has one job: it holds the TV at the height and angle that lets the household watch without straining. The TV wall fails when the TV is too high (mounted above a fireplace, mounted above a cabinet, mounted on a wall the seating has to look up at), when the TV is too small (a forty-inch screen on a twelve-foot viewing distance, the household leaning forward to read subtitles), or when the TV is the settle wall (the only thing on the wall, the visual anchor of the room, the position the household's qi orients around).
The TV-wall test is the simplest test in the seven-position walk, because the TV-wall test is just a height and an angle. The center of the TV should be at eye level when the household is seated. If the center of the TV is above eye level, the household is looking up to watch, and looking up is the posture the household holds for two hours per evening, and the posture over two hours per evening is the read that stiffens the household's neck and drains the household's qi. The fix is to lower the TV, which is usually a one-person job with a screwdriver and a level. A TV at the right height is the difference between a living room the household watches TV in and a living room the household lives in.
Position five: the shelving wall (where the household stores)
The shelving wall is the wall the household's storage sits on, and the shelving wall is the position the homeowner forgets about because the shelving wall is the position the household's storage has colonized. Bookshelves, media cabinets, display shelves, the wall of family photos, the wall of the children's art, the wall of the inherited china — the shelving wall is the wall the household's history lives on, and the shelving wall is the wall that tells the household who the household is every time the household sits down. The shelving wall has one job: it holds the household's history in a way that supports the household's present. The shelving wall fails when the shelving wall is cluttered (every shelf full, no breathing room, no visual rest), when the shelving wall is dark (no lamp, no accent light, no natural light), or when the shelving wall is the settle wall (the only thing the household sees when the household sits down is the household's storage).
The shelving-wall test is the one that takes the longest, because the shelving-wall test is the test of the household's relationship to the household's own stuff. Stand at the seating cluster and look at the shelving wall. Can the household see at least one-third of the wall surface between objects? If yes, the wall supports the room. If no, the wall is crowded, and the crowded shelving wall is the read that makes the household feel like the household is living in a storage unit. The fix is not to throw things away (the household will not throw things away, and asking the household to throw things away is the read the foundation articles do not recommend). The fix is to edit one shelf per week, to remove one object per shelf, to give the wall back one inch of breathing room. A shelving wall that breathes is the difference between a living room that displays the household's history and a living room that buries it.
Position six: the path (where the household moves)
The path is the line the household walks from the doorway to the seating cluster, from the seating cluster to the kitchen, from the kitchen back to the seating cluster. The path is the position the foundation reads rarely measure because the path is invisible until the household tries to walk it. The path has one job: it lets the household move through the room without crossing the settle wall, without blocking the seating cluster, and without stepping over something the household left on the floor. The path fails when the path crosses the settle wall (a walkway between the sofa and the TV, the household walking through the line of sight of every seated person), when the path is blocked (a coffee table too far from the sofa, the household stepping over the corner of the rug), or when the path is the seating (a walk-through living room with no real seating, the household passing through on the way to somewhere else).
The path test is the one the homeowner does by walking. Walk from the doorway to the seating cluster, then from the seating cluster to the kitchen, then from the kitchen back. Did the walk require stepping over anything? Did the walk cross the line of sight of a seated person? Did the walk feel natural or did it feel negotiated? A living room with a clear path is a room the household moves through without thinking. A living room with a blocked path is a room the household navigates, and navigating the household's own living room five times per day is the small daily friction that adds up to a vague sense that the room is not quite working. The fix is to remove one object from the path (a side table, a floor lamp, a basket that does not need to be there) and to give the household back the line the household walks without thinking.
Position seven: the windows (where the household's qi goes)
The windows are the position the living room's qi leaves through, and the windows are the position most homeowners treat as decorative rather than functional. The windows have one job: they let the household see outside, and they let the qi flow between the living room and whatever is on the other side of the window. The windows fail when the windows are blocked (heavy curtains drawn all day, furniture pushed against the glass, plants covering the lower half of the pane), when the windows are bare (no curtain at all, the household exposed to the street, the household's qi draining into the public view), or when the windows are competing (one window curtained, one window bare, the household's qi flowing unevenly between the two sides of the room).
The window test is a curtain test. Stand at the seating cluster and look at each window. Does the window have a curtain or a blind that the household can close when the household wants privacy, and that the household can open when the household wants light? If yes, the window works. If no, the window is a hole in the room's qi, and the hole is either draining the household's qi out (when the window is bare and the street is in view) or blocking the household's qi in (when the window is curtained and never opened). The fix is rarely to install curtains on every window (that makes the room feel closed). The fix is to give every window a layer the household can adjust, and to adjust the layers through the day as the light changes.
The seating-and-sofa rule: the read the foundation articles could not name
The seating-and-sofa rule is the single most useful rule in the living room read, the way the four-defect walk is the single most useful rule in the courtyard read. The rule is short. The rule is two sentences. The rule is the rule that fixes most of the other problems the homeowner will find in the seven-position walk.
The rule: the household's main seat backs a solid wall, and the household's main seat has the longest clear line of sight into the room. That is the rule. The main seat is the seat the household uses most often (the seat on the end of the sofa closest to the lamp, the armchair by the window, the corner of the sectional where the dog sleeps). The main seat backs a solid wall because the solid wall is the position that supports the household's qi when the household is sitting. The main seat has the longest line of sight because the longest line of sight is the position that lets the household see the room, and seeing the room is the position that lets the household's qi orient around the room.
The rule fails in most living rooms because most living rooms were arranged by the previous tenant, by the moving company, by the furniture sale, or by the household's first instinct on moving day. The main seat is the sofa in the middle of the room (the sofa floats, the sofa backs the room rather than the wall, the sofa's qi drains out the back of the sofa into the rest of the room). The main seat is the armchair facing the TV (the armchair backs the window, the household's qi drains out the window every evening). The main seat is the sectional in the corner (the corner of the sectional backs two walls at once, the household's qi is split between the two walls, neither wall fully supports the seat).
The fix is to move the main seat against a solid wall. Not against a window, not against the doorway, not against the open side of the room. Against a solid wall. The solid wall is the wall with no opening, no window, no doorway, no pass-through. In most living rooms there is at least one solid wall, and the solid wall is the wall the household's main seat wants. If the main seat is currently on a wall that has a window, the fix is to swap the main seat with a less-used seat (the loveseat, the bench, the reading chair) so the less-used seat sits under the window and the main seat sits on the solid wall. The household does not lose any seating. The household gains a main seat that supports the household's qi.
The electronics-shelf treatment: what to do with the cables
The electronics-shelf treatment is the read most living room articles skip, because the electronics-shelf treatment is the read that requires the homeowner to look at the back of the TV stand rather than the front. The back of the TV stand is where the cables live, and the cables are the read the foundation articles skip because the cables are not a feng shui concept. The cables are a feng shui practice. The cables are the small daily friction the household stops noticing after a month, and the small daily friction the household stops noticing is the read that drags the living room's qi down without naming the drag.
The treatment is short. Open the back of the TV stand (or pull the TV stand away from the wall). Look at the cables. Are the cables tangled? Are the cables labeled? Are the cables longer than they need to be, coiled behind the stand in a loop that collects dust? If yes to any of those, the cables need thirty minutes of attention. The fix is not to throw the cables away (the cables belong to devices the household uses). The fix is to bundle each cable with a Velcro strap, to label each cable at both ends with a piece of tape, to shorten each cable to the length the cable needs to reach, and to coil the excess in a single loop behind the stand. The household will not see the cables. The household will feel the difference, because a TV stand with tidy cables is a TV stand that does not drag on the household's qi every time the household walks past it.
The treatment extends beyond the TV stand. The router. The charging cables on the side table. The lamp cords across the floor. The extension cord under the sofa. Each cord is a small line the household crosses or trips over or works around, and each cord is a small line the household's qi drags on five times per day. The fix is one cord per evening, untangled and rerouted, until every cord in the living room is either invisible (behind furniture, under rugs, inside cable management boxes) or out of the path. The treatment takes a week. The treatment lasts for years.
The seven living room defects the homeowner walks against
The seven defects are the seven ways the living room fails the seven-position walk, and the seven defects are the read the homeowner checks after the seven-position walk is complete. The seven defects are not the same as the seven positions. The seven positions are the places the room has a job. The seven defects are the ways the job goes wrong. Most living rooms have at least three of the seven defects. A living room with five or more defects is a living room that needs the read. A living room with all seven is a living room the household is barely using, because the room is fighting the household every time the household sits down.
The deliberate acts for the lean-into living room
The lean-into living room is the room the household is moving toward, the room the household wants after the seven-position walk and the seating-and-sofa rule and the electronics-shelf treatment. The lean-into is not a destination the household reaches in one weekend. The lean-into is a direction the household is moving in, one deliberate act per week, the way the lean-into courtyard from the July 19 article was a direction the homeowner moved in one deliberate act per week.
The first deliberate act is the main seat against the solid wall. This is the act the homeowner does this week, because the main seat against the solid wall is the act that fixes most of the other problems, and the act that fixes most of the other problems is the act the homeowner should do first. Move the sofa. Move the armchair. Move the corner of the sectional. Get the main seat against the solid wall, with the longest clear line of sight into the room.
The second deliberate act is the doorway-side clear. Remove the coat rack, the package stack, the mail pile, the side table that blocks the doorway from the seating cluster. The doorway-side clear is the act that takes ten minutes and lasts for as long as the household keeps the doorway clear, which is usually a long time because the doorway-side clear is a small change that makes a large difference to the room's qi.
The third deliberate act is one shelf per week. Pick the worst shelf on the shelving wall. Remove one object. Give the shelf one inch of breathing room. Repeat next week on the next shelf. A shelving wall with one inch of breathing room per shelf is a shelving wall the household can sit next to without feeling crowded.
The fourth deliberate act is the cable behind the TV stand. Spend thirty minutes on a Sunday morning. Untangle. Label. Shorten. Coil. The TV stand will look the same from the front. The household will feel the difference from the moment the household walks past the stand.
The fifth deliberate act is the path walk. Walk the household's path through the room. Note one object that does not need to be on the path. Remove it. The path walk takes five minutes. The path walk is the act that makes the room feel less negotiated.
The sixth deliberate act is the window test. Stand at the seating cluster. Look at each window. Note the windows that need a curtain or a blind the household can adjust. Note the windows whose curtains are never opened. The window test is the act that lets the household's qi flow between the room and the outside, instead of being either drained out or blocked in.
What the living room read does not cover
The living room read does not cover the dining room, the kitchen, the bedroom, the study, the bathroom, or any of the other rooms the household uses. The living room read is the read for the room the household gathers in, and the gathering room is the room the outdoor thread walked toward. The next reads in the indoor thread will cover the other rooms, one per article, in the same gate-by-gate order the outdoor thread used. The dining room is next. The kitchen follows. The bedroom is the room the dragon settles into for the night. Each room will get its own seven-position walk, its own defects, its own deliberate acts.
The living room read also does not cover the household's chart. The household's BaZi chart tells the homeowner which element the household's main seat wants behind it, which color the household's shelving wall wants, which direction the household's TV wall faces best. The chart-side read is a separate piece of work, and the chart-side read is the read that takes the living room from "the room the household wants" to "the room the household was born for." The chart-side read is the read the indoor thread will reach toward over the next several articles.
Frequently asked questions about the living room read
What to do this week
This week, do the seven-position walk. Stand in the doorway. Walk the seven positions in order. Note which positions the room is doing well and which positions the room is failing. Pick the worst defect, the one the household can fix this week. Do that one. Save the other defects for the next several weeks, one per week. By the end of the month the household will have done four deliberate acts, the room will have failed three fewer defects, and the room will feel different even though the household has not bought any new furniture.
The living room read is the read the outdoor thread walked toward all month. The living room is the room the dragon settles into when the dragon is inside. Tomorrow's article will walk the room the dragon settles into when the household gathers around food — the dining room, the room that holds the household's meals, the room the household's qi orients around three times per day.