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Text by: Kristy Woodson Harvey

Birds are chirping. Sun is shining. Daffodils are popping up everywhere. Spring has officially sprung. And, according to feng shui expert and interior designer Dana Casey, now is the perfect time to make your home feel in tune with the season. “Naturally, spring comes and we want to clean and get rid of things and start anew,” Casey says. So de-cluttering is the number one thing that she asks her clients to do in the spring. “Feng shui is about energy and chi,” Casey said. 

Since everything holds onto energy, ridding your life of the things that don’t make you feel renewed makes you feel more at home in your space. Once your house is free of extra things it doesn’t need, Casey suggests writing down exactly what you want from where you live. “What changes do you want to happen in your home?” she asks both her design and feng shui clients. In the spring, in particular, Casey says her clients tend to use adjectives like “light” and “airy.” For achieving that light and airy spring look, yellow is one of Casey’s go-to colors. A simple vase of daffodils or tulips is enough to make an entire room feel full of inspiration, something that is very important to Casey’s process.

In every design project she undertakes, Casey says, “I work from inspiration.” She finds it in the form of food, fashion, flowers and the “beauty every day.”
And, of course, her feng shui knowledge is always at the heart of her design work. The tradition, which is more than 4,000 years old, “Is about creating spaces that support what is going on inside of you and is reflected in your space.” Casey is careful to point out to her clients that feng shui is a philosophy, not a religion, so anyone, no matter what his or her religious beliefs, can feel comfortable tailoring his or her home to the the principles of the ancient tradition.
Creating the life that she wanted to lead was, in fact, what ultimately drew Casey to feng shui in the first place. “I was kind of stuck in life,” Casey said. She had a friend that was reading about feng shui and gave her the book when she was finished. Casey thought, “This is something I have to do.”

A few years later, she attended the Western School of Feng Shui in California to get officially certified in the practice that she had grown to love. Casey felt very committed “to spaces, design and architecture that made (her) feel happy or good.”

And it wasn’t long before she was doing the same for her clients. Casey’s first feng shui project was a night club. “They liked my aesthetic and attention to detail,” Casey said. And, before she knew it, she was not only the owner’s feng shui consultant but also his interior designer.

Nightclubs led to coffee houses, which led to a flood of commercial design work and, eventually, led Casey to begin designing clients’ homes as well.
To those clients, during this season in particular, Casey is recommending opening all the windows and covering the walls with a fresh coat of paint in a color that makes them feel the way they want their home to. And, since home is part of a the self, Casey also considers spring the perfect time to focus on health and wellness and increasing exercise time. In addition, “water infused with lemons, cucumber, mint and fruit is a wonderful way to bring in the spring energy internally and cleanse your body as well.”
Inside and out, from our bodies to our homes, there’s no doubt that spring is the perfect time for a tune up. And incorporating the principles of feng shui can be a great start.

For more photos and inspiration, visit Design Chic.