9 Best Feng Shui Plants for the Living Room

In feng shui, the living room is one of the most important rooms in your house, and it’s also one of the best rooms for decorating with houseplants. Adding plants of the wood element to this space can bolster almost any aspect of your life, depending on the area of the bagua map where you position your plants. Here, we’ll take you through the essential principles of feng shui in the living room, plus discover 9 of the best houseplant options for this space.

About the Living Room in Feng Shui

The best plants for the living room in feng shui are those that attract lots of positive energy into the space and symbolize hospitality, friendship, family, and relationships. Choose healthy plants with soft, rounded, or heart-shaped leaves, such as ficus, philodendrons, palm plants, or money trees.

In feng shui, the living room is one of the most important areas in the entire house. It’s also one of the best places for displaying plants because houseplants attract lots of energy, and lots of positive energy is necessary for creating a lively and welcoming space for living, conversing, having fun, entertaining guests, and connecting with your family.

General Rules for Good Feng Shui in the Living Room

Commanding Position

In the living room, the largest sofa should be in the commanding position. Rules for determining the commanding position of the sofa are similar to those of positioning the bed in a bedroom.

The sofa should be along (not against) the wall that’s opposite the doorway or entryway. The sofa should face the entryway but not be directly in front of it.

Cultivating Connection

Select and arrange furniture in a way that encourages conversation and connection so that all of your guests have a place to sit and can all see one another from their seats. If possible, arrange your furniture so that a fireplace, rather than a television, is the focal point.

Light and Bright

The living room is for living your waking life, so it should be kept light and bright. Even if your living room is in a darker place in your home, try to at least keep it brighter than your bedroom.

Avoiding Clutter and Keeping Clear Pathways

Like other areas of your home, clutter is a major problem in feng shui because it blocks the free flow and circulation of positive energy. Make regular sweeps through your living room to clear out any items that aren’t absolutely essential to the purposes of the room.

Additionally, arrange your furniture so that you have clear pathways to move around the space and access everything you need. It’s also important to keep your furniture at least a few inches away from the walls. This will allow the energy and air to maintain a complete circulation through your entertaining space so that no corner feels dark, dead, or negative.

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The Role of Plants and the Living Room in Feng Shui

In feng shui, plants should be used to draw positive energy into your home’s living room to create a lively space for welcoming people into your home, hosting, forming connections, and bonding with friends and family.

When determining where to position plants throughout your living room, it’s important to consider the different areas of the bagua map and how they correspond to your space. Position your houseplants in corners of your living room that represent the areas of life you most want to improve or draw more energy into.

For example, the southeast corner, associated with fire, represents wealth and good fortune. By placing plants in the southeast, their wood element will feed the fire element and infuse your life with more opportunities to prosper.

The northeast and southwest corners of the living room are associated with the earth element, and the wood element (plants) destroys the earth element. For good feng shui, it is not recommended to place large plants that generate a considerable amount of wood energy in these corners of the living room because it will lead to the destruction of the earth element and an imbalance of the five forces.

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The Best Plants for the Living Room in Feng Shui

Here you’ll find 8 of the best houseplants to boost positive energy in the bathroom according to the fundamental principles of feng shui:

1. Rubber Plant

The rubber plant has large, ovate, deep-green leaves and can grow to be quite large, making it a positive energy powerhouse in feng shui.

Feng Shui Benefits	Abundance, wealth, and happiness
Where to Position	Place in the southeast corner to soften the sharp angles, draw positive energy into the void space, and attract wealth.
Care Considerations	Prefers bright to medium indirect light and water when the soil has dried out.

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2. Areca Palm

With its soft, feathery fronds, the areca palm is a favorite for attracting positive energy in feng shui, and it’s a perfect choice for the living room in your home. Just be sure to choose a plant of the right size for your room and location that can accommodate its growth.

Feng Shui Benefits	Peace, wealth, prosperity, and neutralizes negativity
Where to Position	Position large plants in corners and smaller plants on the coffee table or end table.
Care Considerations	Prefers full to partial sunlight and watering with filtered water when the soil is almost dried out. Do not let the plant sit in standing water.

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3. English Ivy

English ivy is a trailing plant with soft, leafy, green foliage. In addition to being an auspicious plant in feng shui, it’s also an air-purifying plant that will remove toxins from the air inside your home.

Feng Shui Benefits	Neutralizes negativity and softens poison arrows created by sharp edges or other negative energy blocks
Where to Position	Display English ivy in hanging baskets or regular containers in dark corners that need brightening with positive energy.
Care Considerations	Prefers moderate to low light and evenly moist soil.

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4. Peace Lily

As its name suggests, the peace lily is a plant that will bring peaceful energy into your space. In feng shui, it’s used to destroy negative energies like strife and discord. Instead, peace lilies fill the atmosphere with harmony.

Feng Shui Benefits	Calming, harmonizing, peaceful, purifying, and lucky
Where to Position	On a plant stand or end table in the corner of your living room’s bagua map that represents an area of your life that could use more harmony. For example, in the north to reduce anxiety at work.
Care Considerations	Prefers moderate to low light and is sensitive to overwatering. Water when the soil has just dried completely.

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5. Fiddle Leaf Fig

Fiddle leaf figs are very popular houseplants because they’re beautiful to look at and are also great for naturally purifying your indoor air. They’re also desirable in feng shui because thanks to their broad, rounded leaves and upward-expanding nature.

Feng Shui Benefits	Upward-directed energy, attracts positive energy, kindness, calm, support, and abundance
Where to Position	Place in an empty corner to lift energy upward and improve its circulation around the room
Care Considerations	Bright to medium filtered light and sensitive to soggy soil

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6. Citrus Trees

Many types of indoor citrus trees, like lemon, lime, and orange trees are perfect for the living room as long as yours receives lots of sunlight. In feng shui, fruit-bearing trees are considered to be very lucky and will bring good luck and prosperity to any part of your life, depending on where you place them in the bagua map of your home.

Feng Shui Benefits	Good luck, good fortune, wealth, prosperity, and abundance
Where to Position	In front of a sunny window or in a section of the bagua map where you could use a little more luck and abundance
Care Considerations	Needs at least 8 hours of full sun daily

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7. Orchids

An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 different species of orchids grow all over the world, which means there’s a great variety of color, texture, and exotic beauty to choose from when selecting an orchid for your living room. These flowering plants are also popular in feng shui thanks to their abundant blossoms, soft foliage, slender stems, and vibrant colors.

Feng Shui Benefits	Fertility luck and family luck; violet orchids for positivity; white orchids for peace and harmony; and pink orchids for relationships, passion, and romance
Where to Position	The proper placement of orchids depends on the color of the plant’s flowers and the corresponding area of the bagua map.
Care Considerations	The proper placement of orchids depends on the color of the plant’s flowers and the corresponding area of the Bagua map.

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8. Philodendron

With their large, heart-shaped, soft leaves and their pleasingly bright shade of green, philodendrons are a wonderful plant for attracting positive energy into the living area of your home. These plants grow fairly fast and have large profiles, so be sure to put yours in a spot with enough free space to accommodate its size and the energy it will draw in.

Feng Shui Benefits	Prefers moderate to high humidity, medium to bright filtered sunlight, and a well-draining potting medium.
Where to Position	Place in the southeast or east to draw energy to either the wealth or health areas of the bagua map
Care Considerations	Prefers moderate to high humidity, medium to bright filtered sunlight, and a well-draining potting medium

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9. Jade Plant

Jade plants have glossy, yet soft coin-shaped leaf segments in a vibrant shade of green, and they resemble miniature trees. Jade plants are considered one of the most auspicious feng shui plants and are especially appropriate in just about any location in the living room. With proper care, they can outlive their original owners, making them wonderful heirloom plants.

Feng Shui Benefits	Luck, prosperity, health, and positivity
Where to Position	Place a jade plant in any section of the bagua map for improvement in that area of life. For example, place it in the east to improve family harmony.
Care Considerations	Full to partial sun and water only when the soil has dried completely.

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For Good Feng Shui, Don’t Put These Plants in the Living Room

Plants that have rigid leaves and/or pointy or sharp silhouettes should not be placed in the living room. These plants, like many cacti and succulents, are considered bad feng shui, as they are thought to draw in negative, defensive, or hostile energy. They are not suitable for creating a welcoming space designed to nurture relationships, friendship, and bonding.

Additionally, you should only keep healthy plants inside your home. If you have a diseased, dying, or dead plant, it’s best to dispose of it right away. Otherwise, it can draw negative, sickly energy into your home, diminish your luck, and create an unhealthy atmosphere.

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Nurturing Your Relationships by Nurturing Your Houseplants

Whether or not you entertain guests in your home frequently, your living room still represents the connections you make with others. Adding plants will draw positive energy into all your relationships, bringing more meaning and color to your life.