Door of a feng shui living room should ideally open towards the inside and be made of wood. Well lit alcoves and corners, bright paintings and lamps bring in positive energy. A clutter free and well lit entrance also attracts chi. Feng shui encourages maintaining equilibrium between the yin and yang, i.e. masculine and feminine elements. For instance, balance should be maintained between soft and bright colors, horizontal and vertical arrangements, or low and high items. A circular or octagon shaped seating arrangement creates room for more openness in interaction and higher comfort level.

Superimposing a ba-gua map on the house floor plan helps in determining corners that affect education, relationships, career, children, wealth, travel, fame and family. Feng shui recommends placing of fish tanks, wind chimes, potted plants with round leaves in such corners for achieving fruitful results in the above eight aspects. Pictures of tress on the room’s eastern wall drive a family together, while lake or waterfall pictures on the northern wall brighten up career prospects. Furthermore, feng shui strongly recommends placing fireplace, family photographs, and mirrors in a living room. However, placing of mirrors opposite to the entrance would reflect back chi entering the room. Also, electromagnetic waves disrupt the flow of chi if electronic goods are placed in important corners. Feng shui also discourages placement of dry flowers.

Similar to Feng shui living rooms, Vastu Shastra rooms also have presence of bright paintings especially of sun rise and waterfalls. Feng shui encourages the use of metal and earth element colors such as white, silver, light yellow, gold, light brown, and gray in the living room area. Vastu Shastra recommends use of similar lighter shades in the room. Both concepts encourage bright lighting for tapping positive energy. Removal of clutter in a living room is given equal importance in both concepts. Maps are an integral part of both concepts. Vastu Shastra uses ‘Vastu Purusha Mandala’, which facilitates in studying the flow of positive energy. On the other hand, the Ba- gua map in Feng shui is an indicator of aspects such as prosperity, wealth, travel, health among others in a building.

However, designs in Vastu Shastra have a stronger mathematical base and accurate measuring systems. In contrast, Feng shui techniques are not derived from logical calculations, are subjective and not often explained by experts. In contrast to Vastu Shastra, Feng shui does not believe in uniformly categorizing directions as good or bad for all individuals or buildings. It believes that the advantages and disadvantages of a direction vary from each individual and building. Also, Feng Shui concentrates on tapping solar energy, while Vastu Shastra designs also focus on capturing positive energy from other planets as well.