Feng Shui for Balconies: Plants, Washing and Openings

The balcony as the home's mouth and buffer

A balcony occupies an unusual position in feng shui. It is a hole in the wall of the building, which means it is one of the points where the interior and the exterior meet directly, and everything the outside world sends — wind, rain, sound, birds, insects, and in the Chinese framework the sharper edges of incoming qi — has to pass through it. At the same time it sits between the flat and the sky, which is why it is treated as an unusually open, unshielded position.

The traditional remedy is to make the balcony a buffer rather than a pass-through. Plants in pots, a bench, a screen, a small table and a light source all slow the movement across the space, absorb some of the wind and heat, and give the eye somewhere to rest. A balcony set up as a garden reads as a softener; a balcony used as a store reads as a blockage, and the difference is visible the moment you step through the door.

Which direction the balcony faces

Direction changes the character more than anything else about a balcony. A north-facing balcony is cool, shaded and quiet, and in feng shui terms it draws the water element: good for a plant-heavy balcony, less good for drying and for a sunny retreat. A south-facing balcony takes a great deal of fire energy and is the classic place for herbs, succulents and a chair. East-facing balconies get the morning light and read as wood energy, favourable for growing. West and north-west balconies take the strongest, latest sun and the most heat, which is where a light-coloured, well-shaded treatment matters.

The door line and the first metre

The most useful single rule for a balcony is to keep the area directly in front of the sliding door clear. In feng shui terms this is the point where outside energy enters the flat, and in practical terms it is where you need to walk, put your shoes, set down a bag and stand while the door is open.

Clear the first 1 to 1.5 m of floor. That means no bike, no bin, no stack of boxes, no drying rack parked across the opening, no recycling that lives there from February to December. It also means checking the sightline: stand at the threshold and look out. If the view is a pile of boxes or the back of a washing machine, you are presenting the flat with an unpleasant first impression every time you come in.

The washing machine guide covers the most common fixture on a modern balcony, and the tropical plants guide covers the four plants that lead every feng shui list.

What to put at the threshold instead

A doormat, a pair of slippers, a small bench with a plant on it, a hook rail just inside the door. These are the elements that make a threshold work — they mark the transition between outside and in and they slow the movement, which is exactly what the position asks for. A metal or stone threshold strip and a mat are both useful, and they are also the classic remedy for a flat where the door feels like it lets the weather straight in.

What to keep off a balcony entirely

A short list of things that do not belong

There is a short list of things that genuinely do not belong on a balcony, and the reasons are worth understanding rather than just obeying.

• Stored boxes and furniture. A balcony is the most thermally abused part of a flat and the worst place for paper, textiles and timber. It is also the classic place for clutter to accumulate, and clutter is the most common cause of a home that feels stuck.
• The bin and the recycling. They smell, they draw flies, and they sit directly in the incoming line. Keep them in a ventilated lobby or a store cupboard instead.
• Drying laundry visible from below. This is the one habit worth changing first, for practical as well as traditional reasons. The sight of a family's washing hanging over a railing in the middle of a residential street is a matter of common decency in many cultures, and the feng shui tradition in a number of places treats exposed undergarments as a dispersal of a household's private fortune.
• A mirror on the glass or a reflective panel. It bounces light and sound back into the street and, on a balcony, reflects into the flat at a low sun angle. If you want a mirror effect, put a small angled one on the wall inside the flat instead.
• A charcoal barbecue, a fire pit or a deep fryer. Open flame and smoke on a residential balcony is a fire risk and a neighbour dispute. A small covered grill used occasionally is a different proposition, but check your lease and the building's rules first.

Plants on a balcony: choosing for wind and exposure

Plants are the best thing most balconies have, both feng shui and horticulturally, but the ones that look good in a garden centre are often the ones that die on an exposed balcony in February.

Match the plant to the exposure rather than to the picture. A balcony that is open on two sides gets wind funnelled between the buildings, which desiccates leaves and uproots pots; a balcony with a solid parapet on one side can be much milder. Use heavier terracotta or stone pots rather than small plastic ones, which tip over; weight them with a stone or brick rather than a saucer of pebbles, which simply floats. Group pots together so the group holds itself together in the wind.

The tropical plants guide covers the four plants that lead every feng shui list, with their placement and toxicity notes, and the washing machine guide covers the most common fixture on a modern balcony.

What to grow

For an exposed balcony: grasses, sedums, heuchera, cordyline, dwarf conifers, bay, thyme and rosemary, all of which tolerate wind and drought. For a sheltered, sunny balcony: herbs, tomatoes, chillies and salad leaves in a trough, plus a small citrus if there is enough light. For shade: ferns, hostas, ivy, skimmia and hellebore, none of which need a sun trap.

And the feng shui reading

Plants bring in the wood element, which supports growth and is the element that most needs strengthening in a hard, built environment. Position matters: taller plants towards the outer edge of the balcony and lower plants nearer the door gives the space depth and stops the door area looking blocked.

Glazed or open: the rules change

How a glazed balcony behaves

Once a balcony is fully glazed and, often, insulated and floor-to-ceiling in the frame, it stops behaving like an outdoor space. This matters for feng shui because the position's character has changed: the buffer is now indoors, and the outside is behind glass rather than in the room.

Three adjustments follow.

Ventilation. A glazed balcony with no extract fan is a condensation trap. Open the door fully when the washing machine runs, use any trickle vent, and wipe the floor down afterwards in winter. Mould on a balcony ceiling is the single most common defect in a converted flat and it is worth a five-minute check.

Light and colour. A glazed balcony is now a room, so treat its finishes like a room's. Pale or mid-toned surfaces on a south-facing balcony will bounce a great deal of heat; a blind or a solar film is as useful on a balcony as on a living room window, and the feng shui argument about light and heat works in the same direction as the comfort argument.

Clutter tolerance drops. Because the space is inside the house, the tolerance for boxes, junk and dumped furniture falls sharply. If your glazed balcony has become a storage area, clearing it will do more for how the flat feels than any arrangement of lucky objects.

A balcony walk-through

Ten minutes, once a season, in this order.

1. Stand just inside the flat with the balcony door open. Look out. Is the first thing you see pleasant? If it is bins, boxes or the back of an appliance, that is your first job.
2. Check the sightline from the street or from the flat below. Can people see your washing, your recycling or your clutter?
3. Push each pot and look at the saucer. Is there standing water or a dead plant? A waterlogged saucer is a small permanent damp spot.
4. Look at the ceiling and the wall corners for damp or black mould, especially in the corner nearest the building.
5. Check the drainage. Pour water on the floor and see where it goes.
6. Check the door seal and the threshold for gaps, and whether the sliding door actually closes.
7. Check the balcony's guardrail fixings and the height of anything you have stored against it.
8. Finally, ask whether the balcony is doing a job. A balcony that carries plants, a chair and the recycling point is working. A balcony that carries four broken chairs and a mattress is a blockage, and clearing it is a feng shui improvement and a hoarding improvement at the same time.

One last thing

Balconies in flats are shared spaces in a way that private gardens are not. Whatever you do, remember that the balcony immediately above and the one below are part of the same system — dripping water, smoke, noise and blocked light all travel. The most sustainable balcony arrangement is usually also the most courteous one.