The main door to the house is one of the most important features in feng shui for residences.
- It is the one door that is used most often on the property
- It is the main entry point for energy into the home
- It is the first part of the house that visitors observe and make contact with
- Every member of the household uses it on a daily basis
Every school of thought gives significant prominence to the main door. Specifically it’s placement and direction.
Assuming you have already identified the best place to locate the door facing a specific direction as per flying start feng shui or 8 mansions feng shui. And you have the orientation decided. That’s just one critical aspect settled.
Although a simple door that opens easily could be enough for most people, that is simply not enough if you intend to fully harness the power of feng shui.
Here are 7 critical factors to keep in mind when configuring and choosing the main door.
1) Biggest door in the house
It’s not called the main door for no reason.
It should be easily distinguished that it has a larger size than room doors, side doors, back doors, etc.
If there is even an ounce of doubt about whether the main door is the biggest one of the house, then it’s already a bad sign. Ancient writings also state that a big door would produce people of nobility in the household.
The garage door and the main gate should not be part of the equation.
2) Solid material
Wood is almost always used by homeowners for the main door as if by default.
This is mostly because during ancient times, houses are mainly built with wood and bricks.
For some reason this practice stuck, and many feng shui masters would only approve of a strong door made of solid wood.
However, times have changed.
The possibilities in conceptualizing and constructing a house’s design and architecture are now limitless.
So a wooden door can sometimes just look out of place for a particular home’s exterior appearance.
Moreover, many homeowners do not have the freedom to place their main door wherever they want. And when they are faced with negative energy entering the from the main door, the best that they could do is set up an elemental barrier against sha chi.
For this reason, the installation of a metal front door is getting more popular. Especially for those with the 5 yellow as a water star at the front door.
Metal element helps to subdue the 5 yellow.
Saying that, metal doors at the east or southeast should be avoided as much as possible.
Whatever material you use, assuming you have chosen wisely, it must be of solid build.
Avoid glass doors or any see-through types of materials.
3) Color
Color can be used to fulfill a desire to have a presence of a particular element at the main door.
Which color to use depends on which element you wish to have a footing at the entrance.
Here is a quick rundown of the colors representing elements.
- Wood – Green, light brown
- Fire – Red, purple
- Earth – Yellow, orange, dark brown
- Metal – White, gold, silver
- Water – Blue, black
When choosing colors for the main front door, be mindful of elemental clashes with the colors of the wall.
And don’t use colors that can be confusing as to which element it represents. Refer to the chart of colors and elements.
Or more details on choosing door colors are discussed here.
4) Open inwards
Doors should open inwards so as to welcome in fresh positive energy.
A door that opens outwards is akin to driving away luck.
A household with this outward swing configuration for the house would find it difficult to accumulate wealth even if they draw a high income.
You want to welcome in good fortune luck and keep it inside the house to benefit the family. Just be careful not to position the door in a way that a resident entering the house would be immediately greeted by a toilet.
If you have one that opens outwards, check if the hinges can be reversed.
Some homes like to install door screens for one reason or another. The screen usually opens outwards while the main door opens inwards.
When this is the case, do ensure that the hinges of both the door and screen are on the same side.
5) Roof
There should be a roof at the door entrance for protection.
Consider that the main door is a part of the house that suffers the most use and abuse.
On top of that, it constantly have to fend off the wind and weather.
The least you can do is to play your part in helping to alleviate it’s job, even if it’s just a symbolic gesture.
Providing shelter for the main door gives energy a safer entryway into the house. It also acts as a shield against poison arrows (sha chi) pointing at it.
Apartment units would usually have a covered area (the ceiling) by default. So it’s not a concern.
But for landed houses, if a protective roof was not built by the builder in the first place, consider setting up a canopy of some sort as a substitute to a proper roof.
6) Double leaves
A door with 2 leaves looks grander and add to the presence of the door.
Consider that almost all the doors in the interior of the house will be single leaf that swings open from one side.
If the main door is the same, then the main door will not have an extra significance in the house.
Why not make an effort to give the main door the attention and recognition it deserves by having 2 leaves.
While a 2-leafed door will ideally be of equal size on both leaves, should you have one that has one side bigger than the other, then use the bigger side more frequently.
Don’t install sliding doors for the main front door.
7) Stairs and steps to door
A lot of homes have main doors that open to steps or stairs outside.
In such architecture, there must be a flat open space in front of the door before the first steps of the staircase begins.
The size measurement of this required space should be at least the length of the door squared.
For example if the door has a dimension with 33 inches in length, the flat floor space in front of the front door should be at least 33″ x 33″.
This would be common sense for a door that opens outward. But main doors that open inward as discussed in point #3 can have this predicament if insufficient buffer space present.
In this case, placing a welcome mat is must outside the door.
If there is flat space in front, but too short, then consider using a double leaf door as mentioned in point #5. This effectively shortens the door’s reach (when swung open) by half.
Don’t forget the door direction
It was mentioned at the beginner of this discussion that you have to get the main door direction right with feng shui concepts before pondering how the door itself should be selected.
If that is not possible, than focus on not getting it wrong… if that makes sense to you.
For example, if orientating the main front door to face the most auspicious direction is not possible, then at least avoid having it face an unfavorable direction.
Again, the main door is one of the most important parts of the house when it comes to feng shui.
There are even schools of thoughts that are based around the front door alone.
So pampering it with love and attention will never be considered as too much.