T e s t i m o n i a l s

To give you an idea of how I work with my clients, I have included the following testimonials and case studies that represent my consultation services: residential, business (both profit and nonprofit) and landscape. I am grateful to these clients who have so graciously shared their stories.

Thriving Spaces Residential Consultation
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This client wished to make no-cost changes to her home that:

• Increased prosperity
• Supported her love relationship

Feng Shui Challenges and Solutions:   A classic Feng Shui challenge in almost every project is clutter. To reduce clutter I propose a “removal cure” in which many “old” things are removed from the space to make room for “new” opportunities, ideas, and things.  This removal “cure” works in almost all spaces to increase prosperity.

• A cluttered mantel, an unused fireplace and an overabundance of water and earth elements were issues in my client’s living room, which is the self-growth area of her home.  In order to balance the space, we de-cluttered the mantel of dried flowers, old artwork and too many photos.  Using accessories she already had, we added a wood element to offset the earth and water elements, three photos (one each of her two sons and one of her and her boyfriend), a pair of candles and vases to support her love relationship, and a candelabra inside her unused fireplace to welcome new ch’i.
• In what is the prosperity corner of her home, my client had created a special place for her boyfriend to read and relax. Here her intuitive Feng Shui had been working as she had chosen to decorate with reds, blues and gold, all colors that support the flow of energy.  However, several elements in the space were not working: the print of a lone woman, only one comfortable chair, and an overabundance of plants, some unhealthy, which created clutter.   In order to boost her prosperity and her relationship, we needed to add her to this space.   We brought in a comfortable chair from the living room for her to use, and culled the plants.
• In the relationships area of her home, which was her back patio, there was nothing but some old building materials left over from an earlier remodel.  Among the materials were two old window frames she had always loved. She painted them rosy pink, one of the colors that boost this area, and hung them on the wall.

Thriving Spaces Business Consultation
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This client had concerns about his home office:

• His office doubled as a guest room
• He was feeling stuck, struggling with “closing the deal”
• His office had no room to meet with a client

Feng Shui Challenges and Solutions:   A challenge in most home offices used for business is how to utilize the space, find enough storage, and where to position the desk.

• In discussing the dual purpose of the room it was evident that the space need not also serve as a guest room — guests were infrequent and there were other areas in the home to host them.  The solution was to rid the room of the guest furniture to create the much needed space for focusing on business.
• With additional space available, the client was able to move his desk from the corner to a power position in the room.  The additional space also allowed him to bring his favorite chair out of storage and use it for reading or seating for a visiting client.
• Above his desk was a large painting of a violent struggle between two armies with no apparent victor. The painting clearly mirrored the struggle he had been having with closing any deals with clients.  The painting was removed and replaced with more pleasing artwork.

Client Response: “I can’t believe how different the space feels to me.  That alone would be worth it, but the real change is the work that began to come my way.  I closed a deal for a long-term contract within a month of implementing the Feng Shui changes.  And another one is in the wings.”

Thriving Spaces Office Suite Consultation
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This business client’s concerns and goal for his three-room office suite were:

• None of his workers liked working in the space
• The space didn’t speak to the company’s purpose
• He wanted to find investors for his start-up web company

Feng Shui Challenges and Solutions:  The employees in this office were young people working at a conference table on their laptops; the office had cluttered surfaces on tables and shelves but not much on the walls; the space wasn’t set up to “impress” investors.

• After laying the bagua over the space, we identified the prosperity area, which held a blank wall. Right away we posted a list of current backers and a list of the new investors to whom the company was pitching.  In addition, we put up the baseball caps of the coaches the company wants included on its high school sports tracking website.
• We moved the table so that no workers had their backs to the door, and we created a “fame” wall for the young employees to post photos and awards they had received as high school athletes – to carry the theme of the business and to help them see their own importance in launching the site.
• Using the bagua we identified the helpful people/action area, which was an empty room. I suggested using the space for quiet computer work (away from the large group work space) and to decorate it with a large banner with the company’s name posted on the wall to remind everyone of the company’s purpose:  to bring their website into the world.  Shortly after the Feng Shui work was completed, a new employee joined the firm and is using this room as his work space.

Client Response: “Thank you for introducing us to Feng Shui and for your counsel about how to create a great working environment. It has made an enormous difference in the environment and in how we are using the space. Since your visit, the team has grown by 75% and we have launched a product in the market which is generating great engagement. Your changes to the environment we work in were contributing factors to the progress we made, and we are deeply grateful to you for sharing your expertise with us.”

Thriving Spaces Landscape Consultation
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This client, a portrait artist and entrepreneur, had recently purchased a building to house her studio and her art education business.

Her desires for the space included:

• Making the space welcoming, professional and prosperous
• “Warming up” the building
• Making a statement about who she is and what she does

Feng Shui Challenges and Solutions:

• The building is elementally very metallic.  One way to warm up the space was to balance out the metal element with fire and wood elements.   Red pots (fire element) with plants (wood element) were added to the front porch to greet guests.   I recommended the client hang one of her client’s portraits in her “picture” window facing the street so people on the outside could see a sample of her work.   In order to welcome the ch’i to meander up to her studio, we placed more pots on one side than the other.
• The back patio opens to three parking spaces that she and her clients use. To make the back entrance, her reputation corner, welcoming, we added fire elements to enhance the space.

Client Response: “Because of Lorrie’s wonderful work – positive energy flows through the creative arrangement of the potted plants leading up to my art studio door. And it continues from there. The spaces that are designed for work make me feel inspired and productive, and the spaces designed for rest and reflection are now so peaceful. Everything feels balanced and wonderful; I want to be in this amazing space all the time.”

Nonprofit organization:  a  First Grade Classroom
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This experienced first grade teacher was interested in having a Feng Shui consultation to:

• Help her students make the leap from kindergarten
• Focus on her when she is teaching
• Create areas for certain activities

Feng Shui Challenges and Solutions:

• The entrance to her classroom falls in the self-growth area of the room – a perfect place for students to enter!  The teacher had set the cubbyhole cupboard directly in front of the door, which stopped the students as they entered and created a bottleneck when they all come in together.   I suggested moving the cupboard against the wall to ease the flow of traffic into the room.  I recommended that this area be adorned with objects to help the students identify themselves as first graders:  A mirror so they could see themselves when they entered the classroom and a framed note on the wall saying, “I am a student here to master the skills of  first grade.”
• Focus is often a problem for students in early elementary classrooms because there is so much to stimulate them –  posters, books, stuffed animals, artwork, art supplies, computers, etc. And in today’s classrooms there is often a TV.  This classroom’s TV is wired into the wall and holds a place of prominence in the room.  TVs are notorious focus stealers – they are hard not to look at when they’re in a room.  I suggested covering the “eye” of the TV (the screen) when it is not being used for instruction.
• In order to create separate areas in her room (an open square space), we discussed using the walls to match the areas of the bagua.  The back center wall of the room is the room’s reputation area, which is a good place to use some fire colors – reds and oranges – and to post students’ good work.  She decided to use this space to post the pictures and awards of the U.S. Olympic team at the beginning of the school year.
• After looking at the blank wall in the creativity section of her room, she decided to devise a listening center with a desk and a CD player she had decorated with pastel rainbow colors to support the energy in this area.