STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Laura Carlin doesn’t hold herself out to be a matchmaker in the vein of Dolly Levi of “Hello, Dolly!” fame.
But, she says, it’s amazing what a few simple tweaks to the home can do when it comes to love.
“Often, someone will come to me seeking help with finding a relationship. And I’ll find that the single status they don’t want to be in is reflected in their home,” said Carlin. “They might, for instance, have a single nightstand next to their bed. They might have artwork depicting a lone, depressed looking woman hanging on their walls.
“One of my clients painted her bedroom red and pink and hung romantic art on the walls. And one year later she was getting married.”
Carlin, who has a master’s degree in spiritual psychology from the University of Santa Monica, counsels clients how to make changes in their homes that reflect what they want in a relationship, finances or career.
She and her sister--Alison Van Hook, who has a master’s degree in education from Harvard University—will talk about principles of conscious decorating at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, May 28, during the 20th annual Sun Valley Wellness Festival (www.sunvalleywellness.org).
The two, both of whom live in Ketchum, own Inspired Everyday Living, which has clients from New York to Los Angeles. They are co-authors of such books as Random House’s “The Peaceful Nursery: Preparing a Home for your Baby,” “Love at Home: The Single Girl’s Guide to Feng Shui and Life Design” and “Laura and Alison’s What You Will Need for a Healthy, Green Baby Nursery.”
Both are also graduates of the Western School of Feng Shui, which teaches practitioners the principles of the 3,500-year-old art and science.
You might say Carlin found her calling as a child.
“My idea of fun was clearing clutter. We had a huge closet—the closet of all closets—in our old East Coast house. I’d tend to the closet, then move on to the medicine cabinet,” she said. “My sister has always been about decorating in imaginative ways. She would, for instance, turn curtains inside or weave a bedspread in the headboard.”
It was after college that Carlin realized she could bring her interest in spiritual psychology together with space clearing. That, in turn, led to a focus on prescribing nontoxic sustainable materials.
While working with one client, she smelled a nauseating odor that she realized was formaldehyde emanating from a baby mattress.
“If it bothered me, can you imagine how sick it might make a little baby?” she said. “What we put in our homes is as important as what we put in our mouths.”
What we have in our home always influences our thoughts and behavior, Carlin said. Clutter, for instance, affects our ability to think clearly and make our lives stagnant.
“It can be something as simple as making us late in the morning because we can’t find our keys. Habitual lateness then affects our demeanor because we’re flustered. And that could affect our job performance or career,” he said.
Similarly, what we have in our homes is connected to our well-being, she said.
Someone who wants wealth, for instance, would do well to employ the use of a decorative bowl as a sign of abundance. Or, they might put a lucky horseshoe in their home office, as one man did after reading about a successful businessman who had one in his office.
Someone who wants to leave the corporate rat race behind might create an office in his home. Someone who wants to focus on physical well being might leave a gym bag by his bed.
“Make sure everything in your house is useful and loved,” Carlin said. “Live with what you love. If you love everything in your home, everything else flows.”
MORE FENG SHUI ILLUMINATIONS
Hillary Anderson will offer a workshop, “An Introduction to the Benefits of Feng Shui,” from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 26, in the Sawtooth Room at Sun Valley Resort.
Anderson, who lives in Ketchum, will offer concrete tools to those looking to become master of their home and better their lives. Cost is $45. To register, go to www.sunvalleywellness.org/tickets/