The front door swings open to a breathtaking view - an unobstructed sweep past the entry, through the living room and beyond the glass wall to the pool and landscaped grounds.
To an American, this is a dream house.To a Chinese, it's a nightmare.
According to "feng shui" (pronounced fung shway), the ancient Chinese art of arranging your surroundings to achieve maximum harmony and thus prosperity, good health and happiness, this house is all wrong. That straight line from the entrance to the back of the house that directs your eye to the outside also allows the "qi," or basic life energy, to go right through the house and out the window.
"It's really not about aesthetics or style, or whether the sofa looks best here or there, but changing someone's life with harmonious arrangements," said "Feng shui" master Johndennis Govert as he went through each room of a Houston-area townhome, suggesting changes.
Govert explained the goal is to keep the good "qi" (pronounced chee; also written ch'i) contained in the house, and that is accomplished by proper placement of walls, rooms, openings and furniture.
Although "feng shui" has been seriously followed for thousands of years in China, only in recent years has this ancient art gained recognition by Americans.
Govert, of Phoenix, was in Houston recently to conduct a daylong seminar for architects and designers sponsored by the American Society of Interior Designers. His accredited course at last year's national ASID conference was so well received that he has been invited to repeat it at this summer's conference in San Antonio. He also had a book signing here for his large paperback, "Feng Shui: Art and Harmony of Place" (Daikakuji Publications, $19.95).
A Zen priest and founder of Daikakuji-Great Enlightenment Temple in Phoenix, Govert has an MBA in planning and organizational design from Northwestern University and was in the planning and design business for 19 years.
Ideally, Govert says, "feng shui" is applied when a house or commercial building is in the planning stage, because "feng shui" also applies to the siting of the structure.
Many of the principles of "feng shui" fall in line with the basics of sensible interior design, such as using a mirror to open a confined space or being careful that a mirror does not reflect an unpleasant scene. Other tenets go against Western ideas of what looks good. Applying "feng shui" to an existing home can be a delicate situation, Govert said.
"Only one time have I insisted a person move, and that same day," Govert recalled. "Otherwise, I try to be sensitive and have them redo according to the length of time they plan to stay there. If they'll only be in the house a limited time, we can adjust the changes accordingly.
"Every place is different, and each is influenced by the struggles and aspirations of the people living in it. My role is to help them, to leave them better than the way I found them."
When a change is too drastic for the client, Govert tries to offer a compromise suggestion that will bring results.
"A house is an energy system that radiates, and whatever plants, furniture and objects you put inside and out will modify the energy field," he said. Also, being organized and orderly in your space is important, he said. "Local chaos overcomes cosmic order."
In her book "Interior Design With Feng Shui" (Arkana, $15), Sarah Rossbach lists the nine basic remedies to alter, moderate or raise "qi" (she prefers "ch'i"). The first is bright or light-refracting objects: a mirror, a crystal ball, lights.
Mirrors, Rossbach writes, are the "so-called aspirin of feng shui." They cure a host of "feng shui" woes, inside and outside. Outside a building, a mirror of any size deflects threatening "qi," whether from the road or a nearby building.
A small-faceted crystal ball can adjust a home or office's "qi" and make positive changes in the occupant's life.
Discussing another of the nine cures, living objects, Rossbach says: "Plants - real, silk or plastic; bonsai, annual or perennial - not only symbolize nature, life and growth but also conduct nourishing ch'i throughout the room. Plants indicate good feng shui; where a plant or a flower thrives, so will residents." Artificial plants are good substitutes, since they are maintenance-free and do not die, she adds.
If all else fails to interest Americans in "feng shui," the "wealth corner" almost always will.
"The first thing I look for when I enter each room is the wealth corner," Govert said. "This is the place that collects the main energy, and it is diagonally opposite the entrance." To hold the energy in, it should not have a door or window for at least 3 feet, he says. And no mirror.
Govert says the wealth corner is where you place something stable and alive. "This is where you should place something you want in your life. While wealth can mean prosperity, it doesn't have to. It means whatever you consider wealth. To me that's knowledge, so I have books in my wealth corner," he said.
Govert identified the wealth corner in the Houston-area townhome as the corner of the dining area diagonally opposite the front entrance. It contained several insignificant objects placed almost as afterthoughts and a small display case of miniature cars on the wall.
He replaced the objects with a substantial sculpted metal plant from another corner, explaining that the metal relates to money. For the wall, he suggested a painting or picture of something found inspiring by the homeowners.