How Feng Shui, Color, And Intuition Transform Your Space with Lisa Morton

What if your home could lower your shoulders the moment you walk in? We sit down with interior designer and feng shui master teacher Lisa Morton to show how layout, color, and tiny daily rituals can soothe the nervous system, sharpen focus, and make everyday life feel lighter.

Lisa takes us from her high-flying years designing private jets to the burnout that pushed her toward holistic design. She breaks down the real mechanics of feng shui—balancing yin and yang, working with the five elements, and mapping your floor plan with the Bagua—so it stops feeling mystical and starts feeling actionable. You’ll learn why command position matters for your desk and bed, how a single cactus can spike the vibe, and the reason the front door acts as the “mouth of qi” for new opportunities. We also tackle clutter with compassion, showing how releasing one emotionally loaded item can shift more energy than organizing ten bins.

We get practical about color psychology and materials: where to invite water’s flow with blues and wavy lines, when to anchor with earth’s textures, and how metal’s pale palette boosts precision at work. Odd floor plans and concrete jungles aren’t deal-breakers; Lisa shares how to redirect attention with art, lighting, and plants. We even dip into tech stress and EMFs, from arranging sleep zones to trying grounding sheets for deeper rest. Her “nesterations” ritual—slow, loving touches like smoothing the duvet and adding weekly flowers—offers an easy way to infuse care into the home so it gives that care back.

If you’ve ever felt a room lift you up or drag you down but couldn’t name why, this conversation gives you the language and tools to change it. Come away with simple shifts you can try tonight and a clearer plan for aligning your space with your goals and well-being. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves design and wellness, and leave a review to tell us the first change you’re making at home.

Transcript

Meet Lisa Morton

Voice Over 0:00

This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Today on iDesign Lab, we're joined by Lisa Morton, interior designer, Feng Shui master teacher, and creator of the intuitive home method. With over 20 years in design, Lisa blends Feng Shui, color psychology and holistic principles to create homes that elevate health, clarity, and joy. Host of the Feng Shui Living Podcast and author of Aligned at Home, she helps us design spaces that truly support how we live and thrive.

TIffany Woolley 0:57

Welcome to the iDesign Lab podcast. Today we are joined remotely by Lisa Morton, who is a designer who has a very special philosophy that I can't wait to dive into today. I'm sure you've all heard of Feng Shui or Feng Shui. We're hoping you're gonna guide us on all the right things from spelling to saying it and all that it encompasses.

Scott Woolley 1:22

Welcome.

Lisa Morton 1:23

Thank you so much for having me. Um I'm really excited to talk about feng shui holistic design. I really see this as so important in the future of the design world. Yes. Thank you for having me.

TIffany Woolley 1:40

I do think it's such an important philosophy that we bring into our homes and our life as well.

Scott Woolley 1:46

But before we jump into that, you were you have you've been an interior designer for a long time, correct?

Lisa Morton 1:52

Correct. Uh a little over 20 years, no.

Scott Woolley 1:55

But and and the feng shui was not in the original aspect of your interior design when you started out?

From Jets To Holistic Design

Lisa Morton 2:02

My goodness. Feng shui was not even in my vocabulary. I had no clue it was not in my world whatsoever. Um I I kind of joke that sometimes now I do the crunchy design, right? And that was not the type of person I was. Um I did a little uh residential design directly out of school and then got into I fell into my dream job or thought was my dream job at the time, designing private jet interiors. And I did this for several years, and it was fantastic. I got such a unique niche, right? I got I got to use amazing materials and meet outrageous people, and everything was completely custom. It was such a wonderful experience, but it is that that led me to this work. I af I kind of joke I was on call for seven years, right? Because that was that was my my work was my life. Yes. And so I had to um I I had to overcome a lot. I had a lot of perfectionism creep up, um, and just general burnout hit, to be honest. Okay. It was a rigorous schedule you were keeping, meeting deadlines and and also it was a schedule of constant travel, constant international travel. I go in on a Tuesday and go home, pack your bag, you're leaving in three hours to go to Paris. Okay. That sounds exciting. Right? It's exciting on the other side. Yeah. It's exhausting to do that nonstop.

Scott Woolley 3:37

So, but you're you're you're doing the interiors of private jets and and and so forth. That's a very unique, you know, uh scope of work.

Lisa Morton 3:46

And and also the price point, right? I mean, you're specing out outrageous materials. Right. Custom carpets, I'm sure. I mean, literally silk carpets and backlit onyx in the bathroom.

TIffany Woolley 4:02

And yeah, monograms, I'm sure galore.

Lisa Morton 4:06

Yeah. They were very special, very unique, and it was a wonderful experience, but you know, it did just take a toll on myself. And so then I started doing all the things you're supposed to do during a difficult time like that, doing the meditation and practicing yoga. I altered my diet, started walking more, exercising more, doing all the things and going back to nature. Yes, yes. I'm a nature lover, and and that was that was huge. Um but for me, it was really looking at my environment, and I got to thinking, well, how can I help my space support me? Right. Beyond just functioning and looking beautiful and having cool things around me, how can I help it? How can I set it up to support my body? And so then it was kind of like trial and error. I started studying holistic design, I started studying feng shui. This was 10 years ago. And now I've studied it, I've trained in it, learned it, and now I get to help so many other people. So explain to us.

What Feng Shui Really Means

Scott Woolley 5:15

Explain to us and tell us exactly what that means, feng shui, for people who are listening or watching.

Lisa Morton 5:24

Exactly, bingo. So I feng shui is actually over 4,000 years old and was first documented in southern China. And it's this beautiful approach to arranging your space, to aligning your space, to discovering what how your space works, right? How it flows, what you need in your space. And when we can do this, then we can we can bring everything into harmony. And I notice clients who, after we work together, it they might just be more joyful in their home and like their home, but other things, their nervous system is going to soften, right? They might be able to walk in at the end of the day and their shoulders drop. Right. They can take a bigger breath. Right.

TIffany Woolley 6:13

So so if we start at the very beginning, I guess, how did you decide decide to dive into this? And what was like the first step you took? I mean, I can imagine reading things. I've read things through the years because I randomly will have clients, you know, ask me about certain questions, and I almost feel like ignorant if I don't have the answer. Like, oh, if I don't know feng shui, like, you know, what are they gonna think of me and my design expertise? But there's certain little things that trickle out into society. But what do you think, like, was your beginning court to basically institute it as a way of design?

Lisa Morton 6:55

So I started reading books like so many people because I wanted to have a little knowledge to add to kind of the holistic design I was exploring with my clients. Um, because after I left my aircraft job, I started my own residential design firm. And I was working and doing this as well as studying and learning. And I started working one-on-one with a um with a teacher, Feng Shui teacher, and really understanding the principles and started implementing little things. And some of my clients didn't get it. They didn't, they maybe weren't even interested in it. And that's okay, but I still had this knowledge if I were to select a or recommend a drapery fabric, right? Right. Well, maybe I'd suggest blue versus green, right? If we have the option, just because I have that knowledge that blue is going to bring them more fluid and more of a sense of creativity in this specific space. Okay. So that was a really fun experiment.

TIffany Woolley 7:55

I know. And like to actually, I feel like to have that bandwidth to even like as you're designing, that's just such another layer that is so fascinating to me. I mean, what are some of the main principles of feng shui? I mean, I like like I know there's random, like what a bed isn't supposed to face a door, or I mean like there's some random like and you just mentioned color.

Scott Woolley 8:21

So color having a big difference. I always heard black and every room has to have a I I remember a number of years ago, I moved my company to a new location, and one of my employees, she called me and she said, Listen, I got to talk to you about where I'm sitting. And I said, sure. And she took me over to her desk and she said, I can't sit here. I said, Why? She says, because I'm not facing the and I forget which direction she wanted to face. She says, I have to face, I don't know if it was north or south or east or west. And she's like, if I don't, Scott, I won't, I won't be able to do the do the work that I should be doing here. And I was like dumbfounded at the moment. But then I learned a little about that. She was very much into feng shui.

Speaker 3 9:04

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yin Yang And The Five Elements

Lisa Morton 9:05

So we have uh we have a few different things we work with. Well, number one is balancing yin and yang. So something that's yin is very quiet, very still. Think of a spa vibe, right? Peaceful music, soft colors, you know, enticing aromatherapy. And then something that's young is kind of the opposite. I always joke, like a casino, right? Loud, active. It's those rooms where we have our friends over and we laugh and tell jokes, right? Um, so we work on balancing yin and yang. We also use a five-element system. So you were mentioning some of these fun things you hear about arranging this or moving that, or um this all stems from using the five elements system. Okay, right. So there's a right, it's not just a bunch of tips or tricks. There's a system. So we have wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Right. And Feng Shui describes the world in one of these five elements. So maybe it's not a, it's not a um you're picking out the blue sofa. You're picking out a blue sofa that brings in a water element and fluidity, or the green sofa that will bring in a sense of growth and renewal because it's a wood element.

TIffany Woolley 10:20

Oh.

Lisa Morton 10:21

And then we have a third um step with that uh includes a bagua map. So it's a map that we overlay over the floor plan of the home to decipher these different energy centers of your home. So you have an energy center that connects to your daily life, what you get up and do every day, your career, your life path, one that connects to health, right? All these different energy centers. And when we can work on one, say you're struggling with your health, you know, I have clients call me, I'm I've had this bug nonstop, I don't know what to do. Well, now we know where to go to look at your space.

Scott Woolley 11:01

And it doesn't. So when you start with a space, let's say you have a new client, do you start with the whole house or a room? Or if the client only wants to do, let's say, their living room, what's the step first steps that you take?

Lisa Morton 11:15

Well, we need to look at it holistically. So we won't just start with a room. Yeah, it was sometimes I will do a home office.

TIffany Woolley 11:21

It'd be a whole project, would be to for success, I would think. It's like you need to take the full commitment.

Speaker 3 11:29

Mm-hmm.

Lisa Morton 11:30

Yeah. Because one area is going to uh you know uh uh uh uh influence another area, right? It's it's all gonna work together. So it's really looking at their space and also looking at their goals. What are they leading in life? What do they what are they looking for? Whether it's goals like starting a new family or starting their new business.

Scott Woolley 11:52

Um but then so that's where you start with a client from the from a standpoint of your first meetings.

Lisa Morton 12:00

Yes.

TIffany Woolley 12:01

And then do would you say the next step is that you'd use the overlay plan to create your furniture plan? Is that because I always start with a furniture plan technically to you know start my design process.

Lisa Morton 12:15

So it's kind of a mixture of things. It's not like a traditional interior design process, right? So we're we're gonna decipher anything, and then the way I do it is I provide them, it's like a 20-page report. So they have all the information about their home, and then we can dive in and then we can explore and move furniture pieces around and bring in, you know, a lot of times I'll even work with other designers. And I'll be like, okay, they need a mirror somewhere on this wall, they need artwork over here to draw the eye there, and we can collaborate too.

TIffany Woolley 12:50

So are you instantly when you walk into a room, like how I can, you know, okay, this needs to go here and that needs to move this way, like in a feng shui sense versus a style aesthetic? Certainly.

Lisa Morton 13:02

It just gives you a different sense set of lenses to look at the world, right? So I might see something that just isn't working. I had a client recently that I walked into their front foyer and it was my first time meeting them, so I had to be careful. But I walked in and they had a uh framed photo of their children, which was beautiful, and right next to it a cactus plant, which cacti are very, very bad feng shui. I'm sorry, I know they're very fun looking, but they're bad feng shui. And I did just couldn't handle the fat the um effects of a cactus next to their beautiful children. So I instantly asked to move it.

TIffany Woolley 13:40

That's so funny. So go back to those five steps. Tell us what they are, explain them.

The Bagua Map Explained

Lisa Morton 13:47

So it's the five element system. So we have fire, water, wood, earth, and metal. So we want to bring fire in when we need to lift the energy. You know, it's winter time, I get the winter blaz. So we need to lift the energy a little bit. So that could be through the color red, a bright fuchsia, through candles, brighter lighting, um, or even triangular shapes. Um, water, we talked to water a little bit. It's about creativity and fluidity and and um just allowing free thought flowing thoughts, ideas, emotions. So we can do this through water, uh, maybe a water feature or the color blue, the color black, or any type of pattern with a wavy design to it, or watercolor artwork.

TIffany Woolley 14:38

So black is technically part of the water stuff. It is.

Lisa Morton 14:43

It is a lot of people are it is because think about this. If you were to go to the ocean and you jump in and the water is pale blue at the very top, it's beautiful, and you dive deeper, right? It gets darker. You dive deeper, it gets darker until the bottom of the ocean it's black. Right. So they're connected, there's a connection. I love to work with the wood element, especially if someone is recovering from an illness. Uh, the wood element is all about regrowth and renewal and moving forward. You can bring this in through plants, flowers, which I love to have fresh flowers in my home every week, and um the color green as well, or artwork showing um flowers, a landscape, trees, something like that. Um, and then any type of vertical stripe. Um and then we have wood. So wood is, I'm sorry, um, earth, earth is like grounding stability. On those days when you're frazzled trying to catch up with your schedule and do all the things, you need more earth element in your life. That's beige, tan, brown. If you're needing more earth element in your environment, I I would suggest low sofas, a low rectangular table, a big textural throw, or a chunky rug. And then we have the metal element, which I love in home offices because the metal element is all about precision, all about focus. So that's metal objects, the colors gray and white and pastels.

TIffany Woolley 16:23

So, so the idea or the philosophy is not to have all five in one space, or is it?

Lisa Morton 16:32

No, we want to balance those five elements for the activity in the space, right? So a bedroom, we want it to be more, more peaceful, more, more calm. We'll have less fire, right? Less wood element, more of those calm, peaceful elements. And then a kid's game room or an exercise room will bring more of those fiery, more wood elements in and less of the grounding earth.

TIffany Woolley 16:56

Hmm. And is there any philosophy behind like a floor selection that has to do with falling into any of these categories?

Lisa Morton 17:07

Certainly. Um, of course, I always love to default to natural materials as natural as possible, right? Yeah, they just make our bodies feel better. But then uh a wood element. So if you have wood flooring, that's a wood element, right? But it also has horizontal lines. So an item in your home might not just fall into one of the five elements, it might have be a combination. Okay. So it has those long linear lines, so it's it's going to be grounding and a sense of renewal by having wood flooring. A tile's going to be really grounding and centering. Um, you know, you if you want to have a leopard carpet, which I I've seen before, right? Some of those wild patterns, yeah. That would be a fire element. I did a closet once and we had leather leopard carpet in there, and it was great.

TIffany Woolley 17:58

She loved to dress fashionably and uh, you know, just wild, and it was perfect for that was probably good energy for being creative within that space.

Lisa Morton 18:08

Definitely, definitely.

Scott Woolley 18:10

What's the fastest way a person can feel like a shift in a room if they don't want to do a complete redesign?

Whole-Home Approach And Goals

Lisa Morton 18:18

Okay. Well, this goes back to something you mentioned earlier about placing your body in a certain direction. So we have what's called the command position. And this is the ancients wanted to have a mountain behind you and then for protection, and then a valley below, so you can see your enemies coming. Right. And then a little protection on the sides. But we can mimic that in our environment, and it makes us feel so much more comfortable and at peace. So to do this, you want a solid wall behind you.

Speaker 3 18:49

Right.

Lisa Morton 18:49

If you're working at a desk, you want to have that solid wall behind you, not open and exposed. And then you want to be able to see the door off to a side. This also works in your bedroom. You want to have a solid headboard behind you against a solid wall, and then see a door off to a side. I also eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff. So I also will take this with me to a restaurant.

TIffany Woolley 19:18

I was gonna say, I that's exactly what I thought about when you said in a command position, because I feel like my dad growing up, my husband, like they always want to sit facing out. Like that's the fatherly role, you know.

Lisa Morton 19:30

Like But it also just puts your body at ease. So maybe a Saturday night I'm tired, but we're going out to a dinner. I will ask to have that table in the corner so I can have my back to the in the command position, and then I can feel more supported during that that time.

Scott Woolley 19:47

I've never heard it said said that way. It's interesting.

Lisa Morton 19:50

Yeah, give it a try. Uh I always say any of the feng shui cures that I recommend to anyone, give it six weeks, right? You have to experiment with it. Um, I always tell clients if if you don't like it, you can move things back, right? After six weeks, but give me six weeks, and it's very rare they move things back.

TIffany Woolley 20:12

So you created the intuitive home method. Explain that in its relation to wellness and feng shui.

Lisa Morton 20:23

So this goes deeper than designing a home. There's there's a coaching aspect in here because I work with a lot of people feeling stuck. They call me, I'm feeling stuck in life. I don't know what to do. And I know my environment is influencing me, I don't know what to do. So it's 30 days of transformation. Yeah. Oh, it's it's powerful. And it we just um we look at our space with fresh lenses because we don't often, we don't often look at our spaces.

TIffany Woolley 20:56

We're so used to being in it. And and it's so true because even when I start a project and I'm referring to pictures of clients' houses and then they come in and I might have them, they're like, that's my house. Like you just don't even pay attention to what you're walking by every day. It just becomes, you know, just becomes whatever in the corner. Like it's it just disappears, right? It disappears.

Lisa Morton 21:18

But here's the thing, it's still affecting us, whether we recognize it or not.

TIffany Woolley 21:25

Yes.

Lisa Morton 21:26

So I actually have a practice I'll share with you that I send my clients on um when we do this. And I have them go on a walk, take a stroll, go around the block, come back, take a few fat breaths of fresh air, and then I have them enter their home through the front door as if they were a guest and they'd never been there before.

TIffany Woolley 21:46

Wow. I might try that myself, actually. It's really fun to see. Yes.

Scott Woolley 21:54

I'd love to have you come to our house and walk through the house with us. Showing us room by room, room by room. That would be how we could shift and and train.

TIffany Woolley 22:06

Okay, well let's go back to the morning questions. Go, let's go back to the method.

Lisa Morton 22:11

Yeah, the interior development method. So the next step is releasing because we know we have we all have stuff. We all have clutter. I even have clutter in my own home. Um but we know how that affects us. We don't need to get into that. We know it's it's heavy, it brings on a lot of emotions. And sometimes it isn't clearing all the clutter from your home. That's what I get. I like to dive into with my clients. It's not always that. Sometimes it is removing that one thing standing in your way. How do we it might be a photograph of someone that you framed and put on the table and there it's not a good relationship anymore, right? It may be a family heirloom that it just isn't feeling right, or something you brought into your space, or you're hanging on to a box of paperwork that's in the corner, right? It's you're not noticing it, but it's still affecting you and affecting your nervous system. So we release. The next step then is implementation of feng shui. So I do the full feng shui review of their space, tell them what they need to know. And then the last step of this is how do we keep them moving in the right direction? How do we stay the course and we put together plans and systems? Wow.

TIffany Woolley 23:32

So how long does it take you to assess a space?

Reading Rooms Through Energy

Lisa Morton 23:38

Uh typically I can have it turned around in about a week. Okay. Just depending on on workload and everything. Right, of course. It's but it's it's typically a week, and then you're ready to go. We I do a video recording to share everything with you, and then we um do some follow-up sessions and everything too. So it's it's uh, we're definitely working together. And that's why I created the intuitive home method, because I have some clients that just want the information and they're going to implement it and do it on their own. And then I have other clients that want to work together. They want, yeah. They want the support as they're doing these adjustments and shifts to their home.

Scott Woolley 24:18

So your report is like a detailed report room by room of all of the different things that should could change or should change or re be repositioned?

Lisa Morton 24:28

All all the all the recommendations following their goals. So I dive deep into goals and a lot of times I get the goals of oh, I just want my home to feel better. Yeah, they want the easy route. I'm like, what do you really, really want? Because this can feel a little woo and a little out there, but it's really powerful once once things are aligned in our space and it's truly supporting us that things can come to fruition and it just feels like magic and wild, but it's just energetic alignment. So if you want something big, if you want the promotion, if you want to grow your family, if you want whatever, you know, we can work towards that.

TIffany Woolley 25:12

That is just so, so cool. It's very fun. Yeah. So when you're starting this process, I mean, do you start it with like a normal agreement? What is your what is your business structure in a little bit of a nutshell if somebody was wanting to bring you aboard? Sure, sure.

Lisa Morton 25:32

Yeah. Um, I have a few options on my website, um, including the intuitive home method, and we just work together. We plan uh a schedule, we put it together a system. I can, you know, I do kind of customize a lot of things because I have a lot of clients that are going through things, uh divorce, illness. You know, we have the great things, right? But then sometimes there are the other things that aren't so wonderful in life, and they need a lot of support. So oftentimes I'll customize something for them. Uh, you know, I most of my work is virtual. I I get to work with clients.

TIffany Woolley 26:08

Which is amazing. I I was gonna say though, but I think that's really amazing.

Scott Woolley 26:12

Yeah, that was a question I was gonna ask is how much of it can you do virtual?

Lisa Morton 26:17

There's amazing things I could tell you about your life from just looking at your floor plan. It sounds wild. I believe it. I just believe it's a few.

Scott Woolley 26:24

So when you when you say floor plan, you mean uh just uh like a blue blueprint or photos?

Lisa Morton 26:31

Traditional floor plan drawing, or uh sometimes clients will submit their own drawings, which I have to get a little creative uh if they don't have the builder drawings, but we can we can work. Uh Google Earth tells me so much about this as well, right?

TIffany Woolley 26:47

Because real estate websites, right? We do realiter.com.

Scott Woolley 26:53

So so it's a floor plan with all the position of all your furniture.

Lisa Morton 26:58

No, no, we don't even get into furniture. That's that's like like another layer. It's literally just looking at the arrangements, what's next to what, where the children might be sleeping, where those rooms are, where the bathrooms are in relation, how your front door is connected to the other spaces. That alone can make huge shifts. We might want to draw your eye in a specific direction from the front door, right? Or we might want to draw your eye away from the bathroom door.

Elements In Action: Color And Shape

Scott Woolley 27:28

Right. So it's photos that you're looking or video? It's photos, video, and a zoom call with someone walking around with their cell phone short.

Lisa Morton 27:40

When I first started doing this, most of this virtual work, I was like, oh, I really want to do this. I don't know if it's going to work. But then I was like, okay, my 75-year-old mother can use Zoom. I can teach anyone if you can use Zoom. It's easy. Click a button and we'll make it work.

TIffany Woolley 27:57

Isn't that the truth?

Scott Woolley 27:59

Yeah, because I realize like walking into people's houses, you walk into certain rooms and you can feel like this room is like a fun room. This feels this room feels wonderful. But then you walk into other rooms and it's like, oh my God.

TIffany Woolley 28:13

Or it's uncomfortable, it's cluttered. Like the, yeah. And I guess we tend to be a little more in tune since we do this for a living. But I would say, what are like the the first, like, oh my gosh, no, like the big no-nos?

Lisa Morton 28:31

Well, of course, clutter. We want to limit as much clutter as possible. But number two, which I can do.

TIffany Woolley 28:38

And when you I hate to interrupt, but clutter, like, because we live in this mass consumption world. So can clutter be organized or like layered properly, or is clutter like a mess?

Scott Woolley 28:54

Or just too much stuff. Stuff.

Lisa Morton 28:56

Yeah. Release, release, release. I actually wrote this quote down the other day because I saved it. It was fascinating. 80% of the items we keep are never used. Correct.

TIffany Woolley 29:05

Correct. Yeah. Our house is a great testament.

Scott Woolley 29:08

But our house is like everything that we have in our house is like from some place or something that we've done in life. It's not stuff that we just bought and has really no meaning. Everything has a meaning to it.

Lisa Morton 29:21

Well, that's what's important. That's what's really important. And you know, it's getting rid of the things that that don't bring you joy, that don't light you up when you look at them. I mean, you might have your great aunt's decorative vase that was so important to her, but if it's hacked away in a box and you see it once every three years, you're not enjoying it. I I suggest take a photo of it and put it on your computer screen. Put it on your phone. Frame it as so you can disabilitate it. That's so cute, actually. Make something from it. But the next big thing is, which I think you will fully agree with me, is the toilet lids open.

TIffany Woolley 29:59

Yes, that's a huge pet peeve. Wait, wait, say that again? The toilet seats open.

Scott Woolley 30:03

Oh, that's bad.

Lisa Morton 30:05

That is bad. I always want the first thing you see when you walk into a room to be something beautiful. So you enter the room and your eyes go to something beautiful, whether that's a beautiful piece of artwork or a beautiful rug or something decorative, not you walk into the bathroom and there's the toilet drain.

Scott Woolley 30:27

It's so funny you say that because this pet, we have a house that we just we purchased it four months ago because we flip houses as well as decorating houses. We just put the house on the market. And I found myself like three days ago, they did some showings and I went in afterwards and I noticed that one of the toilet seats was up. And I thought to myself, I gotta close that because Tiffany would close that immediately. Yeah, that's it. And I walked away going, That's what strange. I closed the toilet, but it actually made the room that the bathroom like look proper. Yeah. Yeah.

Lisa Morton 31:00

Definitely, definitely. I have a I've worked at a lot of yoga studios over the years, and uh, especially for one one woman who owned multiple studios. And um, in all the bathrooms, we would put a little sign on the back of the toilet that said, for good feng shui, please close the toilet lid. And everyone would generally have a laugh, but they do it in the end. And that is what was most important, anyways. Cute.

TIffany Woolley 31:22

And then they might even bring it back home, and you know, it would it might get implemented into their own life. I think we should.

Lisa Morton 31:30

Definitely. Um that's a that's a big one. Uh the next one is not using your front door. Oh, wait, tell us about that. This is interesting. So the front door in Feng Shui is considered the mouth of qi. This is where energy comes into your home, right? New opportunities, new fresh energy comes into your own. So true, yeah. So if you're not using it, you're probably feeling pretty stuck or stagnant in life. And and I know we have garages, right? Come and go through the garage, but I want I encourage everyone to come up with a plan, come up with a reason for using your front door. Maybe put the dog leash, you know, in on in the table next to the front door, or that's where you take your morning walk in and out of the front door, or you get the mail through the front door. Use it, get it, get it flowing, make it beautiful. I love that.

Command Position And Instant Shifts

Scott Woolley 32:26

That's another interesting thing that you bring up because we were watching a movie the other day, and I realized that every movie that you watch, everyone enters and comes in and out through the front door of that of the house, even TV shows. Um, but we go in and out through the garage. And I and I realized, like in our neighborhood, everyone goes in and out through their garage.

TIffany Woolley 32:48

But you're also right in saying it is such an exciting energy using the front door because every time you do go open the front door, it's to greet a friend, greet a guest, like the girl, my girls have music, he comes through the front door. You know, you get your packages through the front door, Amazon comes to the front door.

Scott Woolley 33:07

So, what other interesting because those are two great good ones you've brought up. What other ones are there?

Lisa Morton 33:12

So I have a default. If you want to do nothing else to your home, uh-huh, but you still want to lift the energy of it, find the centermost area of your home. So to do that, you can you can walk to what would be the center of your home or look at a floor plan drawing. You want to find the central most location. So using that that tool that I mentioned earlier, the bagwa map, this this specific energy center is connected to health, health and well-being. However, with the way the bagwa is laid out, is the energy from this gua connects to all the other guas. So if you're improving this one area, you're essentially improving your entire home. We don't have to dig deep into every space, but if you love on this area, so that might that's those like normal things that make sure the light bulbs aren't burned out, make sure the floor is swept, the rug is clean, the glass on the artwork is clean, right? But then how can you enhance it? Bring in a beautiful bouquet of flowers, which is my own.

TIffany Woolley 34:21

I was just gonna say, is every room supposed to have like a living thing, or is that an old wives' tale type of I mean, I always like my references of feng shui was like a black item isn't in a in a space. A black item? Yeah, and there's I could like some teacher at one point, or like a I think it was even like in a class, was like, yeah, even if it's just a speck of black in a rug, it's important to have that black.

Lisa Morton 34:52

Well, that would be the the the wood, the water element. So you're gonna have that that touch of the water element. Um, but you want it I would have a speck of each of the elements, right? You don't have to default to color. So that can be through other things, through the shapes, through the patterns, that watery pattern for a water element if you don't like blue or black, because of course we're designing beautiful spaces and we want our client to love the colors we're using. So when we can bring in patterns and shapes, that makes it easier.

TIffany Woolley 35:20

Yeah, and not everybody wants a lot of color, and some do.

Lisa Morton 35:26

I think the the plants are most valuable in a monochromatic scheme. For me, texture, when you have a monochromatic scheme, texture is key and plants. Those are the two keys to making it work.

TIffany Woolley 35:45

So what was one of your big client transformations that was like, wow, this this is this is why I'm doing this?

The Intuitive Home Method

Lisa Morton 35:57

I had a woman reach out to me, and this was uh several years ago when I was um I'd trained in it already for several years, but I was still, I was at this crossroads where I was questioning, do I stick with traditional design? Do I fully dive into this? You know, just sign. Yeah. Yeah, right. Trying to navigate that. And so I went to this woman's house and she told me she needed some help with a few things, and that was it. So I had all my samples with me, and I'm walking up to her front door and walk in, nice as can be, felt completely normal. We did a quick walk through the house and then we sat down at the dining table. And she sat across from me and looked me directly in the eyes and said, Lisa, I'm dying. I need your help, help to help setting up my space so when my children, so that when I'm gone, my children and my husband can go on living. Right? So they're they're ready to go move forward. She'd been um battling cancer for many years and rounds and rounds, and it was just it had taken a toll and she'd made this decision. So we did some general, just needed some upkeep, right? Needed some new carpeting in in their in their um sitting room, needed some new furniture. Uh, but then we did it with feng shui in mind, right? We did these adjustments knowing they needed grounding during this this big time in their life. They needed comfort and coziness, they needed a sense of renewal when the time comes. So a lot of earth element, a lot of wood wood element. And then the other thing is we created some really special moments in the house. So they loved to go on trips and travel and had tons of photos. We made a beautiful collage wall so they could enjoy and and look at these together as a family, right? You know, during that time. And then down the road when she was no longer there, they could still enjoy this collage wall. Right. Um for me, that just even original just even having her call me and us being put together in the same room, I was just like, okay, I I meant to do this. Wow. She lived for a couple more years and then passed, and I I just it was it was a very touching moment in my life.

TIffany Woolley 38:25

So how would somebody like that lady? How do they get to you? I mean, is it a referent referral most of the time? Is it through, you know, online? Is it through their own research?

Lisa Morton 38:39

Like how does somebody get to I have I actually just uh published my book last fall, Aligned at Home, which is uh a great resource to start exploring this. And then if you do want to work together, I also have a podcast called Feng Shui Living Tips for Busy Women. So I created this podcast because gosh, we are all so busy. Yes. And this there each episode is maybe 20 minutes long. Okay. With quick tips that you can go home and implement tonight or this weekend. Easy adjustments to make yourself feel better. So uh you can check out the podcast for uh what what's the name of it again?

Scott Woolley 39:19

Repeat the name.

Lisa Morton 39:20

So we have Feng Shui Living Tips for Busy Women.

Scott Woolley 39:23

And is it available out there, iTunes and for people to find out?

Lisa Morton 39:27

Wherever you get podcasts, also if you like video, it's on YouTube.

Scott Woolley 39:30

YouTube to release. Great.

TIffany Woolley 39:32

No, it's a good place for people to I know because uh it's it's I say this a lot being in this business is uh interior design and the business of design is still such an untapped market, in my opinion. You know, it's now becoming more well-known. You know, for the last many, many years, it was like a luxury that people would have an interior designer. And and I feel like the create curating process, it's you know, furniture stores just can't do that for clients. It's a relationship. You're building this foundation in design, and you're really curating your home and your family's safe space and a place to be proud of and, you know, to enjoy. And it's such a, you know, at the same time, wellness, I mean, has to be the number one selling feature of everything in the marketplace today. Everybody wants to feel healthy, less encumbered in this very busy world. I mean, I can't imagine how awesome of a resource you are that you took this on to kind of marry these two philosophies.

Lisa Morton 40:43

It's been a wonderful experience to be able to help people. I I've always kind of been a helper. I I love doing, you know, supporting people. Um and this is a deeper layer to do that and and help them through those difficult times. Also help through the amazing times. And and you know, it design is it's so valuable, whether it's feng shui holistic design or more just your just traditional design, like um not getting into the feng shui holistic design, whatever, it's so valuable. Having your home make you feel good, make you feel welcome at the end of the day.

Virtual Assessments And Floor Plans

Scott Woolley 41:23

Have you ever had a project that was so challenging that when you looked at it, it you were puzzled or challenged on how you could help or assist?

Lisa Morton 41:34

I actually worked on a condo down in Miami and concrete jungle. Well, the layout, it was literally, it was this really wild-shaped building, and the condo actually formed a triangle. Uh-huh.

TIffany Woolley 41:50

And the lot of weird shapes in these buildings.

Lisa Morton 41:54

I know. And it it just was, I I told him, I'm like, here's the thing. This is telling me that you're broke, your relationships, you're not feeling supported, and all these different things. And he's like, Yes, I just got divorced, I just moved here. So he's agreeing, right? And I'm like, your space is reflecting this. You're not going to move forward if you stay in this space. So he ended up was trying to decide between the two. Does he stay here and move to the other one? I'm like, move on. If you're ready to take another step in life and move forward, you got to get out of this. You got to get out of here.

Scott Woolley 42:30

Did he move?

TIffany Woolley 42:30

That's crazy. That is so crazy. And that's another thing I find so interesting about it too, is because even as I get calls for renovations or, you know, different architecture styles, I just feel like not studying feng shui, but you walk in and the architecture has terrible feng shui. Just in placement of, like as I'm trying to do what I do, just it doesn't make sense. What do you do in those circumstances? Like these crazy buildings. Or I feel like in the 90s, architects got tried to be super creative and they went away from the classic, you know, rectangular spaces, and now they have all these curls, there's always angles everywhere. I said half of what I do is really just square up spaces.

Lisa Morton 43:23

Yes. I I have so much respect for architects. However, they don't always think about how you're going to furnish it. Number one, how the people are going to move through the space. How are they going to walk through the space or move about it? So that's where we come in to really be able to furnish it. It can be tricky. Um I use a lot of um, I think I mentioned a couple times, I like to use different tools to draw your eye in certain directions. So maybe instead of the cement pillar, we'll draw your eye over to, you know, is Six feet to a plant, right? So that goes away, and that's not something you're visually experiencing, but you the green plant, which makes you feel renewed, is where your eye is going, if that makes sense. So just getting creative, using artwork, using all the tools we can. That's so interesting.

Scott Woolley 44:17

Are there conferences or conventions that people can go to learn more about this?

Lisa Morton 44:24

Um, I actually do my own, I do some trainings, I offer certification that I don't know of any. There are some online um things. I there are also some great books. Um YouTube videos, go explore. Here's what I will say what I struggled with and why I wrote my book is because when I first started studying this, I would read one book and I'd kind of get it. And then I'd read another book and I was thoroughly confused. I'm like, wait a minute, the other one.

TIffany Woolley 44:55

Well, I would say that's me too, whatever I have read. Like I don't know where it begins and ends and then how to actually make it work.

Clutter, Toilets, And Front Doors

Lisa Morton 45:04

Exactly. So then this is my my goal in writing my book, and like I want it easy to understand. So Feng Shui, like so many other things, over years has shifted into different schools or sects. So I'm also a yogi, right? So you might practice binyasa yoga, and then your friend might practice ashtanga, right? It's similar to that. Uh so there's there's multiple different schools of approach. Yes.

TIffany Woolley 45:32

Okay.

Lisa Morton 45:32

And so that's kind of the key is to find out that person, maybe how their approach works, and then continue studying that approach versus just random books, because that's what will get you confused.

TIffany Woolley 45:46

Yeah, it is like I would think it's, you know, like yoga or like most things, like the practice has to be continual and has to be in harmony versus like you don't want to be putting that little speck of black in the room that you're not supposed to.

Lisa Morton 46:05

Well, I think it's important to recognize too, we don't live like they did 4,000 years ago. Yes, exactly. We need to live in our current house and with a melting pot of people and different traditions and practices and materials at electronics.

TIffany Woolley 46:21

And it's I was yeah, I was gonna ask about electronics and all of that. I actually recently have a client who's very into health and in wellness. She's a yogi as well, and she found this company locally here in South Florida that comes in and basically puts all these little objects in places to, I can't even think of the right word, but take all that technology. EMFs. EMFs, yes. Yes. So I mean, is that a part of this? I mean, in this new as you grow with techno, I mean, what we're like you said, how tell us about this.

Lisa Morton 47:00

Like so these electromagnetic frequencies, we have electronics everywhere, and uh, you know, it we can't really escape them. Uh internet, you know, wireless signals and things. Um, so we can use different things around our space. Now, this is, I would say this is more of a, this is something I do with my clients, but not everyone in Feng Shui might get into EMFs, right? Um, but it's important to um recognize uh there's different things you can do to support yourself. One of my favorite things, probably the most wonderful thing I ever bought, I'll say it, is a grounding sheet for my bed.

TIffany Woolley 47:39

Uh with the child who has one.

Lisa Morton 47:42

I since we bought that, it's amazing.

Scott Woolley 47:47

That's so so people listening and watching, a grounding sheet for their bed.

Lisa Morton 47:52

What is grounding sheets for your bed? They're different.

Scott Woolley 47:55

Is this the blankets that really, really heavy?

Lisa Morton 47:58

No, it's actually a sheet that has um metallic threads woven, tiny screen woven through, and then you plug it into the ground, only the ground outlet. There's just a one little nub that plugs into the ground in your in your home. And um, you can you there's this can be a really deep dive looking into this, but even just being aware are there several electrical outlets near your head where you're sleeping.

TIffany Woolley 48:22

Yeah, I had a client who didn't want her son's headboard on one wall because all the uh what do you the electric boxes were on that box in the garage?

Speaker 3 48:32

Mm-hmm.

Lisa Morton 48:33

That's it's definitely important. And people will notice if you're being affected by this, you might feel foggy headed, you might just be always sleepy, you're not resting well. That would be me.

Speaker 3 48:44

Mm-hmm.

Lisa Morton 48:45

It's it's interesting to look at and just look at where where you're spending long periods of time. So that could be in bed, that could be at your desk, that wherever you're spending long periods of time, and what's around you. So what does the grounding sheet do? Does it like ward off all that electricity? So it actually plugs into the uh a ground, the ground wire that goes down into the earth from your home, right? And so it it it mimics that that connecting to the earth.

Scott Woolley 49:15

Wait, what how does it do that? It it's like a ground, so it I don't know how to best explain it, but it kind of pulls the electricity.

Strengthen The Center For Health

Lisa Morton 49:26

Yeah, because everyone every home has a grounding rod, right? And it's built. Yeah. And it connects to the electrical that then connects to your sheet. And this is just one, there are grounding mats. Um, yes, I've seen that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen that. So this is just just one little way to get into um supporting your body. I mean, that's really what all this work is about. There are different things you can do if you want to get lean a little more woo, uh, rocks and crystals, right?

TIffany Woolley 50:01

They're they're chunks of she did too. She and then these triangular crystals. We could talk for days. There's so totally options. That's what I mean. It's such an untapped, it's just beginning, I feel like.

Scott Woolley 50:17

For the average person who would like to learn more about this, how much time does it take to really fully understand and and bring this into your life? Um Is it as easy as is it is it as easy as reading your book and then closing your own.

Lisa Morton 50:35

No, but reading your reading your book and close and then finish reading it and really have a full great sense of I think you'll have a great understanding and your you will feel reset in how you look at your space, right? You will have you will have different lenses to view your space, right? And you'll be able to see things you didn't see before and realize, oh, well, that's why I never felt comfortable sitting in that chair before. Things go quick and things will make sense. If you want to, I mean, I've studied it for over 10 years. Um, I think you can you can go deep and it takes a long time, but you don't you can make great, amazing, wonderful shifts for your home, your life, your family, just with a few easy adjustments. I love that.

TIffany Woolley 51:20

So, what's one easy adjustment that you'd like to leave our listeners with today?

Lisa Morton 51:26

Oh, well, um, I I made up a word. It's called nestoration. So I love it. I wrote about it in my in my book, and it's all about tending to your nest, right? Tending to this beautiful nest that's our home. And it doesn't always have to be big little things. It can be, you know, an example of a nestoration is just it's slowing down and taking an extra moment to to infuse your home with a little love. So that could be making your bed and instead of quickly making it, take an extra minute, smooth out the blanket with love, adjust the trim on the pillow. So when you wake up at night, it feels really good to do that. I do all that. I do all of that. Just little, just slow down, take one extra minute as you're doing an everyday thing.

TIffany Woolley 52:20

I do that too at night before I go to bed. I like it to wake up and you feel, you know, like your house was taken care of.

Lisa Morton 52:29

Exactly. Exactly. And I allow it. And it's also that that energy and time that you're putting into it. It's just a brief moment, but it's it's it's implement, it's infusing your home with love and care for it. And it will tend to come back.

Scott Woolley 52:44

So putting flowers into the house every week, would that be part of that?

Lisa Morton 52:50

I I'm one of those people I struggle with the winter blaz. So I started this a few years back and I call it the flower challenge. And I encourage all my clients to do the same. To every week bring in flowers, and it it can even be just like a small little bouquet or just even a clipping of a houseplant from a neighbor, right? Every week bring in plants or flowers into your home as a gift to your home. Not to you, but to your home.

Scott Woolley 53:20

Tiffany's been doing that forever in our house. There's six rooms in the house every week. I'll go to Costco. You better make sure you bring the flowers. Like bring the two bouquets of flowers. Trader Joe's is there. Trader Joe's is the best. I know.

TIffany Woolley 53:36

That's why we got it.

Scott Woolley 53:38

And our kids, but you know, they the girls they cut the flowers and six rooms every single week. There's fresh flowers.

Lisa Morton 53:45

That's fantastic. That's fantastic.

TIffany Woolley 53:47

And I feel like in our professional.

Scott Woolley 53:49

But you've made me feel so much better about it because I always look at it spending the money on flowers, you're just gonna die by the end of the week. But she's insistent, and my kids are now too. And it does make a nice difference. It does.

Lisa Morton 54:01

So that's that wood element, the energy of renewal and regrowth and moving forward and taking that next step. So it's a beautiful thing to bring in, worth every penny of your investment.

Scott Woolley 54:12

So do you ever do classes with groups of people? And I do.

Lisa Morton 54:16

I do offer some classes. I have a really fun one that is my favorite to do. It's called color mastery. And we dive into color because I feel like color appeals to so many people, whether you're into design, whether you're into fang shui, whether you're just like an artist or curious about color. Um, we talk about a little history about color, um, some color theory, but then we get into uh color psychology, which is so fun to do. It's huge too. That's just another big yeah, it is. Yeah. So color, we get into color psychology and then we talk about putting together a rough palette. Like if you're not working with a designer and you're like, I'm lost, here's how you can start, right? And think about the things that you're selecting, right? I love to get into a little bit of trends in this as well, because trends are fun. And I I always say, people, you you don't have to follow a trend, right? It's use it as inspiration, but you need to know prior to implementing that trend, how it's going to affect your body. For example, the deep moody colors that have been so popular, right? They're great, but you need to know that that is going to put being just surrounded by the burgundy, the charcoal, the chocolate brown, the navy, it's gonna put your body into a feeling um kind of like like the winter season. Okay. You kind of want to curl up with a cup of tea. It's cozy. Yeah, it's a cozy. You're not gonna be super motivated to go get on the treadmill. So you just need to be aware of that.

TIffany Woolley 55:50

Yeah. So that's one of my favorite classes. I really think that's fascinating. Well, there's so much to learn and tap into. We're so grateful for sharing your information with us today. And I wanna read your book. I'm gonna definitely I would love to send you a copy. It's it's uh I was it's I think it's a it's something I feel like I'm doing subconsciously. So I'd love to understand why I'm, you know, kind of connecting to some of those philosophies in my own, you know, design process.

Scott Woolley 56:25

We appreciate you joining us today.

Lisa Morton 56:27

Thank you so much. And and I have to say, I think being uh in the design world, I think you start practicing these things naturally without knowing. But once you have a a word to put with it or a description, it all clicks and you're like, aha, I understand that. Yeah, and I would love why you're doing things.

A Client Story About Legacy

TIffany Woolley 56:43

Absolutely. I would love to, you know, understand more. I do think it's so important. And especially in, as we said, this world where everybody's eating healthier, they're making healthier lifestyle choices. Like, why not connect that to your home? I mean, that's just one more step of alignment.

Scott Woolley 57:03

And what's your website? Let our audience know.

Lisa Morton 57:07

Sure, it's Pure Living with Lisa Morton.com, and it's spelled M-O-R-T-O-N Pure Living with Lisa Morton.

Scott Woolley 57:15

All right, we appreciate it.

Lisa Morton 57:16

Aligned at home.

Scott Woolley 57:17

Stay with us, don't leave as we wrap up.

TIffany Woolley 57:20

Thank you. Thank you for listening to the iDesign Lab today with Lisa Morton.

Voice Over 57:27

iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW group production in association with the five star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit TWinteriors.com.