Hi Cecil,

Thanks again for continuing to provide such a great resource. I hope this question is general enough.

I've read that a bathroom near an entry door is considered less desirable for feng shui. However, a common use case in some parts of the world is to have a bathroom and laundry room close to a side/back entry to clean up and change clothes in before entering the living areas of the home, e.g. after yard/garden/woodworking/farm/automobile work, or to have easy access to a bathroom while working on these kinds of projects.

This prevents mud, leaves, sawdust, engine oil, etc from being tracked into the living areas of the home.

How would you balance this practical need while also keeping a bathroom door suitably far enough from an entry door to avoid bad feng shui?

Some options I can think of:

A) a layout that keeps the door from immediate view of the entry, but still a close walking distance to the entry door, though this may require more square footage and expense

B) a mudroom with no toilet, and only a shower/sink, possibly combined with a laundry room, which could work for cleanup but is less convenient for toilet use

C) a separate outbuilding just for this purpose, but this would be the most expensive option and is not possible on some properties

Or are these considerations not so important in comparison to the practical reasons that help keep the living areas clean?

Under the Situational Approach to Feng Shui

No two homes are the same. 

If a home has good Feng Shui, then even if there is a mudroom with or without a toilet DOES not matter.

The Art and Science of Feng Shui can be calculated based on three factors or three Parts:-

Part 1: How suitable is the unit - Frontage, Kitchen & Main Bedroom?
Part 2: How is the luck of the Interior Feng Shui of this unit?
Part 3: External Feng Shui luck? + Overall score/luck.

This Sample Example:-

Thus if the Feng Shui of a home has POOR Feng Shui such as the above, and for example, if the mudroom is located at EAST of such a house, then it is considered unlucky to have that mudroom even if it does not have an attached WC.

FENG SHUI IS NOT ONE SIZE FITS ALL

 

For some homes, there is no issue for say a mudroom next to the front door!

Yes, IT DEPENDS!

This falls under concept I coined as "The Situational Approach to Feng Shui"

A SIMPLIFIED APPROACH: GOOD OR BAD SECTOR?

Sample 2: Extract of the frontage of this landed home. And a look at the sector the mud-room is located?

Frontage of this landed home is South-East (SE) sector.

Assuming even if East sector does have a mud-room, is no issue. Given that this house's East sector has Flying Star numbers of Mountain Star [3] & Water Star [6] - Lawsuit, injury to hands and legs. Thus acceptable to have a mud-room, here. In reality, it is also good to have the two car garage at this sector.

Note: Marking in RED "X" is currently the two car garage. No issue even if a mud-room is found here also.