Burning Question: Very Superstitious?
Here’s a Friday-the-13th-tastic question for you to ponder: have you ever made a design choice in your home that might be considered superstitious? Do you keep a certain item in a room because you think it’s good luck? Or do you have a particular decorating habit that you can’t break for fear of the “or else…”?
Sure some of these might fall into the category of Fung Shui or general decorating rituals, but we’d still love to hear what you do around your house to avoid bad luck.
And for major good karma points, go take a look at some cute Virginia puppies who need a happy home over on Hamburger’s House.
Image courtesy of blik.
Leave a comment
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
I have never really come up against a decorating superstition yet, however when my husband and I first got married and we chose sides of the bed, and I couldn’t sleep on that side and kept having nightmares. Eventually we switched and everything was fine after that. No more nightmares, or sleepless nights! Weird! So I am guessing that when we go to move the postion of the bed will make a difference to me, since my orginal side that gave me nightmares was close to the door.
When my parents bought a house down the shore the original owners left a little statue of an irishman playing flute. We always joked that it brought us good luck for the summer.
When they sold that house, I snagged the little statue and placed him in the kitchen of my apartment- a little extra luck to ensure I don’t burn down the place ;)
LB
Although not in the house… my dad has a little silver horse called ‘lucky seven’ that he has kept in every car he has ever owned. That horse traveled the whole of Europe with us as kids & even when we had cars smashed into, lucky seven was always left behind – despite being worth £100′s. He even ended up in the gutter when a car was stolen from us once. Weird, no?
When we bought our first house, one of our friends left a tacky pink flamingo yard ornament in our front yard. Over the years, every time we have a get together, the flamingo makes an appearance in the yard of whoever’s hosting.
In the south, where I lived for a time, some people paint the ceilings of their porches blue. Traditionally, it is thought to keep evil spirits out of the house by tricking them into thinking the blue porch ceiling is water, and everyone knows that evil spirits can’t cross water. When we recently moved into our (admittedly midwestern, northeast Ohio) new house, it was a big deal for me to get it done before Halloween– just in case! Generally this is called “haint blue,” and it can vary from a light blue to a dark blue green– the Gullah people who are generally credited with introducing the practice used whatever pigments were available to them at the time. This practice is found in other ares of the country too, and people will give you various reasons for it. I think it looks awesome and a little surprising. Today you will find people selling paint colors they claim to be “authentic” haint blue, but I’m not sure that flies. . . other than maybe as an authentic replica of the blue used in a particular home. Love the blog, BTW– I just recently found you.
In a word: no :)
You just reminded me of an episode of House Hunters in which a wife couldn’t get over the address number of a house. Whatever the number was, it was bad luck in her culture and she wasn’t really enthusiastic about the house.
I opened today (13) a bank account. The code for this bank is 1313, the control digit I was assigned? 13. Oh and in case you were wondering, I now I’m the proud owner of a debit card ending in 13.
No, I’m not superstitious. And I’m so glad I’m not.
Oh, wait. I was wearing a yellow scarf!
I just read some of the comments and that’s so funny b/c mine is just like Chelsea’s! When my husband and I first got married I was dead set on my side of the bed, but I couldn’t get any good sleep. I had bad dreams and tossed and turned all the time. So we switched sides and I slept a LOT better. My original side was by the door as well and now I’m away from the door. I don’t like being by the door if I can help it. Funny, huh?
Another Southerner here who has a porch with a blue ceiling! Mostly for us though, it’s less a superstition and more an appealing quirky tradition.
Part of my job is to give ghost tours of Savannah on a carriage. It’s pretty awesome, but I have met some strange people. I have learned more about ghosts and hauntings, etc. from these people than I ever wanted to know. One person, who lived in a very haunted house, told me that mirrors placed in view of a window provided a gateway to the spirit world. It allowed spirits to pass through between the worlds or something. I am extremely superstitious. I don’t know if she was really nuts, but I moved one of my mirrors when I got home. I figured it couldn’t hurt.
This isn’t really a design choice, but our attic has a pull down stair/ladder. It folds down right in front of our bedroom door. If my husband is in the attic and I need to get in the bedroom, I will go out of my way to go over the stair rather than under it.
It’s is funny that you bring this up. We just bought a house and Garritt is very superstitious. This doesn’t really fall along the lines of decorating. When we first looked at the place there was a black cat walking outside in the yard and went and sat on the porch on the house. I said to his mom “Please don’t tell him, he won’t want the place because if he sees a black cat he thinks something bad will happen and see it as as bad sign” We go inside fall in love with it. The house was on the market for 7 days before we looked at it, we made an offer and had to wait for the little old lady to talk with her son. Three other offers were made, but she felt like it wasn’t fair that we had to wait an entire weekend and we were the first offer so she accepted ours! Turns out black cats aren’t really bad luck after all. We closed yesterday and here we are it’s Friday the 13th…. and I’m moving things in the house (shhh….don’t tell him)
I love the no. 13 — two of my kids were born on the 13th (of different months) and one on the 26th, which is divisible by 13.
I’m not superstitious, but I do I have a red door and they say red doors bring you good luck.
I’m afraid to look at the puppies on Hamburger’s blog and that I’ll want one!
I was just going to say … I’m not superstitious, even though it if Friday the 13th. Then I said to myself “Knock on Wood” …. So I guess I am!!!!!!
The woman that lived in our house before us had lived there her entire life until her death. Although, I don’t know whether or not she died in the house. According to the neighbors and a surprising amount of others (who you wouldn’t expect to know anything about a random pink house in the boonies) she was quite a strange woman. While we haven’t had any “otherwordly” experiences while living there (yet), the ceiling of our porch is painted blue, as well. Maybe that is keeping her at bay? I knew blue porch ceilings were a Southern tradition, but I did not know why… Thanks HeatherK! I will definitely be repainting it blue when we are ready to tackle that project.
When I moved into my house, the best place to put my bed was under the window, with my head facing north. One of my friends walked in and said, “It’s bad luck to have the head of your bed facing north!” I’m still not quite sure where she got that, but she must not be too worried about it- I realized later that the head of HER bed faces north!
My husband always has to sleep on the side of the bed closest to the door. I think it is his way of “protecting” me. I don’t even know if he realizes he is doing it…but anywhere we sleep this happens.
Mine I think all fall under OCD or Feng Shi but I never sleep with closet doors open because it’s supposed to let evil come out. I don’t leave shoes in front of the door because I read it leaves things unfinished that also doesn’t give you a good sleep. I always put my toilet seat down because it’s supposed suck your wealth down if it is open. As for OCD, I used to freak the F out if pillows were messy on the couch or something was out of place but I’ve calmed down and now Im just grateful to have friends in my house that mess it up.
When we bought our home, we found out we were only the 2nd owners. The original owner had designed the home for himself,lived in it for 40 years and passed away in it. Everytime we make a change we’ll say “Hope you like the changes” and we’d say his name, just in case LOL!! We also recently, found the original blueprints of the house and a poster of different bullets (he was a gun collector/ hunter). We are planning to frame the blueprints and my hubby has proudly posted his vintage poster in his man room aka the garage :). Ya just never know!!
In every place my husband and i have lived I have kept a basket of rocks(pebbles)near the front door. All of the rocks/pebbles have been from somewhere we have visited, whether in or out of our home state. I believe that the heavy basket keeps all of the “wealth” from “flying” out of the front door. And by wealth I do not just mean monetary, but our health, peace and happiness. It seems to work!
My husband and I keep our toilet lids shut when not in use because it’s bad feng shui. Although I really think it started because at our old house our one and only bathroom was literally 5′x5′ and otherwise there was a real danger of accidentally dropping things (brush, makeup, etc) in the toilet since you were always standing within a foot of it. Also, every night my hubby closes the closet doors that face our bed, to ensure good energy. =)
I always burn sage to “cleanse” my house just before moving in, or very shortly afterward. I’ll light the sage and walk around the house, specifically concentrating on all of the corners. Just bought a house this year, so hopefully won’t have to do any ititial “sageing” for a while! I also use sage periodically if the house has a stuffy or negative feel. I know it sounds new-age, but it seems to help (and I’m a little superstitious about it).
I also buy new brooms when moving to a new house – it is said that if you bring old brooms to a new house, you bring with them all of your “dirt,” literally and figuratively, from your past with you.
I have a house ritual that was from a feng shui & crystal book I got in college. I burn pure sage once every 3 months, walking around my entire floor plan clockwise starting at the front door.
It is supposed to clear energy and dead pockets in your house where chi (or energy) has stagnated. It always leaves my house feeling more open and positive. Now, if I could just fold my arms, blink and get the whole house to clean itself…hmm…
I’m an embarrassingly superstitious person, I do a lot of things that I know won’t make any difference ‘Just in case’. I worked as a stagehand during college so most of my silly superstitions stem from the theater, like not whistling on stage, never saying the real name of the cursed ‘Scottish Play’.
But I did house sit for a woman who took her Fung Shui VERY seriously, placed bowls of water in the ‘hot spots’ of the house, and used rocks and plants to ‘ground’ certain rooms. It all looked pretty nice, and her cats used them as water bowls.
Hubby puts our 2 mezuzah (a parchment scroll inscribed on one side with the Biblical passages Deut. 6:4–9 and 11:13–21 and on the other side with the word Shaddai inserted in a small case or tube so that Shaddai is visible through an aperture in front, and attached by some Jews to the doorpost of the home) on the front & back doors of every home we’ve lived in. Then he tacks up our horseshoe over any remaining entrance or large window.
We’re actually not religious or superstitious, but it always makes us feel like better knowing that there’s “protection” at our entrances.
i love your blog, guys, but when you make a statement like “general decorating OCD,” you really contribute to the stigma that people with mental disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder face. having OCD is different from being picky or anal about decorating. it’s a disorder caused by hormonal imbalances, and it ruins lives. so when people trivialize it by saying “omg, i’m so OCD” or by saying they have “decorating OCD,” it only contributes to society’s misunderstanding of the disease. it’s not a personality trait; it’s not something people can just “get over;” it’s a chronic disease with biological causes, just like diabetes or asthma.
i know you didn’t mean to be offensive, but society’s use of the term in the way you just used it only contributes to the stigma and misunderstanding. it would be lovely if you could find a more accurate way to describe what you mean!
Hey Concerned,
No harm meant! We’ve edited the post to remove the use of “OCD” and certainly didn’t mean to offend!
xo,
Sherry & John
In my new renovation reality home I’m not to the point of decorating yet, but I do have a superstition I’m being sure to obey.
People come see my house while I’m working, and as it’s their first time, they must go out the same way they came in! No exceptions! Front door the front door, garage the garage. My Aunt always said this, along with don’t stand on the steps while I am and I have to say I never realized how important it was to me until now in my first home.
If I had a decorating superstition, it’d be that generally(some things don’t bother me) I don’t like things with faces looking at me – CLOWNS, masks, etc anywhere around a house. I don’t think I would have anything like that anyway, but Mommom always does and I do not like it – especially that clown, I think she got rid of it:)
Similarly a positive superstition I guess you could call it, things that have been handed down or left to me from other family members homes I like to try my best to have them displayed a way they did as I remember in their home and I feel they are sort of with me that way, brings back good memories.
Delaware – J
I heard it’s bad luck to have peacock feathers in the bedroom.
Heh, nope.
I don’t so much of anything that’s superstitious, especially not in terms of decorating.
… unless being bad at decorating is a superstition, then I’m totally guilty! ;)
I’m pretty sure it’s Feng Shui.
i always have to have a mirror by the front door, i can’t remember why exactly, but it’s supposed to be good luck.
When we listed our house for sale, I turned all the lights for about an hour around sundown. I read somewhere it helps sell the house. Who knows if it really works, but it only took 40 days to sell, they paid cash, and wanted us out in 10 days.
My husband has a terrible stone gargoyle figurine that he keeps facing the front door. He says that it is supposed to ward off evil, so I leave it where it is!
The original part of our house was built in 1890 and although there have been additions made, there are a lot of original features to the house still there. Whenever we hear a weird noise or our dog Bailey starts barking for no reason, we joke that it’s a ghost who we’ve appropriately dubbed “1890″. :) Do we really think our house is haunted? Not at all, but it’s fun to remember that we’re living in a house older than our grandparents!
I am a WVU fan and have a WVU Gnome sitting on a side table next to the couch. If WVU loses, the knome gets put in the corner and can’t come out until another W is on the record. When he is back on the table he has to face a certain way and be in just the right angle (kinda reminds me of Kathy Bates in “Misery”).
My mom would tell my sister and I that we shouldn’t sleep with our heads facing in the south direction. And a house with the entry facing south was also bad. Can’t tell you why however.
This is such a fun post, when I have more time I can’t wait to sit down and read what people have to say. Maybe you can make up a random weekly topic for us to comment on. Decorating or any other topic (favorite vacation spots, Thanksgiving and other holiday traditions, favorite recipes, wish lists, ect.) :O) What do you think?
Kelly
Hey Kelly,
That’s what we do! We call them Burning Questions and we usually ask them every Friday. Stay tuned for more…
xo,
Sherry (& John)
I got so excited my the post, I forgot to tell you my story. lol! Well, it is actually my moms. I don’t have anything fun to share. She like elephants and she has this big (2 foot) elephant that she painted in a ceramic class about 20 years ago. She always believed that the elephant’s trunk had to face the front door or it was bad luck. She also would never buy a elephant with it’s truck down because she said that is bad luck. I remember moving a few time when I was younger and she would always have to decorate around this elephant.
Sherry-
Ok, sorry I am not usually on the computer much on Fridays- its my busy day with running around and play dates:O) I look forward to them in the future! :O)
Kelly
No worries Kelly. So glad you’re able to get in on the fun today!
xo,
s
There are two tiny little clown figurines in the rafters of our basement. We actually didn’t notice them until awhile after we had moved in. It’s probably the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen. My husband and I agree that we will never move those things, even if we refinish the basement, for fear of some kind of curse or haunting or something. Ick!
I grew up with a crucifix or cross in every room of my house. Once I moved out I always tried to keep one up. If not in multiple rooms, at least in my own bedroom.
When hubby and I were selling our old place, we buried a St. Joseph figurine in the front flowerbed (upside down and facing away from the door) which is supposed to bring a quick sale. So, once the house sold, we dug him up and we display him on the mantle in new house for protection. Welllll, not long after we moved in, I was dusting the mantle and my sweet St. Joseph went flying and lost his head. I was so terrified that my house was going to burn down that I immediately found some super glue and performed emergency surgery on the little guy. To this day he sits on my mantle, a little worse for wear, but a great protector nevertheless!
Never leave a hat on the bed. I think it was from the movie, “Drugstore Cowboy” and I’m not sure if it an old superstition or just something that has managed to stick with me from the movie. I still cannot leave a hat on the bed.
Oh, and red doors. I don’t currently have one, but there was a house in a subdivision in the town where I lived and all the kids would ride by on the bus and say, “see that red door, it means good luck.” This was waaaay before it was cute or chic to paint your door such a bright color. I’ve always promised myself I would, one day, have one. I will – someday. When I repaint the shutters and maybe even the whole exterior of my house.
When we moove in a new place my husband always want a table ans a least One chair to get first in the house. really first even if it’s the last stuff in the truck; Hopefully is not picky on the kind of table or chaire. He got that from his mother, it’s suppose to make sure that we always got food on the table in the place. Other thing is that i’m suppose to sleep aways from the door: it’s to “protect me”.
The last one is from me. No Mirror in the bed room.
When I was a teenager I read in a magazine it was bad luck to put a mirror facing your bed. So now whenever I’ve moved or changed my bedroom around I always make sure the mirror is nowhere near facing the bed! lol
Hi I’m new here! Love the blog!
I am very superstitious! I was born in Russia and my greataunt, who grew up in a peasant village thought me this one – it comes from before Russia converted to Christianity and is one of the few relics of the pagan traditions of that time.
Each house has a house spirit (Domovoi) who protects the house and its inhabitants, but only if you treat him well! The Domovoi likes for there to be living things in the house – at least plants! – and things that look like living things – such as dolls or stuffed animals, because he can hide in them. There are lots of things he doesn’t like, such as yelling and especially passive aggressive behavior. Also, if something small is broken, you have to fix it or the Domovoi gets mad. If you keep your Domovoi happy, he will take care of you but if you make him mad, he will ruin everything in the house! He will make things fall down and break, make people get sick, make you lose money, burn your food… (He is a very mischievous fellow)
I lived for a time with my father’s side of the family and they did not do anything to keep their Domovoi happy so bad things happened to them (and in their home) all the time. In my own home I make sure to do everything I can to make my Domovoi happy! I have plants, fish, kitties, and lots of stuffed animals around, as well as a wood dog and a birch reindeer, and china animals.
In Russia, this superstition is very popular and people even give little figurines of the Domovoi as housewarming gifts – like this http://serviceinfo.ru/images/5%281%29.jpg
Hey Dasha,
That’s so interesting! I bet the Domovoi would love all the ceramic animals in our house!
xo,
s
The first apartment I moved into was this great 1930′s pre-war apartment. In Houston this is considered VERY old. When I moved in the landlord had not done great job of cleaning and odds and ends belong to the previous owners were sprinkled around the place. As I was throwing stuff out I noticed something hanging over the front door, bur my friend stopped me from taking it down. She told me that the large blue and white glass bead was a Greek Gods eye that warded off evil spirits. I didn’t really think I was supersticious, but I was pretty sure that it “belonged” there so it stayed all four years I rented the place. The funny thing is, another friend went into that apartment a few years later visiting a friend of a friend and realized it was mine when she saw the glass bead still hanging over the doorway.
Amanda – that superstition about sleeping with your head to the north is bad luck is from China and some other asian countries. They bury bodies in coffins with their head facing north, so they usually sleep (when alive) with their heads facing south. Interesting and a bit creepy!
I love the one about the Domovoi. That would be a really good incentive for me to keep things fixed and full of life!
We keep a black fortune cat in every room. According to legend, it is supposed to protect against evil spirits. We figure it couldn’t hurt!
No mirrors or flowers in the bedroom. I am always conscious of not allowing my feet to face the bedroom door, its supposed to be a death position.