Heal Your Home
Louise Cadman, a graphic designer from London, found herself struggling to settle into her dream flat after a breakup left her to manage it alone. With financial worries mounting and a challenging lodger situation, space clearer Chris Colgan stepped in to help her create a more balanced, personalised home. Through feng shui adjustments, energy healing, and practical changes—like moving her bed and painting a wall blue—Louise transformed her flat into a supportive, inviting space. The changes boosted her confidence, improved her living situation, and even opened the door to potential romance.
‘My new flat’s giving me money worries’ says Louise Cadman, 36, is a graphic designer from London
THE PROBLEM
‘Last year I found this great flat with my partner, but just as we were about to buy, we split up. I bought it anyway, but can’t afford it alone. I’ve got a lodger, but that’s been tricky, so I may need to get someone else in. I’m worried I might have to leave. Can you help?’
THE SOLUTION
We sent in space clearer Chris Colgan to help Louise bring stability to her new home, lay down boundaries with her lodger and attract some loving energy.
Chris Says:
CHRIS SAYS: To begin with, I scanned the energy in Louise’s flat by moving my hands around the space and simply looking around. I was immediately struck by the fact that it was pristine, a new place that hadn’t had anything done to it. True, Louise had only been living in the flat for a few weeks when I first went there, but I would still have expected to have seen at least a few of her of her things lying around, or some pictures hung up.
Even the bathroom had none of her belongings in it – no beauty products or bath oils. In fact, there was nothing to show a woman lived there at all. When I asked why she had nothing in the bathroom, Louise said the lodger liked to keep his things in there – but he actually had his own en suite bathroom, as well as having the better bedroom! To get round this, she was keeping all her bathroom things in a little bag in her room. This showed that Louise isn’t putting herself first.
In her bedroom, the stripy duvet cover and horizontal metal lines going across the bed’s headboard would have been playing havoc with Louise’s energies. Our energy is supposed to cross over our bodies to keep us on an even keel. But being surrounded by horizontal stripes means this doesn’t happen, which made Louise feel out of balance. I gave her some hands-on healing to help re-balance her energy. And I suggested she ought to cover the headboard and swap the striped duvet for a plain one
The metal bed and the plainness of Louise’s bedroom gave it a very masculine feel, making it less supportive of Louise’s feminine energy. She had a bedside table made from a scrap of wood and it looked awful.
Louise explained her late father had made this, which is why she’d wanted to hang onto it, but I explained that the table wasn’t actually him, and it might not be healthy for her to keep it.
The bed was pushed against the window, which meant that to get out on to her lovely balcony, she had to climb over it. Also, she could only get in on one side, which is not good for relationships. Louise has been single since splitting with her long-term partner. To encourage a new relationship in her life she should really move the bed to the middle of the wall so that it’s accessible from both sides, making it more inviting for two people. I felt that there was some very old energy in the bedroom, which would keep holding her back. When I asked Louise about this, she said her bed was about 10 years old, which would explain it – an old bed can hang on to old energy, both yours and a former partner’s. I suggested she get rid of it if possible, or at least buy a new mattress
Louise had left the flat’s walls white everywhere, as it was when she bought it. But this wasn’t supportive of her self-esteem. She should paint one wall of the living room blue, and perhaps hang some pictures up, too. Blue is one of her favourite colours, so painting the wall would symbolise personalising the flat and help her to really own it. It will boost her confidence in being in the flat, and make her feel that she deserves to be there – she should then find she has more control when it comes to lodgers.
Louise Says:
I was amazed that Chris could tell so much about me from my home. Deep down, I’ve never really believed I deserved such a beautiful flat. I’d been saving for years to try to get a place, and had a very difficult time getting the mortgage, so it was a struggle to get here. I suppose I’d always had a subconscious fear that I wouldn’t be able to stay for long, so I never made my mark on it, as Chris said.
I followed all his advice. It was sad to let the table in my bedroom go, but I knew Chris was right about it, so it’s gone. I bought a flowery quilt cover, and although I couldn’t afford a whole new bed, I did get a new mattress, and moved the bed to the middle of the wall.
I was very resistant to painting the wall blue, but when I eventually did it, the results were amazing. My ex-tenant decided to move out and, incredibly, after two weeks I found a new tenant, who’s lovely. Also, a friend of mine has said he might be interested in buying half the flat, so that could be a good prospect in the long term. He is also someone I’m interested in romantically, so we’ll see what happens! I feel far more secure here now.