East facing house Vastu: layout and main door

Below you will find how to check the facing, where to place the door, a room by room layout and the mistakes that most often spoil a good east facing home.

What east facing means

Facing is read from the main door, not from the balcony or the largest window. Stand at the main door, step out and check the direction you face with a compass. If it reads east, the home is east facing.

In a flat, use the door of the flat itself. The direction of the building gate matters less than the door you open every day.

Where to place the main door

East belongs to Indra and the Sun and receives the first light of the morning, which is why it is a first-choice direction for an entrance. What matters next is where along the east wall the door sits.

Measure the east wall from the north-east corner to the south-east corner and mark the middle. The door is commonly placed in the northern half, between the middle and the north-east. The south-east end is avoided, since the south-east corner is not used for an entrance.

Some consultants divide the wall into nine equal parts, from the 81-square mandala, and rate each part. Their charts differ in detail, so treat this as a refinement for new construction rather than a reason to move an existing door.

Room by room layout

Room placements do not change with the facing; what changes is which rooms end up at the front. Standing on the road and looking at an east facing house, the north is on your right and the south-west is at the back left.

What an east facing house offers

• Morning sunlight at the front of the home, which keeps the entrance and living area bright.
• A natural place for open space in the east, which Vastu prefers to keep light.
• An entrance in a first-choice direction, so the main work is choosing the right part of the wall.
• A private south-west corner at the back for the master bedroom.

Common mistakes

• Placing the door at the south-east end of the east wall.
• Building a toilet or staircase in the front north-east corner, next to the entrance.
• Covering the whole east side with a tall boundary wall, a heavy shed or tall trees, which blocks the morning light.
• Parking cars and storing heavy items in the north-east open space instead of the north-west or south-east.
• Assuming that an east door alone makes the house right, while the kitchen sits in the north-east.

In an east facing flat

In a flat you cannot move the door, but you can keep the entrance bright and uncluttered, keep shoe racks to the south side of the door rather than the north-east, set up the pooja shelf on an east or north wall, and give the south-west bedroom to the head of the family.

Adjustments without rebuilding

• Many consultants suggest a toran of mango or ashoka leaves and a bright light over an east door.
• Where the door is close to the south-east, a commonly suggested adjustment is a heavy, solid door with a raised wooden threshold.
• Many consultants suggest a tulsi plant or a small water bowl in the north-east of the front space.
• Keeping the shoe rack on the south side of the entrance, not the north-east, is a common suggestion.

These are traditional practices that many families follow. They vary between Vastu schools; for your own home, a consultant can say which matter most.

Related Vastu guides

• Main door Vastu: The best directions for the main door, where it sits on the wall, and what to keep out of its way.
• North facing house Vastu: Kubera’s direction: where the door goes on the north wall, the room layout and what to avoid.
• Vastu tips for home: Where each room traditionally goes, how to treat the centre and the corners, and what to change in a flat.
• Vastu directions: Deity, planet, element and the right rooms for each of the eight directions, and how to find them at home.
• Plot Vastu: Plot facing, shape, slope, roads and soil: what Vastu commonly checks before you buy or build.

Your personal best directions come from your Kua number. Check your whole home with the house Vastu calculator, see whether your house number suits you, and find your lucky number. More tools: all free calculators.