A north facing house is one whose main door opens toward the north, so you look north as you step out. In vastu it is well liked: the door is best placed in the padas N3 to N5 (Mukhya, Bhallata and Soma), the kitchen goes to the south-east, the master bedroom to the south-west, and the open front keeps the north and north-east light, which is exactly what the tradition asks for.
Below is a practical plan for a north-facing plot or house, the reasons behind it, what to do in a built home, and the mistakes we see most often.
Why the north is well regarded
The north belongs to Kubera, the keeper of wealth, and to Soma, the moon. The tradition reads it as the direction of calm, steady growth and fresh opportunity.
There is a practical side too. Across most of India the sun moves through the southern half of the sky, so light from the north is soft and indirect, with no glare. A north-facing house usually has its front setback or garden on the north, which means the north and north-east of the plot stay open and low almost by default. The back of the house, on the south and south-west, can have thicker walls and fewer openings, which blocks the hot afternoon sun and gives privacy.
The one honest drawback: in a cold North Indian winter, rooms along the north front get little direct sun. That is why the bedrooms, which need warmth, usually go toward the south.
The door: N3, N4, N5
In the widely used modern numbering, the north wall is divided into eight equal padas, counted from the north-west corner to the north-east corner:
| Pada | Deity | Common reading |
|---|---|---|
| N1 | Roga | usually avoided |
| N2 | Naga | usually avoided |
| N3 | Mukhya | favoured |
| N4 | Bhallata | favoured |
| N5 | Soma | favoured (Kubera's position) |
| N6 | Bhujaga | mixed |
| N7 | Aditi | mixed, accepted by some |
| N8 | Diti | mixed, accepted by some |
Conventions and even the numbering differ between schools, so treat this as the prevailing tradition, not a fixed law. The full method for measuring your pada, and the tables for the other three sides, are in our main door vastu guide. The same padas are commonly used for the compound gate, measured on the plot boundary.
A layout plan for a north-facing plot
Imagine standing inside the front door, looking out to the north. The east is on your right, the west on your left, and the south behind you.
| Zone | Where it sits in this house | Suggested use |
|---|---|---|
| North-east | front right corner | pooja room or a light, open sitting area; underground water sump or borewell |
| North | front centre | entrance, living room, foyer |
| North-west | front left corner | guest room, toilet, car parking, store |
| East | right side | family room, dining, a window wall for morning sun |
| Centre | middle | open hall, no toilet, stairs or heavy pillar |
| West | left side | children's bedroom, study, dining |
| South-east | back right corner | kitchen |
| South | back centre | bedroom, staircase, storage |
| South-west | back left corner | master bedroom, heavy wardrobes; overhead tank on top |
Kitchen. The south-east is Agni's corner and the first choice. If the plan cannot give it, the north-west is the common second choice. Keep the kitchen out of the north-east.
Master bedroom. The south-west, at the back left, is traditionally for the head of the household: it is the most stable, heaviest and most private part of the plan.
Pooja room. The front right corner, the north-east, is natural for it. In a small home, a shelf or corner on the north-east wall is enough.
Stairs. Place them toward the south, west or south-west. A common, clean solution is a staircase along the south wall, climbing clockwise. Keep them out of the north-east and the centre. More in our staircase vastu guide.
Toilets. The north-west or the west work well, and some schools accept the south. Avoid the north-east and the centre.
Water. Underground sump or borewell to the north or north-east, overhead tank over the south-west.
For structural decisions, talk to an architect or engineer; vastu here is about layout and use.
What if the house is already built?
Most people reading this live in a home they did not design. You can still work with the plan:
- Keep the front north-east corner as the tidiest, brightest part of the house. If the shoe rack or dustbin sits there, move it to the north-west.
- Put heavy almirahs and storage against the south and west walls.
- If the kitchen is in the north-west, that is an accepted position. If it is somewhere less usual, cook facing east where possible and keep it bright; our kitchen vastu guide covers every case.
- If the master bedroom is not in the south-west, the south or west rooms are the next best choice for the head of the family.
Common mistakes in north-facing homes
- Assuming "north facing" means everything is fine. The facing is one fact. A door in N1 or N2, or a toilet in the north-east, matters more than the label.
- A heavy car porch or staircase in the front north-east. The front yard is where people add a concrete shed or an outside stair. Keep that corner light: put the car toward the north-west and the outside stairs toward the south-west or west.
- An overhead tank on the front. It belongs at the back, over the south-west.
- More open space at the back than the front. The tradition wants the larger setback on the north and east.
- Trusting the brochure's direction. Builders round directions off. Take your own compass reading from the centre of the house, away from metal. Across India the difference between magnetic and true north is about a degree, small enough to ignore.
- Paying for a "fix". No classical text we cite requires a product, pyramid or yantra. Remedies here are free: moving things, cleaning, light.
If the plot itself is tilted, with the road running at a clear angle rather than east–west, the zones shift; see plot shape vastu.
Moving in
Tradition times the griha pravesh by the panchang. Our muhurat finder has a house-warming purpose that lists suitable dates, and how we calculate muhurat explains the rules it applies. You can check the tithi and nakshatra for any date on the panchang, or on a city page such as panchang for Jaipur.
Try it yourself
Sketch your plan, mark north from the centre of the house and see where each room falls in the table above. If you want the whole plan read together, our vastu consultation is an AI reading, not a human pandit or a site visit: you describe each room's direction and can add a floor plan, and it reads them against the classical rules and gives three renter-safe remedies. The wider picture is in our vastu shastra for home guide.