Here's how to sum up "punk shui," the new radical home decor: A sofa chain-sawed in half. Smears of blood-red paint across a white wall. A philosophy that insists you embrace discomfort.

Come on, it's a joke, right? Josh Amatore Hughes, author of "Punk Shui: Home Design for Anarchists" ($10.95), which Three Rivers Press blurbs as "Martha Stewart meets the Sex Pistols," insists he's serious.

It's about providing a creative environment "and that has a lot to do with chaos (or kaos, as Hughes spells it) and change," he says.

Chaos invites change, "and change is going to bring something new, whether good or bad."

Hughes, 25, a New York art director/set designer for commercials, came up with the concept in deconstructing his own Chinatown apartment.

His friends were amazed and amused; now they're hiring him to do the same to their abodes.

It's no accident Hughes picked feng shui to riff on: The ancient Chinese art of correct placement of furnishings and decor to maximize harmony with nature is still wildly popular (more than 1,100 titles on Amazon.com).

Everyone is "jumping on the bandwagon to make money," says L.A. feng-shui expert Angi Ma Wong.

"People feel feng shui is empowering, that it allows them to take control of their lives."

Not a concept Hughes would get: "By embracing chaos, you embrace life."