BUYING THE "GUARDIAN" ALTAR FOR MY HOME

I went and bought the cabinet that I would be using as a home shrine at a shop in Jalan Kuala Kangsar yesterday afternoon.  I also took the opportunity to have my pictures taken with the beautiful silk flowers that were sold there.
As I have written in an earlier post, the colour of my altar is white with paintings of reddish pink flowers and intertwined with green leaves.  I had consulted a lady, who is knowledgeable about setting up home shrines, at the shop where I bought the Kuan Yin figurine about whether it was alright to use a white altar.  She told me that it was okay.  As a matter of fact, she told me that in Taiwan there were some households with all white altars for the Buddha and Kuan Yin.  What is important is that we feel comfortable with it and the table is kept clean and tidy.  The main issue is that we worship the deity with sincere hearts.
Then there was the matter with the height of the altar.  The height of the cabinet which I bought to be used for the altar is 38 inches.  According to the same lady at the shop selling the figurines of Deities, the height of the altar should be around 4 feet.  She told me that after the figurine of the deity has been placed on the altar (usually with a stand), one would either  see eye to eye with the figurine. It would be even better if the position of the figurine is a bit higher so that we can look up to the deity.
So I am going to have a platform made to raise the height of the altar.  Before this, I consulted my sifu about whether it would be okay to do so and he said it was perfectly fine.  The contractor who made my kitchen cabinet will be making the platform for me.  He was even more specific and informed me that the standard height of the altar should be 52 inches.  So I think I have already found the answer to the query that was posed by Annie a couple of days ago.

Here is more information about Chinese altars for those who are interested:
In private homes, there are generally two main types of altars. One can be thought of as a “guardian” altar. It faces the main door, and the figurines upon it protect the entryway to the home. They welcome your human visitors as well as your personal guardian angels, and the positive energy they radiate counteracts any subtle harmful energies that may enter, such as negative thought projections or unfriendly intentions. The other kind of altar is the “family” altar, which is usually placed in a more enclosed space; ideally, it’s in a separate room where people can spend time in meditation or prayer.
Place your statues at eye level or higher. Remember, they represent celestial beings who gaze compassionately down upon us. Ideally, the altar should follow traditional auspicious measurements. You can find details in many textbooks on feng shui. The feng shui "ruler" is 16 15/16 inches long; one approach you can take is to build your altar in multiples of this length. Eight other auspicious measurements for tables and cupboards are: 25½ inches, 27 inches, 32½ inches, 42 inches, 44 inches, 52 inches, 61 inches, 78 inches, and 85 inches. These can be any dimension of your altar: height, width, or depth.
Source: http://stpresskit.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/create-your-kuan-yin-altar.pdf