Decorating with Indoor Plants
When plants are used to decorate, they add color, atmosphere, and freshness to a home. Besides adding dimension, it gives the room a sense of spaciousness. Adding space to an apartment is particularly important, but plants can also help highlight the space available in a larger home. For instance, a plant placed at a height that draws the eye upward raises the ceiling above our normal vision level. By placing them in the corners, we can draw our attention away from our usual congregating space.
Having a plant in the living room is pretty much a necessity in a home, so if you only have one plant, I strongly suggest that you place it there because that is where most of our time is spent. With plants, you’ll be able to observe how they change over time. It’s like bringing the outside world inside. So how do you choose a plant? We will focus on green indoor plants here, but there is an almost infinite choice of plants in all colours.
There are many different shades of green and shapes and sizes of green plants. Plants that are green are easier to coordinate because they all complement one another. Any combination of green tones complements the interior – particularly when used in conjunction with the pale Scandi palette. Their presence breathes life into a room instead of lighting it up.
Where to Put Plants in Your House
Whether we arrange plants in our apartment or house will impact our sense of comfort and aesthetic impression: in large pots laid out on the floor, in vases on the mantelpiece or table, on a shelf or in the window. The tip is to spread the plants around the room, up and away from the centre of the room, on the furthest corner or highest shelf. That’s how you draw the eye in different directions and give the room an impression of space, if not actual physical space, and make it seem larger than it is.
Hanging Plants Indoors
Hanging plants are a huge trend, especially for plant lovers and aesthetics – they’ve become hugely popular over the last five years. In urban areas, our homes are especially becoming smaller because our dwellings are becoming smaller. We have had to resort to using the ceiling because we ran out of floor space, providing a vast new area for placement. First time buyers are looking for this sophisticated, on-trend style.
Finding the perfect location to hang a plant in the ceiling can be more difficult than you think. The choices are limited by furniture and other objects. Find light first, then see what lies below and then what the plant needs. You don’t want it to fall and hit someone’s head if it is hung over a chiar. You can find a lot of good ideas on how to hang plants in the Evening Standard newspaper of London.
The Millennial generation is once again leading the way in more exotic plant arrangements. With some creative thinking, such as placing a ladder on top of the wall just to make it level, or using a basket on the floor to hold books, you can give your home a unique twist.
The current trend with plants is they’re being used in fashion accessories as motifs to make products “go with everything” and appeal to everyone. Plants and nature have become an integral part of our lives, so we have a whole industry surrounding them. A handbag, t-shirt, piece of art, vase, pot, or urn, which once filled a supporting role in planlife, have now become statement categories in their own right.
Best Indoor Plants for the Living Room
It won’t take you long to figure out which plants are best for your living room since they will respond to the amount of light. Indoor plant shoppers often make this mistake – browsing among the plants displayed outside. Despite their prettier appearances and the fact that there is a greater choice, they are displayed outside because they are mostly outdoor plants that cannot survive long indoors.
To ensure proper care, for the newbie indoor gardener, make sure to look for a small card inside the soil that explains how much light the plant needs and how much water it needs. Although this is a good guide, you’ll really know if the amount of light you’ve given it is sufficient when it starts to grow and thrive or droop. Listed below are some good indoor plants:
- Chinese Evergreen
- Philodendron
- Ficus Bonsai tree
- Pothos
- The super durable Iron plant
- Weeping Fig
- Cactus of course although it is not the prettiest of plants
- Snake plant
Indoor Plants with Decorative Stones
The appearance of a pot plant is completely transformed by decorative stones. You can make a difference by covering the soil in the pot around the plant with small or larger stones that match the color scheme of your house. You need to leave a centimeter of space around the edge of the pot when replanting, as well as enough space for stones and gravel. Stones are available at most good home improvement stores or online – and they come in all kinds of colors from brown, grey, and white to green, yellow, pink, and black.
As well as providing a way to keep flies out, the stones also ward off irritating ants from nestling in the pot and eating the roots. Block access to the soil by covering it completely. Decorative stones are a part of the recently introduced Scandinavian style – the Scandi Boho style. The plants add hygge to a room filled with greenery, giving it a sense of coziness and lived-in feeling. In our experience, decorative stones are less readily available from smaller sellers, which is a shame because they really brighten up the look – the Danish megastore Plantorama has the best collection.
Plant Decoration Tips for the Balcony
When you live in the city but have an outdoor space – even a tiny balcony or terrace – a well-placed plant will give your outdoor area a more spacious feel. Why not turn it into your own mini-garden? It will be a source of joy if you take advantage of it. Place a small, long-leaved plant – for instance the Snake plant – in the corner if there is a spare spot on the balcony’s floor. It’s possible for the space to be too small and you should consider getting a fastener for the railing to hold the plant upright. However, think safety first, you may need a professional to fix it.
Bathroom Plants that Absorb Moisture
The bathroom is also brightened up by plants. Greenery can be displayed on shelves, ledges, window sills, or above the medicine cabinet. It’s not uncommon for us to spend lots of time in the bathroom, so let’s make it an enjoyable experience. Plants also seem to love it, soaking up the moist from the shower and bath through their leaves, which helps to keep them fresh and green. Peace Lily, English Ivy, and Boston Fern are all excellent moisture absorbers in this way.
Cactus plants have a dehumidifying effect. The hairy leaves of cacti such as aloes and many palms help them to catch water from the air. Xylem, the plant’s transport tissue, absorbs moisture through its leaves. The root carries water and nutrients to the leaves through the stem. It is easy to forget they are living creatures who consume food and water like us too.
Decorating the Bedroom with Plants
Plants can also help you sleep better – especially if you have trouble sleeping. Sleeping next to plants is thought to be healthier than sleeping next to another person – in terms of respiration. It appears to be official! Cleanup and purification of the air is made easier by plants. They prevent indoor pollutants like formaldehyde and benzene that are released by refrigerators, paint on walls and nail polish. Likewise, other human beings exhale air we do not need and compete with us for oxygen.
Although plants emit carbon dioxide (which should not be confused with carbon monoxide) at night, they do so in a lower amount than a person would. In the daytime, they convert carbon dioxide to oxygen with the exception of the snake plant, also known as Sansevieria. During the night, the Snake plant converts carbon dioxide to oxygen, which is why it makes an ideal bedroom plant. It is perhaps the easiest houseplant to care for because it can survive for days without water and direct or indirect light. Although snake plants are usually grown in bedrooms, they have other uses as well. There are many of them around – especially in smart office buildings and lobbies, perhaps to generate fresh air.
Decorating with Artificial Indoor Plants and Flowers
The truth is, some people think it’s cheating. But since today’s production techniques are so advanced, it’s sometimes hard to know whether its real or not. In situations where a real plant is not likely to survive due to no light or similar, a faux plant is the perfect solution. Indeed, there are some artificial flowers and plants that are stunningly beautiful and worth displaying alone.
Where to Place Indoor Plants that Like Shade
It is important to overcome a lack of light when decorating with plants in an apartment. Although it’s tempting to bring an outdoor plant into the house because it looks pretty or matches the decor, you’ll soon discover that it doesn’t work. Indoors, no matter how much we wish it, an outdoor plant won’t last much longer than a couple of weeks. Make sure you are shopping in the right department and find a plant that doesn’t require a lot of natural sunlight.
One of our favorites is the English Ivy. In low light, it can survive, but prefers bright indirect light. The skin, however, may become irritated. Maidenhair ferns are beautiful and like indirect sunlight. However, this is a very high maintenance plant – get the light and watering wrong, and it will die. Parlour palms are tolerant of medium and low light conditions. The Peace Lily blooms better in brighter places while the ZZ plant thrives in darker conditions – almost impossible to kill.
Pots for Indoor Plants
Our favorite handcrafted pots are those that have been turned. Although plants add green, ambiance and a sense of space and dimension to a space, pots can really make a room stand out. However, a pot’s appearance is not the only thing that matters. In selecting a pot, other considerations must be taken into account. Drainage remains the most pressing issue – and yet!
Are there any holes in the bottom of the pot where water could seep through and help prevent the roots from drowning? Is there anything under there to keep the moisture from damaging the surface? The pot is glazed, isn’t it? Does the size of the plant work for it now and as it grows? Does it look unique? Does it complement or overshadow the plant? What are its qualities? Does it fit with the decor?
Answer all the questions you can, but choose the most relevant ones. According to us, the most important thing about the pot is its look and quality. Even if the bottom of the bowl has a hole – and most pots aren’t made with matching plates or saucers – we’ll fit it. The hole should be covered with silicone or lined with plastic. It does mean you will have to take more care to not over-water as there will be no way to escape the water. Whenever too much moisture gets into the soil, the roots rot. Even though a low-maintenance pot is dull and difficult to maintain, a beautiful, high-maintenance pot would be far superior.
Getting the right pots from garden centers is great; however, they may not necessarily be the most attractive. There will also be a range of major home furnishing stores including Habitat and arts and crafts centres. The studio potters are known for their one-of-a-kind pots that are of a superb quality. The studio potter is an independent, smaller potter who is either an excellent amateur or a professional potter. Pots of the highest quality and uniqueness are their specialty. Your plant will stand out more if you choose these types of pots.
Replanting Your Plants
Plants need to be replanted from time to time. Especially if we lead busy lives, plants we leave alone for a while can suddenly start showing roots at the top or stop growing. Even roots can begin to grow through the drain holes. That’s the time when you’ll need to move your plants to a larger pot and tidy up their roots. The procedure is very simple: Depending on whether or not you over-watered the pot, you might need a new one. The roots of a plant can be drowned by too much water, especially if the plant is in a container without a drainage hole. When the leaves begin to droop, they remain green and vibrant. It may appear that the soil is dry on the surface, but once you remove the plant from the pot, you’ll see plenty of moist soil.
Plants might even have absorbed water that they couldn’t absorb. Plants come with instructions for planting, but if you have many, you may forget which one needs to be planted. In time, you’ll get a sense of how to take care of each plant and what kind of water it needs. Plants are like children: having them can be stressful. They need to be looked after, and some are more challenging than others.