Styling your home with houseplants is a beautiful way to use botanicals and bring the garden indoors. Over the last few years houseplants have increased in popularity and as we fill our homes with foliage we recognise that not only do plants look good in the home but they make us feel good too, lift spirits and emit a sense of calm and wellbeing.
Give your home decor a lift by introducing living sculptures and add a whole new style dimension to rooms; from large, leafy, flamboyant foliage plants to petite demur cacti, there is a houseplant to fit every taste and how we use them within rooms can make a world of difference; literally making the room come alive.
The Chinese art of Feng shui is said to increase energy and positivity in our homes, connecting us humans with nature to add balance, harmony and flow. Feng shui represents the five elements wood, water, fire, metal and earth; using houseplants within the home is said to strengthen the element wood to enhance growth and rejuvenation.
Discover a few design tricks and tips to help you get the most of your houseplants and transform your home into a stylish green sanctuary.
Utilise shelves
Shelves provide the perfect base to host houseplants but don’t hold back; pack those shelves with trailing plants and turn your bookshelf into a cascading display. Turn your room from mundane urban home in to tropical paradise.
Tradescantia zebrina, inch Plant, Epipremnum aureum, devil’s ivy, Hedera helix, English Ivy, and Ceropegia woodii, string of hearts all are well suited to overflow from shelves.
Table tops
Tables are jolly handy for many practical reasons but if you have space release some of this precious commodity to display your treasured houseplants. Go large with one dramatic feature pot or group pots together for impact. Experiment with colourful containers, different leaf shapes and textures and include flowering plants for a pop of colour. A table of plants can make an impressive style statement.
Cluster together a collection of cacti and succulents from Opuntia microdasys, bunny ears to Kalanchoe daigremontiana, Mexican hat and Aloe vera or choose a variety of leaf shapes from the oval discs of Pilea peperomiodes to the heart shaped Begonia rex.
Use different heights
Any houseplant lover will know you can run out of space to house your collection pretty quickly so make sure you utilise all the space available to you; vertical, mid level and the floor. From suspended hanging baskets, shelves and tables to pots grounded on the carpet or a wooden floor; any available space is fair game. Get planting and if the light and temperature is right, pop a houseplant there.
Combine pots of Chlorophytum comosum, spider plants, suspended from macramé hangers above shelves dripping with Rhipsalis heteroclada, mistletoe cactus and Philodendron scandens, with tables of Phlebodium aureum ‘Blue Star’ Fern, Schlumbergera, Alocasia, Elephant’s ear alongside a tall pot of Dracaena trifasciata, snake plant or Dypsis lutescens, areca palm at ground level.
Partition rooms with houseplants
Get creative with the spaces within rooms. If you have an open plan room why not create some mystery and intrigue by dividing up the spaces with plants. A solid bookshelf or cabinet can block light and provide an unwanted barrier but by using houseplants as partitions you keep the light and air flowing but create separate spaces, a new view, as the room beyond waits to be revealed. This can equally work if you are trying to make more of a smaller space, dividing sections up into different useable zones but without introducing a solid wall.
Why not hang a row of macramé plant hangers near an entrance hall to divide the door from the main room or place leafy potted plants on a waist-high cabinet to create a natural room divide.
Feature wall
Add drama to your home by creating a feature wall. Make a statement by choosing botanical wall paper to host your favourite houseplants. Compliment a lounge, dining room or kitchen with a colourful, floral wall to contrast against other muted painted walls within the room. Your houseplants will take on a whole new dimension with tropical vibe patterns. Bold colours and designs can transform an ordinary room into something spectacular.
Choose houseplants to contrast your wall design. Peace lilies have stunning, elegant white blooms, whereas bird of paradise boasts impressive arching stems; large-leafed palms and monstera will certainly create a stir and a rainforest vibe.
Bring small spaces to life
With more of us working from home we can find ourselves spending many hours in cramped spaces in front of a laptop. Bring these home offices to life with houseplants. Do not simply stare at a monitor and blank wall but motivate your mind by suspending houseplants from the ceiling and adding a potted plant to your desk.
Don your desk with a pot of Dracaena sanderiana, lucky bamboo, Pilea peperomiodes, Chinese money plant or Crassula ovata, jade plant or even give your senses a treat with uplifting pots of herbs; rosemary is good for memory and will clear your mind or exude a calming atmosphere with lavender.
Wonderful windowsills
The humble windowsill is a haven for houseplants. Light, bright and often warm, these simple structures within our homes provide the perfect resting spot for most houseplants we want to grow. Just avoid windowsills in direct sun as intense light can scorch leaves but otherwise these bright spaces will be welcomed.
Cacti and succulents like to bask in sunlight in their natural environments so work very well on windowsills.
Statement plants
Be bold, go large and give your room the wow factor with one giant statement plant. Monstera deliciosa, Swiss cheese plant, Ficus Benjamina, weeping fig tree and Strelitzia reginae, bird of paradise can all reach grand heights and make eye catching stand alone specimens.
