Bringing Natural Elements Into Your Space

By Natalie Leinbach

Curating the inside of your apartment or home is a craft. Creating the perfect room to make you feel at peace takes time and care, making it challenging at times. One of my favorite strategies to add life and visual appeal to your interior design is plants. Here’s more on how to do it.

Selecting Your Plant

The first step to decorating with plants is deciding where to put them. Most plants require specific conditions including but not limited to temperature, humidity, and sunlight, but some are more temperamental than others. If you want a plant to hang in your window sill then your plant selection will be drastically different than choosing one for the corner of a dimly lit room. On the bright side, you can get your hands on a vast variety of houseplants these days whether you choose to stop by your local nursery or order online plants.

Once you decide where your plant is going to go, you can consider the silhouette that best compliments the space. A big empty window or wall could use something with long full vines like a philodendron or ivy. A smaller spot like your desk or nightstand might only accommodate a succulent or orchid. Finding the right plants for your design can be daunting at first, but here are a few options to get you started.

For Low Light

• Sansevieria: Variations of the Snake Plant are great for beginners. They can get up to 4 feet tall, but small ones look great on a little shelf or on the study desk.

• Calathea: The Rattlesnake Plant tolerates low light. These plants grow long, patterned leaves.

For Medium Light

• Chlorophytum: Another great beginner plant is known as the Spider Plant. They grow fast and easily, and they are easy to share with friends when they start growing little baby shoot-offs.

• Pothos: A southeast Asian climbing plant, the Devil’s Ivy is another easy starter. They grow long vines really quickly, so you can be sure that they’ll fill the space in your room.

For Bright Light

• Haworthia: One small little window hugger is known as the Zebra Plant. It loves basking in the bright, direct light.

• Monstera: One of the most popular and recognizable houseplants is the Monstera Deliciosa, more commonly known as the Swiss Cheese Plant.

Displaying Your Plant

When you decide where to put your plant, there are lots of ways to show them off. Bigger eye-catching plants are best in floor pots. The same way a plant can complete any space, the pot you choose can too. Pots come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and designs, so you can mix and match. It can also be fun to combine several different plants with similar living conditions into the same pot for a unique appearance.

Plants are an easy way to accessorize your shelves as well. Whether you keep your babies in pots, on stands, or in a vase, they are sure to add a burst of color and life to a plain wall in your home.

If you don’t have space on your shelf, desk, or windowsill, the solution is to hang them. Some potters are designed to hang on the walls or can be easily attached to them. Using macrame plant hangers can also add a touch of boho to your space.

If live plants aren’t your thing, fake it til you make it. Accent pieces like dried leaves, flowers, and branches can be used as decorative elements for the borders of your mirror, a headboard, or bulletin board. You can also frame photographs, drawings, paintings, or dried plants themselves to bring some earthy, natural elements into your space.

There are seemingly limitless ways to decorate your space with plants. A splash of green is not only visually pleasing but proven to reduce toxins in your home too. We like to use plants to for both balance, texture, and personal wellness.