Plants produce extra oxygen through photosynthesis which helps reduce stress and leads to increased productivity if you put them in your living room, bedroom or even in your office but knowing how to arrange houseplants is important so it can give your home that beautiful and enchanting allure.
There are various ways to decorate your living room with houseplants, you can choose to use just one or two on side tables or you can create your own garden room filled with lots of different plants. Regardless of how you choose to do it, decorating with houseplants brings the freshness of the outdoors and gives you a small garden to tend to.
How to Decorate with Houseplants
Before decorating your living room or any room with indoor plants, there are some important things to consider. This is not just only about the appearance of the room but it’s also about the plants’ care and living their conditions. For instance, there are plants that will withstand low light and flourish in tricky places like the bathroom, and there are others that need to be by the window to thrive. Below are tips to consider as you decorate your living room, bedroom, bathroom or office with plants.
Think About Leaf Shape
The shape of the leaf and growth type are very important to consider when thinking about arranging houseplants in your living room, bedroom, bathroom and even office. For instance, put a squat trailing plant (pothos), a tall plant with upward leaves (fiddle-leaf fig tree) and a fountainlike plant (dracaena) together for an arrangement that creates harmony.
Choose Different Sizes
Another important thing to consider when styling your home with houseplants is making sure that they are grouped together in different heights and widths. This difference in size makes the houseplants look organic. When they are arranged in the same size they look uniform and boring.
Add Plants with Colorful Leaves
Keep in mind the color of the houseplants you choose. To get a harmonious look, put plants with the same color together. This is a very important thing to consider as you style your home with plants.
Arrange in Odd Numbers
Make sure to group the plan in odd numbers, this will give it a more casual look. When plants are grouped evenly, they look too symmetrical and the arrangement looks more formal. Be mindful of this when styling your home with plants
Use Plenty of Decorative Pots
Similar to plant colors, choosing pots is just as important aspect in decorating although it can be based on personal preference. You can either use pots that have the same finishes and colors to make the arrangements seem like a collection or you can combine all your favorite pots in different materials and colors for a mixed finish
Don’t Forget Houseplants Care
It’s important to be mindful of houseplants’ needs and living conditions when your are putting them together. For instance, group plants that need humidity like ferns with other plants with similar needs to form an area of moisture.
Also pay close attention to light and temperature needs when putting a shade-loving and a sun-loving plant in the same area will make it difficult for one or even both to survive.
Indoor Plants Drainage Tips
Before putting houseplants into an attractive pot, it’s very important to keep in mind how the water drainage will be done for the plants’ health. There are some pots that have a drainage hole at the bottom and this will lead to your plants sitting on water. While other pots that do have drainage holes allow too much water and can lead to messing up the table or floor. Fortunately, there are many solutions to this issue that can make houseplant care a lot easier
If your pot is designed in a way that water is always running out., there’s a way to make it run more slowly. To do this, put a rock or piece of a broken pot over the drainage hole before planting. This will not completely block the hole but rather will slow down the water flow allowing the plant to absorb what it needs.
There are pots that are made with underplates to hold draining water. If you see water filling the underplate after watering, give it some time so the excess water can go off. This will allow the soil to take in the amount of water it needs to stay moist.
For plants that crave moisture, use a plastic underplate or pebbles to create a humid base. Fill the underplate with a pebbles, then add a half of an inch of water. This will keep the pot from sitting in water but at the same time makes moisture accessible providing extra humidity.
If you think the plant is not absorbing the moisture it needs, then put moss around the crown of the plant. For soil that will not absorb enough water, a thick layer of moss can hold moisture toward the top of the plant.
How to Repot Struggling Plants
Pay close attention to your houseplants and how their appearance starts changing. If they are too wet or too dry, their leaves will turn brown, yellow or even dry.
If there is a stickiness in the plant, it’s a sign of pests like spider mites. And if there is a layer of sap on top the leaves, check whether a good rinse in a shower can remove it or if it’s even better to get rid of the plant to prevent the infection from spreading to other plants
If the dirt level is rising, that means that the plant may be getting root-bound and the root has taken up all the available space in the pot and might be forming a thick, coiled knot around the soil. This is a sign that you need to repot the houseplant so it can thrive.
The first step to refresh a struggling houseplant is determining its new container. It is better to choose a bigger container than the one it’s been living in. Make sure that the new pot has good drainage. Add a soil, fill it to about one-third, then place the plant in. Bury the plant’s root in the soil, press the soil in to give the plant a strong base. Take off the dead leaves or branches and water the plant very well, place it in where there’s good light and humidity it needs to start brightening your day again.