Your home is for living, so your decor should match! Decorate your home with plants. Houseplants have a way of making any space feel more like “home”, whether you’ve had your current address for three weeks or thirty years. There aren’t many decor challenges that can’t be solved with the right houseplants, so try these ideas today to breathe some new life into your living space!
Decorate with Plants to Brighten Up a Dim Room
While we love a good sun-drenched room, for most of us in Chicagoland, that simply isn’t the reality. Small windows, or very few windows, can make a room feel a little cavernous—but that doesn’t mean you can’t perk up the place: Decorate with plants! These low-light houseplants can add a burst of life to shadier areas of your home.
ZZ Plants (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) and Snake Plants (Sansevieria trifasciata) are low-light plants that grow to impressive heights. They require hardly any maintenance at all, yet their impressive shapes and foliage make a big impact in bedrooms, living rooms, and hallways. Pick these plants if you’re looking for a stand-alone statement plant to dress up a dull corner. You can add even more height with a plant stand that matches your decor style.
Red Prayer Plants (Maranta leuconeura) and Tropical Bromeliads (Guzmania spp.) are a top choice for adding a little extra color and a tropical vibe to spaces with very little sunlight. The pops of red on each of these plants liven up drab spaces, like office cubicles or basements. Bromeliads can survive under fluorescent light alone, perfect for windowless workspaces. Meanwhile, Prayer Plants can get by with indirect light from a small window.
Chinese Money Plant (Pilea peperomioides) and Spider Plants (Chlorophytum comosum) add lots of fun texture in a small package. The Spider Plant’s shock of variegated leaves soften up a room with lots of hard edges, and they have no problem thriving in environments with very limited sunlight. These low-maintenance plants are also some of the best houseplants for beginners. Peperomia’s compact size and quirky coin-shaped foliage will bring a smile to your face wherever you have room for it. Try adding one to a bathroom shelf, bedroom dresser, or dining room hutch.
Decorate with Plants to Make the Most of a Small Space
If you live closer to the Chicago city center, there’s a good chance that space is at a premium. When you’ve only got so much square footage to work with, try focusing on your wall space and having some fun with hanging baskets! Strategically-placed plants make smaller spaces feel cozier while drawing attention away from the occasional bit of clutter. Try these space-saving ideas and decorate with plants!
Succulent containers let you add a full-on miniature garden to wall shelves, bookcases, mantels, and dining room tables. These adorable containers incorporate a mix of colors and textures to bring some personality into compact areas.
Jade Plants (Crassula ovata) are a huge trend right now, both as houseplants and housewarming gifts. Their succulent foliage is adorably eccentric, and they fit right in on any sunny shelf or windowsill. You can also find Jade Plants in virtually any size, so you can choose one that fits the space you’re trying to fill.
Tillandsia, or air plants, are a family of plants that require no soil to survive. Without the need for bulky pots, these fascinating family of bromeliads makes it easy to add plants to small spaces. So, decorating with houseplants becomes much more accessible. A popular way to display tillandsia is by attaching them to pieces of driftwood, which you can add to a shelf or a mantel for a gorgeous focal feature. Make sure your tillandsia isn’t permanently attached so you can remove it for a weekly soak! Try inserting a few push pins or small nails to the driftwood to create “perches” for each of your air plants. You can also display these whimsical plants in terrariums or hanging containers.
Hanging baskets are the ultimate small-space solution, and combined with a trailing plant, they add a stunning, romantic effect to even the tiniest of rooms. These look especially on-trend when suspended with ornate macrame hanging plant holders. Make sure to anchor them to an appropriately strong hook to the ceiling, or if you can’t do that, try hanging your basket on a curtain rod! A few of our favorite hanging basket houseplants include Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum), Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum aethiopicum), Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exaltata), English Ivy (Hedera helix), and Burro’s Tail (Sedum morganianum).
Decorate with Plants to Emphasize High Ceilings
If you’re lucky enough to have a home with tall, airy ceilings, first of all—we’re jealous! However, we know that these gorgeous spaces pose some design challenges of their own. Rooms can feel a little empty without something to draw the eye upward and capitalize on all that vertical real estate. Dress up a tall wall with these high-and-mighty plants.
Indoor trees are a coveted accent, and you’ve got the perfect space to show them off. A mature Red-edge Dracaena’s (Dracaena marginata) slim trunk and eye-catching, cascading foliage are great for adding some height to your living room decor. Fiddle-leaf Figs (Ficus lyrata) and Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina) are happy to take advantage of ample headroom, and it’s hard to beat their “wow”-factor!
Climbing vines can take a simple ladder and turn it into a breathtaking work of art. A wooden ladder leaned against the wall can become a set of shallow shelves for displaying photos and artifacts, while the vine can climb up the rungs and draw the eye up high. A trendy Monstera plant (Monstera), Marble Queen Golden Pothos (Epipremnum aureum ‘Marble Queen’), or Creeping Fig (Ficus pumila) are “up” to the task!
Spice Up Your Kitchen Window Decor
The kitchen isn’t normally the first place we think to decorate with plants, but if you love to cook, the right selections can pack a punch—for both your space and your recipes!
Herbs are a natural fit to add practical kitchen decor. With a bit of soil and a sunny window, you can grow just about all of your favorites, like basil, cilantro, mint, lavender, thyme, and rosemary, to name a few. You can add even more personality, while keeping the area tidy, by choosing a Scheurich Pot Cover that matches your kitchen’s color palette.
Succulents are another fabulous living kitchen accessory, with so many fun varieties to choose from! Try clustering together a group of three different sizes, colors, and textures on a sunny open shelf, or lining up a few smaller succulents along a windowsill. Aloe Vera is especially handy in the kitchen, as the jelly-like flesh is a soothing natural remedy for minor burns.
Are you inspired to adorn your home with beautiful living decor? Visit one of our garden center locations in Bloomingdale or Carpentersville to find these plants, along with lots of other inspiration for every room. Decorate with plants and add some joy to your space!
Platt Hill Nursery is Chicago premier garden center and nursery.
Additional Information:
Watering Indoor Plants
Best Plants for Apartments