[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”Make Houseplants Part of Your Interior Design”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]One of the great advantages of growing houseplants is how good they make your home look.
“It’s the details that make the difference in really pulling a home together,
and houseplants are one of those essential details,” says interior designer Michaelin Reamy, owner of Natural Color and Design in Menlo Park.
“Indoor plants make great decorator pieces,” agrees Mill Valley interior designer Stacey Lapuk. “Most furnishings and architectural details are comprised of hard surfaces and straight lines, but houseplants add softness and depth to a space.”
Houseplants make a home feel lived in, says Debbie Jorgensen, owner of Patt’s Greenhouse in Los Altos. “Plants give the indoors a comfortable, inviting feeling.”
With their wide variety of leaf shapes, sizes, colors and textures, houseplants can be used to decorate just about any interior, and they serve a wide variety of design purposes.
“Houseplants can be used to make a room look larger,” says Lapuk. If you want to make a ceiling appear higher, for instance, put a tall, slender plant, such as Dracaena marginata, in a corner. To fill in dead corners, use a tall, bushy plant like Ficus benjamina. If you don’t have enough space for floor plants, try hanging houseplants, which often have the added benefit of flowering.
Another tactic for making rooms look larger is to place houseplants near windows where there is greenery outside, so that the indoors appears to be an extension of the outdoors.
You can also use houseplants to make large rooms look smaller. Accomplish this by bringing in a plant that is oversized for the space, which will make the ceiling feel lower, or choose a plant that grows up and then drapes. A good draping choice is the ponytail plant (Beaucarnea recurvata).
Plants can also be used to break up large living spaces and create transitions between rooms.
“If your home’s design is such that you step right into your living room when you enter your house, you can make the entry less jarring with a line of houseplants,” says Lapuk.
Plants can also be used to direct traffic flow. A pink orchid in the entryway, for instance, can lead people into a living room seating space where there is a calathea with variegated pink and green leaves.
To have success decorating with houseplants, keep these tips in mind.
— CREATE FOCAL POINTS. Houseplants — such as those that bloom — add to a room’s decor when placed in the spotlight. Rather than putting short-lived cut flowers on the dining room table, try orchids, African violets, anthuriums or plants with colorful foliage.
Other good spots for eye-catching plants are coffee tables, entryways, the foot or top of stairs, kitchen counters and fireplace mantels.
— TIE A SPACE TOGETHER. Plants can be used to create intimate spaces. Flank a sofa with flowering plants and on the coffee table add a plant with a similar color, and the whole space will feel cozy and comfortable.
— CREATE GROUPINGS. Clusters of small plants add a decorative touch to certain areas of the home such as desks, pianos, fireplace mantels, credenzas, hutches, dressers and nightstands, and in bathrooms next to sinks or on bathtub decks.
They can be placed in individual decorative pots or grouped together in a basket or larger pot. When grouping plants in a larger container, leave each plant in its own container and camouflage with moss.
Groupings look especially good if there is a combination of flowering and foliage plants. If you’re doing all foliage, choose plants with leaf colors that blend well. Herbs would be a good choice for the kitchen.
— CONSIDER PLANT STYLES. “The type of plants you choose will dictate the feeling of each room,” says Lapuk. “Some plants, like orchids, lend an elegant, sensuous atmosphere to a room, while others, such as the rubber plant (Ficus elastica), tend to give a room a more informal, heavier feeling.
“Pay careful attention to the size, weight, texture and shape of each plant and determine if it will help open up a space or make it more cozy. You’ll want heavier looking plants in a den, for instance, but a bathroom will probably call for something lighter.”
— CHOOSE YOUR CONTAINERS CAREFULLY. Except for hanging plants, pots — especially small ones — are a highly visible part of designing with houseplants. Make sure that a container’s color, design, shape, size and texture match room decor and contribute to the atmosphere you’re trying to create.
— TRY PLANT ACCENTS. There are a wide variety of accessories you can use with houseplants to make them even more decorative and to tie a decor together. These include plant sticks made of materials such as ceramic, wood and beads.
You’ll find various accents such as little birds, insects and butterflies. For the holidays, decorate with items like gourds, berries, red ribbons and small Santas.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
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© Julie Bawden-Davis