10 Style-Boosting Design Ideas for Your Indoor Plants
Nuts about house plants? Check out these ways to make a bigger impact with your indoor potted displays
Lauren Dunec Hoang
21 July 2019
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR.
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and... More
House plants of all shapes and sizes can brighten a room, help improve air quality and generally bring more life to interior spaces. How you display indoor plants – particularly if you’ve accumulated a lot of them – can have a big impact on whether your house plant collection looks like an intentional part of your interior design or a haphazard jungle (which has a charm all of its own). Take a look at these 10 ideas for potting, grouping and displaying your indoor plants in ways that will bring new life to your overall room design.
1. Choose placement based on a plant’s personality
By ‘personality’ I mean both its growth habit and light requirements. If you already have the house plant, research whether it’s a sun lover or can tolerate darker areas before you scout for potential placements. Once you’ve identified areas with bright light (direct and indirect), medium light and low light –and the plants that thrive in each exposure – note each plant’s growth habit and size.
Position trailing plants such as pothos and string of pearls (Senecio rowleyanus), on high shelves where they can spill down. Display desktop-size plants close to eye level, such as on a mantelpiece or mid-level shelf, so they can be appreciated up close.
Reserve bigger structural plants, such as fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) or a large-scale cactus, for areas like empty corners or the space beside the sofa.
By ‘personality’ I mean both its growth habit and light requirements. If you already have the house plant, research whether it’s a sun lover or can tolerate darker areas before you scout for potential placements. Once you’ve identified areas with bright light (direct and indirect), medium light and low light –and the plants that thrive in each exposure – note each plant’s growth habit and size.
Position trailing plants such as pothos and string of pearls (Senecio rowleyanus), on high shelves where they can spill down. Display desktop-size plants close to eye level, such as on a mantelpiece or mid-level shelf, so they can be appreciated up close.
Reserve bigger structural plants, such as fiddle-leaf fig (Ficus lyrata) or a large-scale cactus, for areas like empty corners or the space beside the sofa.
2. Group smaller pots
Give little containers more oomph by collecting them into a defined area, including on a bench, windowsill or plant rack. In this New York, USA, apartment, a collection of small to medium-size plants in mixed terracotta pots looks much more intentional marching along a bench by a sunny window than if the same potted plants were displayed scattered around the living room. Plus, plants in groups are easier to water.
Find a gardener near you on Houzz for advice on which plants will thrive in your home
Give little containers more oomph by collecting them into a defined area, including on a bench, windowsill or plant rack. In this New York, USA, apartment, a collection of small to medium-size plants in mixed terracotta pots looks much more intentional marching along a bench by a sunny window than if the same potted plants were displayed scattered around the living room. Plus, plants in groups are easier to water.
Find a gardener near you on Houzz for advice on which plants will thrive in your home
3. Use repetition
Establish themes – all succulents, matching white pots, baskets or colourful containers – to draw together the look of your potted plants. This works well for grouped plant collections, including this arrangement in Texas, USA, but can help integrate potted plants placed throughout the house.
Establish themes – all succulents, matching white pots, baskets or colourful containers – to draw together the look of your potted plants. This works well for grouped plant collections, including this arrangement in Texas, USA, but can help integrate potted plants placed throughout the house.
You can also use repetition in your plant placement. For shelves, try arranging the same number of plants on each level. Here, the designers used repetition in three ways (the same plant type, containers and number of plants per shelf) to create a display of orchids that brings life to a small bathroom. Most orchids thrive in bright, indirect light, as shown here.
How Do I… Choose Plants for My Bathroom?
How Do I… Choose Plants for My Bathroom?
4. Go vertical
You don’t need to invest in a complicated planting system to create a vertical garden. A metal trellis attached to the wall can provide a place for hanging potted plants or for indoor vines to climb.
In this loft in Barcelona, Spain, the architects added a metal trellis to the wall spanning both floors, and hung potted rhipsalis (Rhipsalis sp.) and staghorn fern (Platycerium sp.). As a result, the bare white wall has been transformed into a dynamic, leafy feature.
You don’t need to invest in a complicated planting system to create a vertical garden. A metal trellis attached to the wall can provide a place for hanging potted plants or for indoor vines to climb.
In this loft in Barcelona, Spain, the architects added a metal trellis to the wall spanning both floors, and hung potted rhipsalis (Rhipsalis sp.) and staghorn fern (Platycerium sp.). As a result, the bare white wall has been transformed into a dynamic, leafy feature.
5. Hang a plant ‘chandelier’
Draw the eye upward with the addition of one stand-out house plant suspended from the ceiling. Look for trailing varieties, including hoya, pothos, hearts entangled (Ceropegia woodii) or some varieties of rhipsalis that will hang down from the container. If you don’t have a bright spot with a skylight, position the hanging plant near a window.
11 Hardy House Plants That Thrive on Neglect
Draw the eye upward with the addition of one stand-out house plant suspended from the ceiling. Look for trailing varieties, including hoya, pothos, hearts entangled (Ceropegia woodii) or some varieties of rhipsalis that will hang down from the container. If you don’t have a bright spot with a skylight, position the hanging plant near a window.
11 Hardy House Plants That Thrive on Neglect
6. Use a hanging plant rack
Another way to bring indoor plants to bare walls is to rig up a hanging planter. Systems like this usually don’t come with drainage holes (it would make a mess indoors), so you’ll drop plants in their nursery pots into the containers in the hanging system. This has the advantage of keeping the arrangement flexible, allowing you to easily swap out plants.
You can find these hanging systems through specialty nurseries or online, or put together your own using dowel rods to support multiple potted plant hangers.
Another way to bring indoor plants to bare walls is to rig up a hanging planter. Systems like this usually don’t come with drainage holes (it would make a mess indoors), so you’ll drop plants in their nursery pots into the containers in the hanging system. This has the advantage of keeping the arrangement flexible, allowing you to easily swap out plants.
You can find these hanging systems through specialty nurseries or online, or put together your own using dowel rods to support multiple potted plant hangers.
7. Turn a shelf into a plant display
Devoting a floating shelf to your indoor plant collection is a great way to save floor space, combine smaller potted plants to make a bigger impact, and bring little plants up to eye level.
If you’re hanging a new shelf, position it in an area close to a window or natural light source. Mix in other organic items, such as shells, or use brass candlesticks, small sculptures, framed pictures or other home accessories to create a vignette.
Devoting a floating shelf to your indoor plant collection is a great way to save floor space, combine smaller potted plants to make a bigger impact, and bring little plants up to eye level.
If you’re hanging a new shelf, position it in an area close to a window or natural light source. Mix in other organic items, such as shells, or use brass candlesticks, small sculptures, framed pictures or other home accessories to create a vignette.
8. Look for unused spaces
In this converted Victorian schoolhouse in Nottinghamshire, UK, the owners took down the curtains in the laundry and repurposed the lower rod into a plant rack. Equipped with potted orchids, basil, succulents and other houseplants, this easily overlooked spot has become an attractive space.
Other often neglected areas that can be good places for house plants include the tops of bookshelves, shadowy corners and oddly shaped nooks.
Home Grown: Create Your Own Kitchen Garden
In this converted Victorian schoolhouse in Nottinghamshire, UK, the owners took down the curtains in the laundry and repurposed the lower rod into a plant rack. Equipped with potted orchids, basil, succulents and other houseplants, this easily overlooked spot has become an attractive space.
Other often neglected areas that can be good places for house plants include the tops of bookshelves, shadowy corners and oddly shaped nooks.
Home Grown: Create Your Own Kitchen Garden
9. Deck out your bathroom
Bathrooms often feel more natural with the addition of a plant or two to break up expanses of tile and mirrors. Plus, most indoor plants thrive with the additional moisture from the shower.
The designers of this home in London’s Hackney neighbourhood took advantage of a skylight above the bath to hang potted donkey tail (Sedum morganianum), staghorn fern (Platycerium sp.), string of bananas (Senecio radicans) and common ivy. As a result, the bath feels like a tranquil mini-conservatory.
Recreate the look with plants hung from a shower curtain rod or with a hanging trio of plants by a bathroom window.
Bathrooms often feel more natural with the addition of a plant or two to break up expanses of tile and mirrors. Plus, most indoor plants thrive with the additional moisture from the shower.
The designers of this home in London’s Hackney neighbourhood took advantage of a skylight above the bath to hang potted donkey tail (Sedum morganianum), staghorn fern (Platycerium sp.), string of bananas (Senecio radicans) and common ivy. As a result, the bath feels like a tranquil mini-conservatory.
Recreate the look with plants hung from a shower curtain rod or with a hanging trio of plants by a bathroom window.
10. Ditch the containers
Give an entirely new look to indoor plants by replacing their pots with free-form balls made of moss and string. You’ve probably seen kokedama, plants with wrapped root balls that form container-free hanging gardens – a Japanese art. While they can resemble works of art, hung like floating islands in a window or resting on a sill, kokedama are surprisingly easy to make and care for.
To water, dunk the root ball in water, allowing it to soak for a few minutes. Squeeze gently to release excess water. Repeat every few days or weekly, depending on the size of the root ball, climate and plant variety.
Give an entirely new look to indoor plants by replacing their pots with free-form balls made of moss and string. You’ve probably seen kokedama, plants with wrapped root balls that form container-free hanging gardens – a Japanese art. While they can resemble works of art, hung like floating islands in a window or resting on a sill, kokedama are surprisingly easy to make and care for.
To water, dunk the root ball in water, allowing it to soak for a few minutes. Squeeze gently to release excess water. Repeat every few days or weekly, depending on the size of the root ball, climate and plant variety.
Your turn
What styling tricks can you share with fellow indoor-plant lovers? Tell us in the Comments, like this story, save the images for inspiration, and join the conversation.
More
Need more green-thumbed advice? Don’t miss The Art of Espalier: How to Train Fruit Trees Into 2D Sculptures
What styling tricks can you share with fellow indoor-plant lovers? Tell us in the Comments, like this story, save the images for inspiration, and join the conversation.
More
Need more green-thumbed advice? Don’t miss The Art of Espalier: How to Train Fruit Trees Into 2D Sculptures
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One corner of my sunroom.
A week or so ago I saw a woman wearing a T-shirt that said: "It's not hoarding if it's houseplants". I've been taking this to heart and bought three more today at Home Depot. I am propogating my variegated rubber tree and have at least one spider plant in each room. Although the one in the living room is having a really tough time and may need to be culled. I have a Christmas cactus which isn't blooming properly so I threatened it with extinction and It bloomed slightly for the next few weeks. It has new growth now, so maybe it will survive.
I love the honeycomb shelving we built in our bedroom. Plants make everything better.