Plant Styling 101: Small Spaces
Here’s a fun decorating idea...fill your home with plants to create a relaxing and inspiring retreat while showcasing your personal style. To make things simpler (not to mention more affordable!), focus on plant styling in a small space—a half bath, dorm room, or just a nook—and be sure to follow these six simple tips!
Start with a Clean Space
This should be easy if you are moving into a new space. If you are redecorating an existing area of your home, then start by moving everything out. Clean out the space so you can start fresh.
The Furniture Edit
The furniture you bring into the space needs to fit the aesthetic and the function. A cozy chair is great if you want to create a reading nook, but it may be in the way if you need to use the space to work. If you are styling a studio apartment or a dorm room then select pieces that provide storage and will work for how you need to use the room.
Select the Right Houseplants
Evaluating the conditions of your space—-light and humidity—will help you to select plants that will thrive. A hallway with low light can be a great spot for a Sansevieria or Calathea, but if you want to bring out the colors of a Croton then a low light spot is not the best fit.
Maximize Your Space
When working with a small footprint you need to make use of all available space. Make use of shelves and hanging plants to increase your usable space. Placing plants at varying heights also leads the eye and helps create a more spacious feel. If you live in a dorm room or rental apartment, you may not be able to permanently adhere shelving or hooks to the walls or ceiling, but you can use heavy-duty removable adhesive strips to secure hooks or brackets. Just pay attention to the weight limitations of the adhesive strips.
“Grow” Up
The statuesque Sansevieria, particularly the Sansevieria laurentii and Sansevieria Frozen are showstoppers on their own, but these indoor plants also make it easy to add height and greenery to a tight corner or cramped nook.
Vining plants can be dramatic when placed up high so the vines can hang down, but if you are in an apartment or a dorm room and you want to avoid drilling holes for shelves or brackets, consider staking your vining plants. Pothos and vining Philodendron both have aerial roots, so with a little help and time they will latch on to a stake or trellis and you can enjoy the lush, full leaves of these houseplants and still get your deposit when you move out.
Complement your Decor
Houseplants can be used to complement decorative objects and vice versa. You can frame a piece of artwork with cascading vines or select an Anthurium in a color that coordinates with a well-loved throw, the curtains, or anything else in the room.
Step Back and Enjoy!
When decorating any space it’s important to make sure the room feels comfortable and works for you. Indoor plants can make a space feel inviting and relaxing. Whether you want to create an indoor jungle or surround yourself with a carefully curated collection of houseplants these tips can help you style your small space like a pro.