How to Brighten a Bathroom with Plants

For most of us, the bathroom is the first room seen in the morning. Think about how much nicer your day would be if you could walk into a tranquil and spirit-boosting, plant oasis. Many plants need a humid environment beyond what most rooms in a house offer. Brighten your bathroom with plants and the first room you see in the morning can be a tropical paradise.

Instructions

1. Access your bathroom's natural light conditions. The humidity of your bathroom is the perfect environment for many plants, but you must pick plants which also are a good fit for your bathroom lighting. South windows bring in the most light, followed by East windows, then West windows and North windows bring in the least.

2. Pick a plant based on the light provided. Humidity-loving, high light plants for south or east windows include Crotons, Cyclamens, Azaleas and Asparagus Ferns. High-humidity, medium light plants for east or west windows include Aglaonema, Peace Lilies, Calathea and Peperomia. High-humidity, low light plants include Dieffenbachia, Spider Plants, Snake Plants, Boston Ferns and Philodendron.

3. Maximize your space. Space is usually limited in bathrooms, so put plants on window sills, hang plants in front of windows or in corners and put low light plants on the counter, top of the toilet tank and around the tub.

4. Use standard bathroom accessories such as toothbrush holders and tissue boxes for plant pots to add a different touch to your bathroom.

5. Mist plants regularly with distilled water to clean their pores. Products used in bathrooms such as aerosol cans and powders cause build-up in the pores of bathroom plants.

6. Delight every morning in seeing new growth on your plants. Give them each a quick glance first thing in the morning to renew your spirits.

Tips & Warnings

• Cut back on the amount of water you give bathroom plants. The humidity keeps them moister than plants in the other parts of the house.

• Supplement or replace natural light by using fluorescent light bulbs in light fixtures. Although most plants prefer natural light, fluorescent light is a good substitute.

• Use plants which require varying amounts of light so you can place plants all around your bathroom. This will create a tropical rainforest effect.

• Low light plants are especially good for decorating because they can be placed almost anywhere.