Interior Decorating Shelves With Plants

Succulents will make a distinctive addition to your plant shelves and require minimal maintenance.

Add natural, lush texture to a room by decorating with shelves full of plants. Unlike inanimate objects, plants add life through continual evolution. When decorating shelves with houseplants, consider plant color, the effects of juxtaposing different plants together and overall composition. Although basic design principles will aid you in the layout of your plants, interior decorating is largely the result of your own personal tastes and aesthetic preferences.

Instructions

1. Choose a diversity of houseplants to create plant shelves that are diverse and rich with textural complexity. Consider broad-leafed plants, small-leafed plants, dark- and light-colored plants, vines, bushy plants, woody plants, big plants and little plants. Choose a handful of flowering plants with blooms that match the color scheme in the room you are decorating. Consider using plants that are known for the ability to clean the air in the home, such as spider plants, snake plants, English ivies, Chinese evergreens and weeping figs.

2. Build or purchase shelves that are open in the front and the back, so that your plants will receive a healthy flow of air and light. Place the shelves in a location that receives a healthy amount of sunlight. If this is not possible, indoor plant lights can be placed around the shelves. Indoor plant lights with sensors that cause the lights to turn on when they sense inadequate light conditions are also available.

3. Choose pots. For an eclectic look, use a variety of pot types, including terra cotta, porcelain, basket-enclosed, hand-painted and metal pots. To create a motif with pots, choose three types of pots for all plants. Choose pots that complement each other and that match your current home décor. For a minimalist look, choose just one type of pot.

4. Group your plants into those that require full light, those that require partial light and those that require the least light.

5. Play around with groupings of plants, within the lighting categories. Find out what plants look good next to each other, ensuring that one will not crowd the other. Think about how differences in plants' texture, color, volume and height help bring out the best in one another.

6. Move the plants to the shelves. Place the plants that require full light on the top shelf. Place the plants that require partial light on the second shelf. Save lower shelves for plants that require the least light.

7. Continue to stand back to see the full composition as you arrange the plants on the shelf. Use plant sizes to create changes in levels. Having tiers within the overall arrangement will add visual interest. Think about negative shapes (the shapes that are made in between and around plants) as much as you think about the shapes of the plants themselves.

References

• Gardening Know How: Interior Decorating with Houseplants
• Zone 10: NASA Study House Plants Clean Air