Tips for Bringing Indoor Plants into Every Room

Entering a house that has plants inside is different from entering a house without them. The air is cleaner, corners aren’t so bare, and the entire room is brought to life in a way that furniture can never compare to.

But many people purchase a plant or two, see them fail, and abandon the entire process. The issue generally isn’t the plants themselves—it’s planting the wrong plant in the wrong location or not knowing what various rooms really provide.

Each room in your home has a unique character in terms of light levels, humidity, and temperature changes. Your bathroom establishes a completely different atmosphere than your bedroom, and your kitchen windowsill receives different conditions than the nook of a home office.

After you begin to match plants with these exact conditions rather than grabbing up whatever is pretty at the store, it all becomes a breeze. Head below for a list of realistic ways to successfully add greenery to all rooms that really thrive.

Match plants to your real light conditions

Let a few days pass before you purchase one plant and observe how light travels through each room. North-facing windows provide cool, indirect light all year round—perfect for ferns and pothos, but not ideal for succulents.

South windows blast hot, intense light that rubber plants and cacti love but will reduce delicate leaves to ashes. East rooms receive soft morning sun, while west rooms have to endure hot sunbeams in the afternoon.

If you’re estimating your light levels rather than actually paying attention, you’re stuck, regardless of how frequently you water.

Tap into the humidity in your bathroom

Bathrooms are most likely to create the steamy, tropical environment that certain plants just adore. Boston ferns, peace lilies, and spider plants will love being closer to your shower than in most any other area of your home because they can extract moisture from the air.

Even a windowless bathroom is acceptable if you have low-lighting plants such as pothos or snake plants. Just make sure there is some circulation so they do not become moldy, and put them out of the way from areas where they will be bombarded with cold gusts of air from vents or windows.

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Begin with low-maintenance plants if you are a beginner

Zamioculcas Zamiifolia Plant Gray Ceramic Pot Gray Table Home Gardening — Stock Photo, Image — DepositPhotos

No one wants to take responsibility for having murdered five plants in succession, but it often occurs when you begin with finicky ones that have big egos. Snake plants, ZZ plants, and pothos are almost indestructible and will forgive you for neglecting to water them or placing them in low-light conditions.

These low-maintenance choices allow you to gain experience and discover how things operate in your specific location before transitioning to more high-maintenance plants that require a great deal of care and attention.

Grow herbs on your kitchen windowsill

Having fresh herbs where you cook is more sensible than having them in a remote spot in your home. Basil, mint, and parsley require a few hours of direct sunlight daily, which a south or west-facing kitchen window will happily supply.

You’ll be watering them more than you water ordinary decorative houseplants because they are producing and you’re harvesting them. The reward is reaching for fresh herbs while cooking dinner rather than purchasing those wilted plastic bundles in the supermarket that spoil in three days.

Consider temperature swings in each room

Kitchens fluctuate from warm while you are cooking to cold when you are not, so temperature-sensitive plants are not going to fly. Bedrooms remain steadier, making them ideal for fussy plants such as calatheas or orchids that dislike sudden shifts.

Locations near outside doors can experience cold shocks in winter that can kill tropical plants. Plants placed in front of heating or air conditioning vents will evaporate more quickly and must be watered more frequently.

Consider those intangible conditions that are often overlooked, such as the location in front of heating or air conditioning vents.

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Utilize corners to add vertical interest

Floor corners simply float around looking awkward until you fill them with a tall plant. Fiddle-leaf figs, rubber trees, or large palms occupy vertical space so elegantly and cause rooms to feel larger instead of snug.

The secret is to select a plant that grows tall, not broad—don’t want one to take up your walkway. Corner places in rooms also receive less direct sunlight than windowsills, so select accordingly depending on whether you possess the sunny corner or the dark one.

Cluster small plants in odd numbers

Three small plants in a row on a shelf appear thought out and arranged, but a single plant sitting alone appears to have been an afterthought. Five small succulents on a side table create a small landscape that draws your eye in.

Threes, fives, and sevens are more pleasing than twos and fours to group–clearly, it’s one of those design secrets that really does work. Just ensure the plants you’re collecting have the same light and water requirements, or you’ll be daft to treat them differently when they’re jammed inches apart.

Don’t forget your home office

Hunched over a computer screen all day is less stressful when you have something green to gaze at occasionally. Small plants on your desk, such as air plants or succulents, will not occupy much room but create a visual respite from never-ending documents and emails.

In non-windowed offices, opt for low-light champions that are nearly indestructible, such as Chinese evergreens or snake plants, and add a compact grow light when necessary. Studies continue to demonstrate that office plants lower stress levels and improve concentration.

It’s easy to imagine how great it can be to work among plants rather than just papers and monitors.

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Do not forget drainage before you go adorbs with pots

That cute ceramic pot without gaps is going to kill your plant in the end unless you’re extremely careful with watering. Either make a gaps in the bottom if it’s glazed only so far, or as an outside decorative pot with an appropriately draining nursery pot placed inside it.

Plants sitting in water can develop root rot, which quietly and enigmatically kills them. You’ll be watering regularly, but you won’t know why the leaves are turning yellow, not realizing that the roots are actually rotting. Drainage is more crucial than almost any other factor in keeping the plants alive.

Rotate plants near windows

Plants stretch towards light of their own accord, so that the window side of the plant is thick and lush, and the back side is thin and lopsided-looking. Rotate your plants a quarter turn every week or two to maintain even growth and prevent that wonky appearance.

This is most important on side tables or windowsills by windows, less so for the middle-room plants, which are receiving more balanced light from every angle. Five seconds to do it, but a huge difference in how healthy and lush your plants appear in the long run.

Add plants to the bedroom for improved sleep

Some plants, such as snake plants and aloe vera, produce oxygen at night and not carbon dioxide, unlike most plants. Placing some in your bedroom can enhance air quality while you sleep. In addition to improving air quality, plants provide a serene environment that allows your mind to transition into a state of relaxation.

Just stay away from highly perfumed flowering plants in the bedroom—lavender is theoretically supposed to be calming. Still, strong odors can significantly disrupt sleep for some individuals when placed right beside their head all night.

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Use hanging plants to save space

When you’re short on floor space or surfaces, look up to solve the dilemma. Drooping plants, such as pothos, string of pearls, or spider plants, are beautiful in hanging baskets where their vines can cascade down. Bathroom spaces with high ceilings are ideal for this because the plants benefit from the humidity from showers downstairs.

Just ensure your ceiling hook is properly secured—a planter full of dirt and a thriving plant is quite heavy, and you don’t want it falling on the dinner party or in your sleep.

Observe your plants’ real reactions

Books and websites provide general guidelines, but your particular home may not adhere to them. If your so-called low-light plant is pale and slow-growing in your north window, it more than likely requires more light than it is getting. If your supposedly weekly-watered plant is still dripping wet after two weeks, your humidity or pot is deceiving you.

Look for drooping, yellowing, or browning leaf tips, or overzealous growth as indicators that something needs to be tweaked. Plants actually do communicate very well if you begin to notice their reactions instead of keeping to a rigid schedule.

Leave pet safety as a consideration when choosing plants

Not all houseplants get along with inquisitive cats and dogs who enjoy chewing on things. Peace lilies, pothos, and philodendrons are nice houseplants, but they will make your pets’ stomachs ache or worse if your pets choose to graze on them.

Spider plants, Boston ferns, and African violets are all non-toxic and won’t leave you in a mad scramble to the vet. If you already have toxic plants, placing them on high shelves or out of your pet’s reach works, but it restricts your available space.

Pre-screening possible plants for toxicity prior to bringing them home removes a huge amount of stress and possible vet expenses.

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Plants transform houses into homes

Furniture fashions and color schemes come and go for a few years at a time, but indoor plants are a style that never fades. People have been bringing plants inside for thousands of years, across all climates and cultures, which is a strong indicator of just how fundamental this desire is.

The homes that are coziest and most welcoming almost always contain plants situated here and there—because some law of decoration was never obeyed, not because one was read. Those green plants cause rooms to look inhabited and cared for.

When you start to cease treating plants as mere decor and begin to look at them