How To Decorate Your Apartment With Plants

Apartment decorated with plants and zen vibe

Last Updated on October 5, 2021 by Plantiful Interiors

One of the best, charming ways to update and refresh an apartment’s flair is to add indoor houseplants.

Houseplants give any apartment a beautiful, Instagram worthy appeal.

It’s amazing how quickly a hanging maidenhair fern or potted elephant ear can breathe life to a living space.

To decorate an apartment with plants, analyze the regular sunlight and temperature of your place. Then, pick out some plants (suggestions below), research how big they will grow, and what conditions they need to grow, including the pot size. Then, start planning how to arrange your plants throughout your apartment where they will add color, dimension, and natural beauty to the place.

Choosing plants for your apartment can be challenging. You want to pick something that does not need much attention, can live in a pot, and can grow within the light conditions of your space.

Then, you have to think of where to place it in your apartment for maximum effect.

That is exactly what we are here to explore!

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What Are The Best Rooms In Your Apartment To Decorate With Plants?

All plants are different and need different things. Figuring out how to decorate your apartment with plants can be tricky since you may be dealing with small spaces and limited options.

Often times, people think of plants as being outdoor items. While a balcony is a great place for herbs, flowers or even a climbing plant that can start in a pot, there are plenty of great ways to use plants as indoor decor, too.

Start off by adding a few plants to high traffic areas.

Plants in the kitchen

The kitchen is a great place to start with indoor plants. Succulents or trailing vine plants (as long as they are not near the stove or oven) are good starter plants in the kitchen.

Since you actively use your kitchen every day, you’re most likely to make watering and caring for your kitchen plants part of your regular routine.

Kitchens also have the plant’s main source of food ready at hand, the sink!

We love how @hearthomeinterior has displayed her plant beauties on a kitchen shelf along with some farmhouse styled kitchen accessories that match her decor perfectly and creates a stunning entry into the kitchen.

Vine plants on shelf with old fashioned kitch accessories
Photo Credit: Instagram @hearthomeinterior

Plants in bedrooms and living spaces

Rooms that are occupied frequently are the best places to put plants.

Houseplants in living spaces provide beautiful, natural decoration. They can be placed at the centerpiece of a coffee table, as bookshelf bookends, and on TV mantels.

Bedrooms and living spaces benefit from the beauty of bringing the outdoors in.

To help you figure out which plants work best in the bedroom, check out our top 10 plants that will spruce up your bedroom.

Need some great ideas to get you started? Decorating your apartment with plants doesn’t have to be hard. We’ve got you covered.

Draw Attention With a Living Wall

Living walls are just what they sound like, a garden used as a prominent wall feature.

Depending on what you like, your living wall can be completely filled with plants, leaving no visible space, or a few coordinating plants that take up a decent part of an empty wall.

Living walls are cool, unique, and a great way to spice up a boring side of your apartment.

Some of the best-looking plants for a living wall are small vines because they hang out of the planter and fall down the front or side of the wall, creating a very natural, flowing look.

One challenge that comes to having a living wall is figuring out how to build it. This video from POPSUGAR home walks your through everything you need:

How to Make a DIY Indoor Living Plant Wall | Eye on Design

If building your own living wall isn’t doable in your apartment, you can opt for a pre-made unit such as this tiered indoor planter.

Not only will it save you from creating a ton of drill holes that you may have to fill if you move out, it will create a cohesive look where your plants can sit comfortably. It’s also easy to move, water and switch out with new plants.

Add Another Dimension With Hanging Plants

Consider adding some trailing plants, the ceiling is a great usable space for these beauties.

Hanging plants from the ceiling in any of these decorative hanging planters will create an all-around spectacular look.

Since there aren’t many uses for our ceilings – and there’s a whole lot of space up there—prime real estate for a spider plant or string of pearls.

If you have enough humidity and light, a Boston fern is another hanging plant that can add a gorgeous unique aspect to any room in your apartment.

The key to hanging plants is to make sure they are properly secured. Be sure to weigh the total amount of the pot, soil, and potential plant weight in order to buy the right hook and the most secure spot. Hanging plants are beautiful, but falling plants are disastrous!

Add Plants to Shelving Units

Shelving units can look boring without the right mix of decorative items. This is where small plants or succulents will add natural beauty, detail, and color.

A bookshelf with potted plant bookends is classy and modern.

Or, an entire shelving unit dedicated only to plants can be very fresh and outdoorsy.

Similar to a plant wall, shelving units can draw attention to a wall and be their own kind of decoration. Corner shelves work wonders in an apartment where space and storage are slim.

Shelving units can also be dual purpose, depending on your space. You can use the bottom half for storage with cubby bins, and the top half with decorations and plants to draw the eye up and away from those cubby bins!

This corner plant stand is a recommended shelving unit that is perfect for an area that doesn’t have much space.

Related Reading: How To Choose The Best Plants For Your Apartment

zen plant corner IG maddyrussell
Photo Credit: Instagram @maddyrussell

Bring in Some Floor Plants

Floor plants come in all different shapes and sizes, from trees to itty-bitty cacti, and they can go practically anywhere.

Some favorite places could be in a lonely corner, replacing a bedside table, next to the couch, or in your entryway.

Floor plants are excellent for bringing balance into the equation.

Consider adding a palm plant. Palm plants can be a perfect way to beautify a boring corner of the room.

Although big plants are beautiful, it’s important that they are not cramped.

Also, thank about relative size and space balance – the bigger the room, the larger the plant can be.

Floor plants are in reach of everyone and everything in the apartment. Keep this in mind when deciding where to place your plants if you have pets or children.

Keep in mind that plants can be poisonous; this can be a hazard to pets and little children. Plants unsafe for children or pets should be placed in higher parts of your space as long as you’re sure they are out of reach. On a shelf, hanging, or lifted with a stand are safer ways to display hazardous plants.

To keep plants out of reach of pets, these floating shelves are an excellent choice to displaying plants in your apartment.

Windows and Sunlight: North, South, East and West

Windows are essential for growing houseplants; natural sunlight is a necessity for all living things. And it is important to remember that light coming through a window is significantly less powerful than direct sunlight.

Decorating while keeping in mind the plant’s needs is an important skill to master in your apartment – knowing window direction is an easy way to help find the perfect placement.

  • North – One of the most popular house plants, the Peace Lily is best placed in the north window. Unfortunately, north windows never get direct sunlight. If it is slightly angled, it may get a glimpse of morning or afternoon sun
  • South – A south-facing window provides about 4 hours of sunlight, which is perfect for a Jade Plant. The Jade plant is a succulent with oval-shaped leaves, and occasionally a small pink or white flower.
  • West – Apartments with west windows are best decorated with flowers such as Geraniums that can thrive in evening sunlight. The west window gets full afternoon sun, so plants in need of more sunlight do best there.
  • East – These windows are lucky enough to get the morning sunrise. My favorite east window plant is the Monstera Adensonii, more commonly known as the Swiss Cheese Plant because it’s leaves have holes throughout them, resembling the look of swiss cheese.

Big, beautiful windows are not always an option in every apartment and looking for plants that need little to no sunlight may pose a challenge, but actually, there is a large variety of plants that do not need much sunlight.

From snake plants to weeping figs and devil’s ivy to ponytail palms, you can find a plant to brighten even the most shadowy spot!

Conclusion

Making our apartment feel like home is the real reason we work so hard on our decorating. Houseplants just give off a fresh, natural, and homey feeling.

As long as you find the plants that fit the climate of your apartment, the best way to decorate your space with houseplants is by following your instinct and choosing plants you find beauty in.

The nice part about decorating your apartment with plants is that you can’t go wrong. If you don’t like a plant where you first place it, it can easily be moved to a different location.

And, they’re a much easier way to add color to any room without worrying about matching paint colors.

Take good care of your plants, and they’ll be with you far beyond the end of your lease!

More Plant Decor Articles:

Bohemian Living Room Ideas On A Budget
6 Ways To Decorate Living Room Shelves
How To Create A Tropical Vibe For Your Staycation

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