House Plants… Add a Wow Factor to Your Indoors!

With indoor plants being the in thing knowing their benefits, which ones to select and pointers to keep in mind with regards to displaying and styling them would be a good idea.

 Albeit plants have been existing since time immemorial but since the past couple of decades they’ve sort of come into the limelight. Just scroll through Instagram, our best home designs and you’ll be floored at the number of pics capturing breath-taking interiors covered in leafy vines, hanging plants, spunky succulents, and trees that liven up every corner of a room.

So it’s high time to revamp your interiors and vet some house plants to spice up your rooms to rope in the plethora of benefits that plants provide.

Benefits of Indoor Plants

That splash of greenery in your house boosts your health in ways you probably don’t even realize. Let’s check out some benefits of indoor plants –

  • Plants play a pivotal role in lending colour and liveliness to your space; besides – increasing the relative humidity indoors, alleviating noise, screening unattractive areas, and moderating room temperature.
  • Houseplants can weave wonders for your mental health. Plants call for a sense of care and companionship which in turn creates a sense of accomplishment in the house owners.
  • Homemaker Preeti Bhatt shares “Potting plants and maintaining them allows me to forget about the non-avoidable stressful irritants of the day and enables me to focus on the here-and-now.”
  • More and more organizations are accepting the rise in employee productivity (by a whopping 15 per cent) post placement of indoor plants.
  • Research claims that patients recovering from surgeries and having plants in their rooms require less pain medication; have normal blood pressure and heart rates; and undergo less fatigue and stress vis-à-vis their counterparts who do not have greenery in their hospital rooms.
  • Research claims that indoor plants help rid the air of common toxins and indoor pollutants such as formaldehyde and benzene allowing you to breathe better air.  The best bet here would be six to eight medium to large plants through a large room. But hey…don’t forget to keep their leaves clean and dust-free and re-charge them by periodically taking them outdoors in the natural sunlight. So, are you planning to keep them indoors? Then here’s the list you can have for indoors:

So the next time you complain about watering your indoor plants do give your memory a jig on their afore-mentioned benefits!

Plants That May Be Dangerous For Children or Pets

Before you go gung-ho and hoard up on house plants here’s sharing a brief sampling of common plants that pose a danger to children and animals –

The above list is not a consolidated one. So the best thing to do for those households with children or pets would be to double check with a horticulturist and doctor/vet before bringing a new plant variety into the home.

Low-Maintenance Indoor Plants

Popular indoor plants (for families sans pets and children) which need low maintenance include

Styling Cues for House Plants

Well hope you’re inspired to create your own urban jungle in your home? Flummoxed with – species, placement, planters, real or fake? Relax Gharpedia brings you some tips in this segment –

01. Place Plants in the Spotlight:

  • Make leafy greens the focal point of your room and keep exploring the plethora of fake plants and flowers available in the market
  • Maximize on the power of planters and go ahead and experiment with a variety of textures and tones to spark interest in your greens … start with brass, terracotta and natural stone
  • Be bold and experiment placement of plants by deploying low tables, window sills, stools, varied shelving etc.

02. Ensure Adequate Availability of Light, Water and of Course Care:

  • Read up on the indoor plants you are hosting to ascertain the amount of light and water they require prior to installing them in your house
  • To ensure that your green beauties are highlighted through day and night up-light them with small lamps, candles et. al.
  • Give your plants a quick once-over when you’re cleaning to retain their shiny and squeaky clean look

03. Breathe Life into Your Home:

  • The best part about plants is that they add hue to a simple colour scheme and being living beings they’ll change their colours through the day invariably transforming the look of the room they adorn!
  • While zeroing-in on your house plants do keep in mind the proportions of your room – you don’t want looming tall palms making your study room claustrophobic, do you?

04. Multiplicity is the Way to Go!:

  • Blessed with tall ceilings and a plethora of space? Then go ahead think big, think high and end up making a style statement with an oasis creation. If otherwise, then opt for small succulents and mini planters to pack in just as big a punch!
  • Opt for showcasing your plants against backgrounds of stone and wood and sit back and bask in the glory of the compliments from your awe-struck guests!
  • Place plants at unexpected places … these could be in the shower in your bathroom or dangling from hanging baskets in your bedroom or popping up from your kitchen window sill. Trust us they’ll enliven the space they occupy

05. Tackling Challenges of Space:

  • Is space a major constraint? Just go ahead and line up mini house plants on your mantelpiece, or on a shelf
  • You could also break the monotony of your bookshelves with plants like hoya (that are comfortable with paucity of light) that spill out over your shelves

A friendly word of counsel – While potting your house plants do remember to add a thick layer of gravel at the bottom for better drainage. Soggy compost is a put-off for house plants but water collected in the gravel helps maintain humidity around the roots, without water logging.

Ways to Display House Plants

Here are some awesome and modernistic designer ideas for displaying house plants of any shape and size –

  • Hang house plants from the ceiling
  • Display house plants in a macramé hanging pot holder and save on counter space
  • Add a bookshelf or rack for your house plants
  • Keep large figs in ornamental planters placed in a bright corner
  • Display the unique glory of your cactus in a basket
  • Cluster a collection of low-maintenance indoor plants like aloe and succulents, on a narrow shelf for impact
  • Perfectly ensconce indoor-friendly vines in homemade wooden boxes
  • Place plants on the windowsill to capitalize on the natural sunshine
  • Hang small pots at varying heights near a window
  • Create a collection of plants by placing them on a floating shelf near the light source

On a concluding note, a green thumb or an interior design degree are not mandates in order to bring a beautiful touch of nature indoors. The only requirements are tad creativity, inspiration and the right house plants to make your house a happening place!

We hope that you loved our article on house plants. And since you are reading about house plants, it is also a must to know about how to maintain them. Hence, we have shared a really informative article worth reading:

If you have a balcony in your apartment and love indoor plants, then what are you waiting for? Here we give you a complete guide on apartment balcony gardens:

Image Courtesy: Image 63, Image 66, Image 67, Image 68Image 69, Image 70, Image 72, Image 73, Image 75

Author Bio

Huta Raval – An English Literature and Journalism Topper, Huta Raval has graduated from the L D Arts College, Ahmedabad. Post serving for 23 years in the NBFC and Public Library Sectors her desire for ‘writing the unwritten’ brought her to the creative field of content writing. Her clientele comprises of NGOs, Blogging Platforms, Newspapers, Academic Institutions, et al.

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