Indoor decorating with greenery

The trend of bringing the outdoors indoors is not about to die out. The need to connect with nature was further strengthened with the many lockdowns we suffered. This meant we were locked within the confines of our homes or houses.

Whichever space one was in, the confinement made us miss the whispering of the willow, the scent that the lavender, the beauty every flower blossom brings and so much more. Therefore, rather than buy flowers that will be gone tomorrow, and whose prices or availability is not constant, decorating our houses with greenery is a lasting solution. Some plants will purify the air, while others will add a twist to the décor.

We want all that plants can offer and hence share with you various ways to go about greenery décor. Even for those that have failed with nurturing plant life, there are options so do not have that crestfallen face. 

Putting them on a room delivery cart

Just like that service man delivers your meals to your hotel room, so do we want you to deliver beauty and more to your space. This room delivery cart eases moving of plants in case you are doing a room makeover.

“You will not have to move the plants individually. Apart from saving you the tiring activity, you will avoid breaking any vase, bruising a delicate stem or crushing a new bloom,” Edson Byabigaba, an interior designer shares. Additionally, it eases movement for maintenance and watering.

Byabigaba says this cart of plants works well to decorate awkward spaces such as a nook that has no windows to it.

“While some house nooks might have a cosy seat or work as a home office, others stand awkwardly before you. Rather than painfully living with this space, turn it into your greenery corner. That is akin to having a small plant manufacturing spot,” he shares.

Byabigaba says the house owner needs to mind the vases used. He points out that their colour, and texture should complement or blend with the accessories within the room.

While these plants are a very beautiful addition to our spaces, some are poisonous, such as philodendron. “Putting these at the back of the cart, for those which are high, is advisable. However, if they are short, you may want to leave them out of your collection for the safety of your household, including pets,” he advises.

Decorating with desert plants

Part of the outdoors is weather elements and these can also be achieved using plants. For example, for a sunny feel all year round, incorporating desert plants is ideal. These could be the prickly pear cactus, aloe vera, or ghost plant. “The catch is that seeing that they adorn the tables and the sides of the chairs (where you would put a side table or lamp), the environment is not suitable for children.

Apart from the probability of them breaking the vases, some of these plants are thorny and poisonous,” Erina Nyangole, a plant lover, shares.

Artificial plants

Planting and maintaining plant life may seem easy but a lot of work goes into it. For one that has a busy schedule, chances are the plants will miss out on care. 

That translates into loss of lushness, several dry leaves and eventually death. For those that have not had luck with growing plants indoors, Adrian Obonyo, an interior designer at Concept McFaj says having greenery is still possible by the help of faux plants.

“These could be palms which work well owing to the towering height and widespread leaves hence not needing more than one collection. Other faux plants include creepers and almost any other plant you may have ever seen. You can also add a few green-themed items such as a laundry basket with leaves or flowers to spruce the look,” he says.

The need to use faux plants may also be driven by the lack of proper growth elements in your house such as a dark apartment. In such an instance, the work involved in growing the plant doubles, something some may not be willing to put in. “A faux tree will come in handy to lend a feel of budding life in your space. Moreover, you can couple these with small low maintenance plants such as cactus as these need occasional watering yet may not give you the desired green feel owing to their size.

Palm trees

For one whose interior is bathed in sunshine, sun-loving plants are the best option. One of these is the palm tree.

 However, Obonyo says you need to be particular about the palm type. “The kentia palm is one that does well indoors owing to its slow growth rate. The beauty of it is that the tree can thrive in a pot. That allows for easy change of containers,” he shares.

Seeing that these are towering in nature, Obonyo says they are not ideal on either side of the TV screen but will do well alongside a couch.

“If you are choosing to go with just one tree, then put it in a corner that does not have a lot of activity. All this is because palm trees can work as focal points, in and of themselves,” he advises.

Hanging greenery

Rather than have portraits hanging on your wall, Nyangole says you can have hanging plants.  “These should be hung off the wall as they are a replacement of portraits. For drama, you have several options and one is vase size variations. However, the difference should not be so much as to accommodate a very large vase because you do not want the space to look cluttered. It, therefore, goes without saying that the plant size should not be big. Another option is painting the vases in different colours so that they pop out. This further beautifies the space,” she advises.