Decorating With Plants
Do you have plants all over your home because you love them so much? Or do you think plants are too much work? Whether you are one of these people or somewhere in the middle, you may be amazed at all the wonderful ways you can use plants to decorate your home.
I often see plants that seem to have taken over the room. Grouping a number of plants together in one or two spots makes a huge statement with the plants and helps you appreciate them more. It also leaves space to appreciate the other things in your home.
The other rooms I see are the cold, sterile rooms with no plants at all. Greenery adds life and interest to a home. Any room looks better with some greenery in it.
Here are some tips for incorporating plants into your home:
1 Use large plants as if they were pieces of furniture. Make sure they are in balance with the furniture pieces in the room. Large plants or trees can help achieve a sense of height in the room.
2 Make a triangle of 3 large plants in the room. Or if you only have 2 large plants, put them at a diagonal. Placing items at a diagonal is more pleasing to the eye than if you put them on the same side of the room.
3 Rather than putting a plant in the corner, consider centering it in a space, like you would a piece of furniture. It will have much more impact. For large plants, try to leave a foot of space on either side to show it off.
4 Group plants on the floor for greater impact. Use plants of differing heights and volume to make a ‘statement’. Put some on stands or small tables to help you with height.
5 To visually create two rooms out of one, you can place a large plant or group of plants extending from the wall into the room to create an invisible wall.
6 If you use artificial plants, choose those with small leaves; they look more real than ones with large leaves. Group real plants and artificial plants together. It will help the artificial plants look real.
7 Accent large plants by placing a light on the floor and aiming it at the wall behind the plant. This creates a dramatic silhouette of the plant against the wall.
8 If you have a piece of furniture too small for a space, you can put a plant beside it to visually expand the width of the furniture. A plant will also soften the sometimes sharp lines of furniture pieces.
9 Small plants and greenery provide wonderful texture in a room. Use them as you would accessories in bookcases, on mantels, with tablescapes, and incorporated among personal photos.
10 Plants in or near the bathroom say ‘spa’.
Try a few of these tips to see the effect they have on your home. Your friends will think you called in a decorator.
Val Sharp is the founder and past president of the Canadian Re-designers Association and the author of “The Art of Redesign – 5 Simple Steps to No-Cost Redecorating”. She instructs people in starting their own interior redesign and home staging business. If you want to become a redesigner or home stager or you want more information about Val and her book, stop by www.sharpredesigns.com
Thank you for your help!.
These are really great ideas and a good use of plants throughout a staging project. Thanks for the great tips they are very useful and a good way to add some life and greenery to a home.