It's a Jungle in Here: Incorporating Houseplants in Your Interior Decorating
by Kate McIntyrekate.mcintyre@interiordesignschoolreview.com
Interior Design School Review Columnist
Homes without houseplants can feel sterile and drab, but sometimes it can be difficult to choose the right plants for a room. In addition to aesthetic concerns, you must take into account the plants' growing needs as you plan your interior design. While a jade plant might look exquisite on a side table in a dark corner of the living room, it will soon wither from lack of light. Similarly, setting your shade-loving Boston fern on a bright windowsill with lead to crunchy, desiccated leaves in short order.
Houseplant Interior Decorating Faux Pas
Picking plants for your interior design scheme that are incompatible with the light or temperature conditions in a room is one common decorating faux pas. Here are some others:- Not replacing the pots that the plants came in when they were purchased. No matter how well the plants you selected work in your interior design scheme, no one will notice if you leave them in their cheap plastic pots.
- Choosing beautiful pots that match your interior decorating but do not have holes for drainage. When houseplants are put in pots that do not offer adequate drainage, the standing water can rot the roots.
- Leaving the plastic plant care tag stuck in the soil. It is easy enough to keep the tags in a drawer, or to look up plant care instructions online whenever you have questions.
- Picking plants that do not match the scale of your space. A miniature moth orchid might work well on a curio table, but it would get lost if you tried to use it as a centerpiece on a dining table.
Interior design schools can help you to develop room planning and problem solving skills that make picking out houseplants a snap. In an interior design program, you will learn how to select plants based on their color and the shape of their foliage, so that they work in harmony with or in contrast to the other decorative elements in a room.
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About the Author
Kate McIntyre is a writer in Portland, Oregon. She holds a B.A. from Harvard University and an M.F.A. in fiction writing from Oregon State University.
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