Dining and living rooms are often used for socializing and relaxing. Make these rooms even more pleasant by adding a few houseplants. It’s an easy – and affordable – way to decorate!
Remember houseplants are for more than tabletops. A tall floor plant in the dining room, like this parlor palm, can unify the room and bring warmth to dull, cold corners.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
A graceful, long-flowering centerpiece, such as a Phalaenopsis orchid, brings life and elegance to a formal dining room.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Roses need bright sunlight to succeed as houseplants – at least 6 hours of direct sun each day is best. Place them near a window and closely monitor their health.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Use a waterproof plant stand to group houseplants that need a high-humidity environment. An island planter is a good choice to define the edge of an open room.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Plants in dining room settings are pretty simple. The table centerpiece often is the focal point of the room, so place something dazzling there. In winter, highlight forced bulbs like amaryllis, daffodils, hyacinths, paperwhites and tulips. Then rotate plants as they come into bloom during the rest of the year (think African violets, begonias, seasonal-flowering cacti and orchids). Or try plants with colorful foliage. Zebra plant can be an eye-catching centerpiece with its vibrant striped foliage. Croton commands attention, too, with its yellow, green or purple-pink leaves. An ivy topiary can add elegance, especially when trained onto a shaped trellis. Or for a fun twist at a dinner party, include an edible centerpiece, like a pot of greens or seasoning herbs from which guests can pick and add to their plates.
Dining rooms offer other options for decorating with plants that go beyond the table. Fill empty corners with large floor plants like Japanese aralia, dracaena, ficus, palm, schefflera or Swiss-cheese plant. (Plants tucked into the corners of a room look especially stunning when they’re dimly spotlighted or hung with decorative strands of mini lights.)
You can also spruce up your furniture with greenery: Drape vining plants such as arrowhead vine, strawberry begonia, Swedish ivy, trailing philodendron, pothos or spider plant from a tall china cabinet. Feature colorful plants on hutches or other lower furniture.
And don’t be afraid to match foliage and flowers with your furniture and fabrics. A purple velvet plant works well in rooms with lavender upholstery, for example, while peace lilies will complement those with white and green tones.
Busy living rooms and sitting rooms also benefit greatly from the effects of houseplants. Plants in living rooms may fulfill a variety of functions here, from refreshing the air to adding vibrance or softening the ambience. When choosing plants, start by considering your room’s lighting. The light in sitting and living rooms varies widely, from bright areas with large windows to basement living areas with low light. Fortunately, you have plenty of plants to choose from, whatever the lighting, since a surprisingly broad range of them thrive in low light. Options include cast-iron plant, Chinese evergreen, elephant’s ear, fiddle-leaf fig, parlor palm, peperomia, pothos, prayer plant, rubber plant, sansevieria and spider plant (among others).
But lighting is only one consideration when it comes to plants in dining rooms or living areas. Your plant choices also depend on room size. Big rooms give you a chance to add dramatic, large floor plants, like the ponytail plant, which can grow to 15 feet or more and looks especially eye-catching with its large, moplike head. Dracaena marginata is another good choice for an architectural, contrasting effect, as is Dracaena fragrans, which lends a more casual, country look. Just keep in mind that plants with long, drooping foliage make large rooms look smaller by drawing the eye upward, then back down to the floor. Place large plants in corners or create a wall of plants behind a couch to create a junglelike setting.
To make a small room look larger, add tall floor plants and create a feeling of height and depth with bird-of-paradise, various palms and rubber plant. Smaller rooms can also feel cozier with delicate, soft-leaved plants such as African violet, coleus, Boston fern, maidenhair fern, nerve plant and radiator plant. Create intimate plant groupings on side tables with soft, touchable plants like begonia, maidenhair fern and purple velvet plant. Highlight specimen plants on the coffee or end tables with orchids and African violets or plants that make good conversation pieces such as Venus flytrap and sensitive plant.
Be creative, too. Hang plants from the ceiling or place them on tall furniture and let them trail down. Place a self-watering window box on a balcony, or create an indoor garden full of flowering plants in a sunny window.
Putting plants in the dining room and living room is an easy way to breathe life into your décor without spending a fortune. So plant these rooms up – and be proud of the results!
