The charm that houseplants bring to home décor is one of the great advantages of growing them. With their wide variety of leaf shapes, sizes, colors and textures, indoor plants can be used to decorate just about any interior and serve a wide variety of design purposes – from adding a soft touch to a corner, to making a room look larger, smaller or simply refreshed.
Dress interior entries to a den or formal dining room with a pair of plant stands that frame the passage.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Houseplants with soft profiles or weeping habits make good hallway plants for narrow spaces. Here, a mixed planting of broadleaf plants and ferns help provide relief from the hard tile floor.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Use landings and corners to display tall foliage plants, greenery on a table and vines that trail into the passage below.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Decorate stairways by mimicking the form of an ascending staircase with a group of plants that step up in height along the banister.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Well-positioned houseplants have an immediate, yet subtle, way of putting people at ease, which is ideal when you and your guests walk through your front door. A dramatic display of flowering entryway plants or a simple row of lush foliage creates a welcoming atmosphere and sets a pleasant tone for your entire household.
If you’d like to bring more life and comfort to your entrance hall or foyer, consider adding a few houseplants near your front door. As you select plants for this important area of your home, think high impact. Consider the available space and overall décor of your home, and choose plants that give the visual message you’d like to convey. Orchids, for example, are stately and give a formal feel, while African violets create more of a cottage-garden ambience. If you have the space, a tall entryway plant, like Dracaena fragrans, makes a striking first impression!
But don’t stop at the front door: You can also use houseplants to liven up long, narrow and often boring hallways. Due to the space limitations in these areas, small and vining species generally make good hallway plants. Try putting a basket with several small foliage plants on a side table, or highlight one showy foliage plant on a tall pedestal. You can even rotate plants as they come into bloom over the course of the year, using cyclamen, daffodils and hyacinth. If your hallway space is especially tight, try training vining and climbing plants around a group of family photos or paintings, or hang a trailing plant from a well-secured wall-mounted container.
You can decorate stairways with indoor plants, too, for a little extra intriguing décor, transforming a boring climb to the second floor into a lovely nature walk. The options are nearly endless. A lipstick plant or goldfish plant hanging at the top of the stairs, for example, can become a striking stairway accessory. Or take advantage of narrow spaces by placing a large floor plant such as a dracaena or weeping fig at the stair landing, creating an attractive transition to other areas of the house.
Add to the drama and architectural form of a staircase by growing a climbing or vining plant like ivy up and down the stairwell’s banister. You can also use plants of varied heights set on each step to decorate the stairway and echo its geometry. Or, on the wall below the staircase, attach a window box and plant a variety of pert, small plants like polka-dot plant, radiator plant or pickaback plant.
A well-lit spot at the top of the stairs is a good place for a stunning illuminated focal point, too. Here you can display plants with bold, textured leaves, including begonia, caladium, coleus or croton. This is also an excellent location for flowering houseplants such as anthuriums, orchids or African violets – or seasonal bloomers like flowering cacti and billbergia.
Of course, always use care when decorating stairways and landings and using hallway and entryway plants. Make sure that all plants are kept out of the way of traffic to help prevent tripping and falling accidents, as well as reduce plant damage caused as passersby brush by the foliage. (Increase home safety even more by keeping all stairs and paths clear of obstructions and avoid decorating with thorny or spiky plants.)
No matter how they’re used, indoor plants bring warmth and charm to nearly every space. Why not show off that charm the second your guests walk through your front door? (Just imagine the stairs…)
