Though bedrooms are used primarily for sleeping, they still have a place for a plant or two. Putting plants in bedrooms brings a calm, relaxed feeling with the added benefit of refreshing the air as your family sleeps.
Plants in bedrooms add warmth and comfort – and provide an extra welcoming touch for guests. If you plan on placing your bedroom plants on a dresser or end table, keep them in waterproof cachepots or plastic-lined baskets to protect the finish on furniture.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
The bright-colored blooms and textured foliage make this flowering dahlia the right choice for decorating a young child’s room. (Note the container has been placed inside a child’s sand pail that’s been decorated with a familiar story time character.)
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Consider unusual plants like African shield, a spathe flower relative, for a young boy’s room. He’ll be drawn to its curious, waxy, veined leaves.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Use bedroom plants to help play off other decorative touches. Here, the tuberous begonia’s bright red blooms coordinate with the fabric wall hanging and bedding.
Photo Credit: ©2002 Dolezal Publishing/John M. Rickard
Bedroom plants also offer myriad decorating possibilities. When well-placed, a plant can make a bedroom seem cozier and more inviting. Large floor plants like dracaena, ficus and palms tucked in a corner near the bed lend an exotic, vacation-like feeling. Foliage plants, with their vast array of colors, shapes, sizes and textures, add another dimension to the bedroom. Leaves may be green, but they come in infinite shades and variegations, from light lime green to a green that’s so dark, it almost looks black. Leaf textures and shapes also vary considerably, from the glossy, heart-shaped leaves of anthurium to the soft, wispy foliage of asparagus fern.
Bedroom plants can work along with your design plan, blending with or playing off of fabrics and wall coverings. Offset dark green curtains, for example, with the mottled lime and medium green leaves of dieffenbachia or arrowhead vine. Use mosaic plant (featuring white- or red-veined leaves) or the larger dragon tree (which has deep green foliage) to bring out the red in a bedspread or to provide contrast to flowing burgundy window treatments.
As long as you provide adequate light for the plants you pick, the bedroom is an ideal place to mix flowering houseplants into your décor. Obviously flowers come in most colors of the rainbow and in many different forms – so draw from that vast number of hues, textures and shapes and tie it all in with the rest of your room’s furnishings.
But don’t stop with just the master and guest rooms: Your children can enjoy the benefits of bedroom plants, too. Let your imagination run wild and have fun – just always keep safety in mind first! Never pick a toxic plant for a child’s bedroom, and be sure to keep plants out of the reach of little fingers!
When it comes to containers for a child’s room, think outside the box: Rather than planting bedroom plants in traditional containers, consider a pot made from children’s play blocks, an old wooden train or a small wagon.
And opt for the unusual when you select plants for the kids. Children love plants that are “interactive” or readily respond to stimuli. Venus flytrap, for example, is a fun choice for kids. (Though some plants have been discarded prematurely when they’ve entered their winter dormancy period, so teach your child to wait until spring and watch the plant revive.)
Another plant that delights inquisitive minds is the sensitive plant – when you touch its ferny leaves, they fold and droop right before your eyes! Like the prayer plant, the sensitive plant closes its leaves at bedtime and reopens them in the morning – a treat for children of all ages. Plants that grow from kitchen scraps (like avocado, pineapple and sweet potato) also make fun additions to a child’s room. The bonus is that they’re attractive plants that are fun for children to watch grow!
Terrariums make excellent projects for youngsters as well. (Think of building a terrarium as making a tiny garden.) You can use an old aquarium or a bottle. If your terrarium is large enough, you can add extra visual interest by mounding the soil to form little hills and then include various accessories that children treasure, like rocks, polished stones, colored pebbles, marbles, small mirrors and tiny ornaments. (You can even furnish the terrarium with doll furniture, if you and the kids or grandchildren so desire!)
Plants in bedrooms are an easy and affordable way to dress up a space. Whether you have a few tucked in a corner or just one on a windowsill, bedroom plants help create a relaxing and beautiful atmosphere – the kind from which sweet dreams are made.
