How to Decorate with Plants and The Best Plants for Indoors

Let's talk about how to decorate with plants going room by room. We will be looking at plant ideas for the kitchen, bathroom, and porch. Plus the best plants for indoors that help clean the air and make a healthier home.

Decorating with plants is a timeless design element and there are many wonderful benefits to having plants in your home. But I have found it is not easy for everyone to know how to decorate with plants or pick out plants.

Knowing the best indoor house plants for your home is a great place to begin when decorating with plants. Whether you have lots of space or minimal space, a green thumb or not you will be able to find greenery here that will bring life and style to your home.

Plants are more than decorations; they play a part in cleaning the air you breathe inside your home. Today we are going to talk about the best indoor plants, the most popular indoor plants, how they improve our home air quality, and how to decorate with plants.

How to Decorate with Plants

One of the easiest accessories to decorate your home with is plants and one live plant in a room will, for a lack of better words, give the room life. Plants are great for any room in your homes like the living room, kitchen, home office, and bathroom. But my favorite empty spaces to decorate with plants is windows so let's start with adding plants to windows.

Bathroom Plant Decor Ideas

If you are wanting to decorate with live plants then windows are a great place to decorate. Here is a deep window seal in our bathroom where we sit a variety of plants.

A fun way to decorate with plants is to add different coordinating pots or plant bags like white planters, terra cotta pots, and canvas bags. We bought this canvas bag but we made the brown paper lunch bag and have all the directions on this simply DIY paper bag planter.

Another trick to decorating with plants is to mix in a few fake plants. Can you guess which ones are fake plants? The small succulent is an artificial plant.

If your window is not deep then look for tiny pots and plants like my daughter did in her kitchen window. And use different plants in your window.

Kitchen Plant Decor Ideas

Grocery stores are a great place to find tiny plants and during holidays they will have really cute plant decor like this skeleton head potted plant. A succulent plant or air plants are perfect for tiny window seats. Air plants like indirect sunlight and are low-maintenance plants. Succulents like direct light and need good drainage.

Here is my kitchen window where I have three plants. Kitchens windows are a great place for plants because you have a water source right there and because you go to the kitchen daily it is easy to remember to care for them.

Herb gardens are also great in kitchens. I created this herb garden from a Dollar Tree pot that I painted and decorated. All the directions on how to make a Dollar Tree DIY indoor herb garden decoration is in the post.

Porch Plant Decor Ideas

Porches are another great place to decorate with plants. Here is an example of a plant garden in a pot. Your local nursery can help you plan out what to put in your pot or if you are good at planting then you have this covered.

Add container gardens on end tables and smaller plants on shelves like here behind our macrame swing.

An end table and plant stand is a great way to display your plants inside or outside of your home. A large plant can sit on a plant riser or sit on the floor. If you sit large indoor plants on the floor make sure to place a pan under it so water won't damage your floor.

Tall plants, like indoor trees, can be used in small rooms or large and they work nicely in an interior space with high ceilings as well as lower ceilings.

Hanging plants are another way to add plant decor to your porch or any room. Bathrooms love hanging plants too.

Here is a macrame hanger my daughter made and we added small plants to it. This is another great place to put air plants. Remember that upkeep is easy on air plants and since hanging plant holders will be more challenging to water any plants that don't mind being a little dry are easier.

Hanging plants look great in the farmhouse, boho, or cottagecore styles. Here is a post with cottagecore decor ideas.

Plants are great for a large and small space. A small room with one big plant looks as good as a large room.

Now that we have covered how to decorate with plants in different rooms of your home let's talk about the best indoor house plants and why.

Best Indoor House Plants

You know that feeling you get when you are out in nature–walking in a park or down a beautiful trail? All the trees and plants are so refreshing and peaceful!  Well, your home can be a place of tranquility too with plants.  But if you're like me, you may not have a green thumb.  Give me an indoor plant and I will kill it.

Now let me show you how to create a container garden like this one and it stands a chance of living. But indoor plants are another story.

Well, enough about outside let me introduce you to the best indoor house plants starting with the sweetest little plant gem called a succulent.  

This little beauty is very popular right now, it is somewhat easy to care for and you can even purchase them on Amazon.  

I am convinced Amazon has everything now.

SUCCULENTS

So remember me telling you we were going to talk about the most popular plant to decorate with right now?  Well, that would be a succulent.  

There are so many different things you can do with these delicate plants. You can have one plant placed in an ensemble of accessories, a few sitting in a window, placed in a hanging pot or all together in a precious container. 

Basically, just start placing them around your room until you find the perfect spot like my daughter did. They love direct sunlight and need light at least six hours a day.

Decorating with Succulents

There are so many things you can do with a succulent.  For example, clustering them together in a bowl, like in this photo.  This little home garden is easy to the eye and adds so much to your home decor.  

Just placing it next to some accessories can soften the vignette in seconds or create a windowsill garden as my daughter did in her bedroom.  Using different pots with your plants is a great idea but using certain types of pots like wood or glass jars needs to be considered when decorating.

Look for pots and jars that coordinate with your home decor and make sure they are good for the plant. Something about this reminds me of the '70s.  

Retro is alive!

PLANTS AIR PURIFIERS

Did you know there are many things in your home that produce toxins in the air?  Ammonia, Benzene, Xylene, Formaldehyde, and Trichloroethylene are common chemicals in products you use or have on finishes in your home.  

There are many plants that help clean these chemicals, some clean more than others according to NASA.  Yes, NASA did some studies on plants to help clean the air for the astronauts when traveling in outer space.  I figured if it was good for them, then it is good for me.  

So check out more details on this NASA post about what plants to get to clean the air in your home.  I was surprised at how many of these air-cleaning plants I have used while decorating people's homes.  

I knew plants were good for our air, but didn't realize I was using some of the ones that clean the most chemicals.  That was a bonus for my clients; I just didn't know it at the time.

So here are some of the best indoor plants for cleaning the air in your home and popular indoor plants too.

PEACE LILLY

This is one of the plants I used many times in decorating homes.  I even remember having one in my home. They are pretty hardy and if you neglect to water them, they bounce back quickly.  

This plant cleans all these chemicals listed according to NASA.  So if you need some clean air, go purchase a Peace Lilly at Amazon or at your local landscape store. But check out Gardening Know How before you shop for tips on selecting and caring for these air purifiers.

ENGLISH IVY

When I was growing up, just about everyone had a real or fake English ivy in their house.  This is a great plant to decorate with.  But did you know that it cleans almost all the chemicals in your home too?  

The English ivy is pretty hardy, also.  Here's another link by Gardening Know How that will tell you more about this plant and how to care for it.  And guess what?  Amazon offers English Ivy plants too.  Check it out HERE.

HOW TO CARE FOR SUCCULENTS

Remember me telling you I just about kill every plant I own, which is why you won't find a real plant in my house except for cut flowers.  Well, I decided to do some research on how to care for succulents since my daughter loves them and now has a whole garden in her bedroom.  

So, instead of me trying to explain, go check out this post called How to Grow Healthy Succulents Indoors by Succulents & Sunshine.  It's a great resource from what to purchase and how to care for these cute plants.

Peace lily and English ivy are very easy to care for. If you press on their soil and it feels dry then that means it is time to give them some water. And if you forget to water them and they start to look droopy you can give them some water and like magic, they will perk up again.

But I had learned over the years that most plants love it when you place a tray of water under their pot so they can drink from the bottom. Keep in mind to not let them sit in a tray of water because their roots aren't fond of drowning.

CONCLUSION

I hope this how to decorate with indoor plants and the best plants to buy for a healthier home encourages you to get some plants and start decorating.

If you still have more questions about shopping for an indoor plant check out my screened in porch decorating ideas post. In this post, I worked with the local nursery in my town and we meet in the greenhouse and talked about all kinds of plants and different ways to decorate with them.

Another fun place to get indoor plants a house plant subscription box. These make great gifts but if you are a lover of plants then you will absolutely adore getting these treasures in the mail.

You can also watch an interview with the gardeners and a tour of the greenhouse on my Instagram. The greenhouse is so pretty!

Now that you know about some of the best indoor plants and the most popular indoor plants, I hope you're inspired to purchase some to help clean the air in your house and liven up your decor, too.

Happy Decorating!