How do you display & decorate with your house plants?

I'd love to see pictures of how you incorporate your house plants into your home's design scheme. I've not progressed beyond having every window sill full of plants, but I'd like ideas of how to really display them and decorate with them. I know there are some very creative souls here, so please show off your design ideas!
Thanks all!

With the new house I have made a "jungle bedroom" on my side of the bed. I love fairies and intertwine them whenever I can.

I "kreated" all my own plant hangers with beads. Some have glass beads and glow in the dark beads. Some have windchimes at the bottoms.

Here is my bedroom shot:

This is the "dining room" (also known as the computer room as we don't "dine" here *lol*)

Wonderful, Kim! Just beautiful! I love the turtle planter! Thank you for posting those!
Would you teach me how to make those plant hangers? My daughter loves beading, and we'd have a ball making those together and I sure could use a few dozen of them! LOL

You know, I did write the directions down before for someone. I will have to look and see if I still have them somewhere :)

Kim

Kim, You have beautiful displays of plants. They all look so healthy. I like the turtle planter and those hangers you made are lovely. Thelma

I love my turtle too. Her name is "Shelley" (original huh? *lol*). She was the only one at a bargain store here in Maine called Marden's and I couldn't decide if I wanted to pay $8.99 for her or not but some lady was watching me and I knew that if I put it down it would be gone so I carted Shelley all around the store with me with the lady right behind me pretending to be interested in everything in the aisle and decided that I couldn't leave without her.

Thank you so much for your compliments. I am very obsessive/compulsive when it comes to my plants and treat them like kids. Sometimes my kids joke around about how I love my plants more......sssssh we know I love the kids more.......right?.....*lol*

Kim

Kim, 8.99 was a bargin for the turtle planter. "Shelley" is a great name. Where is Marden's in Maine? My husband and I sometimes go to Kittery outlets. Is it near there?Do they sell more cute planters like that? Thelma

Thelma,

Marden's is the kind of place that if it's there today, it will be gone tomorrow. It's kind of like "Railroad Salvage". They get things from all over the place that are closeouts, returns etc. and if you don't pick it up right away then it won't be there when you return. There are Marden's all over Maine. The one I go to is either Biddeford or Sanford and there is also one in Westbrook. Sometimes you can find bargains there and other times not so good. I also picked up Zeus and Zippa there which I love also.

Kim, Thank you for info on locations. I think next time we are in Maine,we will go to Sanford.It sounds like it may be like Building 19 stores we have locally here. Always fun to find bargins. Thelma

Kim - I love what you've done with you bay window area.

I have a bay but it's in the eat-in part of our kitchen. It's also the only window in the house that gets any light. Since the eating table is where it is, I can't put a little table in front of it. Instead, I've put some plants on the floor and hung 1 pothos between the window and baker's rack.

If you look real close - you can see the african violet on the sill. I'm hoping to get some more small things to put there.

Another view.

Any ideas on plants that may go on the sill - it's about 5-6 inches deep.

Very beautiful bay you have also.
As far as ideas for the sills, I put my cactus on the sills as these don't require large pots and enjoy the sun. I also put alot of my smaller plants that are still not big enough for large pots such as cuttings I make of Christmas Cactus etc. I seem to kill African Violets just by walking by the in the stores so I stay away from those but if you can grow them an African Violet collection would be nice on the sills.

I love your large floor pots and am just starting with large floor pots. I'm hoping to fill a large floor pot with Epi's. Every new leaf gets cut and rooted and hopefully someday before I die I will get to see one bloom in real life *lol*. I have 1 large pedestal but think I'm going to join ceramics just so that I can make some of my own pedestals at some point.

Kim

Kim, space is at a premium in my home so I bought a plant stand to show both my pottery and African violets. I also installed the thick glass shelves so I could get more plants into my bedroom.

This shot is a a few months old and the collection of pottery rotates around but the idea is the same.

Then earlier this year I found a small version of the metal kitchen stands at Target. It doesn't exactly go with my 'nouveaux flea market' decor, but what the heck. The plant stand is packed full of violets and chirita now. This shot shows when I first set it up, before I added the shelf in the above photo.

and out in my home office - which is more of a greenhouse these days, I used metal closet shelving to hold plants against one wall. Otherwise I use those metal shelves from CostCo.

Not exactly decorative, but they hold a lot of plants.

Begoniacrazii love how you have done the shelves in glass (in the first photo). Really is a great idea as the glass can be easily cleaned and won't show rings.

Raingazer this is a great idea for a thread -- love all the photos so far!

I too like the idea of the glass shelves - I have a couple of windows that might have enough light is I do that and leave the curtains drawn back - didn't want to buy tables but I could swing a couple of shelves.

And yes - this is a great thread - lots of nice stuff and good ideas.

This is a great thread and I love everybody's photos. I've been trying to think of something I could make to sell at our local Saturday craft market. Kim, I think your plant hangers are just the ticket! I'm totally inspired!!!

Wooconley -- one time I had some glass sheets made for some of my windowsills (to protect them from drips from small succulents I have on them) at a local glass chain. They were cheap to have them make them custom size for me (they look just like Begoniacrazii's except sit on the window sills). I'll post a picture when I get a chance. But the idea of mounting them I had not thought of.

Hmmmm - Maybe if I can't find glass - I could use some painted plywood mounted like a shelf to extend the sill size. Lots more room for green babies.

Oh - oh! I just got an image of Martians after I wrote "green babies". Knowing me, I'll start calling cuttings, rootings etc Martians!

Thanks gang!!

If you have a 'TAP Plastics' store near you, you can have plexi cut to fit too - much cheaper and I think they can help figure what thickness you need depending on the span (so it wont sag -with plexi or crack with glass). The glass wasn't the cheapest solution since I have a 4' span across that window I had to go with 1/2 inch thick (gets that cool coke bottle green effect the thicker it is) so each piece was a bit spendy. I did the same thing in my kitchen which faces the same direction. I got the shelf brackets at HD or some other big box home improvement store.

edited to say that I had the glass company put a 'bull nose or Pencil' edge on it so it wasn't sharp.

This message was edited Sep 14, 2006 1:54 PM

I have fantastic ideas for using houseplants as decoration - all in my head, unfortunately. None of my ideas have been executed in my home yet. I keep spending my time shopping for more plants and they wind up in temporary places by the windows. However, I have them because I like looking at them, so sometimes I arrange them in nice ways... here's some photos.

another photo of the window above my kitchen sink. I put teeny chatchkas there for me to look at close up.

Sofie

the other side of the window...

I have great plans for this area, but plants just sorta got placed in front of the window.... heh. Well, here's a shot anyway.

sofie

Last one of the whole kitchen... well, most of it.

sofie

Very pretty, Sofie! I love all the plants around your house!

Thanks! Wish they were better 'designed'... they will be one day... after the deck gets painted, the trim put back up in the bedroom, the stairs fixed, the closet doors installed in the MB, the holes the electrician made get patched up, the fake drop cieling removed, the roof replaced, the basement rooms painted... etc, etc... Chuckle.

sofie

Sofie, really, beautiful plants and the arrangement is nice, too!! 8>)

This message was edited Sep 15, 2006 8:03 AM

Oh, I'm just loving all these pictures! Thank you all for posting them. I knew I'd get some wonderful ideas from all of you! Please, keep those pictures coming!!

I love this thread, thank you for starting it. I adore house plants. If I lived alone, I'd have a jungle in every well lit space. I am very happy with what I have at this time.
These are in my art room.

In the art room by the window.

Left of the same window.

This is my dining room. Our table did not fit this space, so I had a chance to create this.
Thank You everyone for your awsome ideas as well.
Love, Free...

You know, I'm just noticing from some of these pictures, how important the pot is that the plants live in. You all have such nice pots. When it comes to designing with plants, the pot the plant is in makes a difference. In fact, the health of the plant and it's relative size to the pot makes a difference too. When a plant is on display in an ugly plastic pot, it takes away from the look of the plant.

My MIL has a fantastic green thumb with plants everywhere, but most of them are sitting in old yogurt tubs with deli containers as the drip tray. Some of her plastic pots still have the neon supermarket price tag on...

Hmmm, just thinking...

Sofie

Sofonisba - LOL! After I saw these postings I went out and bought a new pot for my AV which was still in the plastic pot I bought it in a few weeks ago. I don't have a pix but I'll take one and post it.

Also, I have a strange love of simple red clay pots. some plants just call out for the earthy, homey touch. Others want a more finished look.

I don't mind a plastic pot if it looks nice - not the "Help!Tthey bought me in this flimsy thing with my roots hanging out - will someone get me some clothes!" pot.

He he he wooconley!

I have a few plants still in their original cheap plastic pots too. I like the terracotta (sp?) style for the majority of my plants and every now and then, I'll splurge on a pretty glazed pot.

Occasionally I'll buy a plastic pot if it's extra large and I can't afford a ceramic one.

Good luck with that AV!

I find that a mixture of plastic and pottery looks nice. Walmart has some bottom watering plastic pots that are actaully kind of pretty and I put my plants that are VERY touchy with watering in these kind of pots. I find that I can put my cactus/crown of thorns etc. in nice pottery pots so I end up with a mixture of pots and I think the 2 compliment eachother quite well.

I bought a special drill bit and was able to drill holes in all my ceramic pots as I found that when I first started putting my plants in the ceramic pots, alot of them didn't have holes.

Most of your hanging type plants are in plastic which doesn't matter as most of them end up getting covered by the actual plant *lol*.

Kim

Kim, it's true. The hanging plants cover the pot. Right! About the ceramic pots with no holes. What's up with that? I'm terrified of over watering, but some of those pots are just so beautiful. What kind of drill bit do you use?

It's true, they're coming out with some very attractive plastic pots these days - I was talking about the ugly utility pots that the plant comes in from the nursery.

sofie