Use every available space

Even if you are living in a modest-sized flat or house or working in a tiny office, with some creative thinking and smart ingenuity, you can make space for some flowers and indoor plants. If you do manage to find room for indoor plants you will be able to experience all the benefits that come with them. Indoor plants can lower stress levels and because they purify the air, if you have one in your bedroom, you will find yourself sleeping better too. We suggest 10 clever ways to have indoor plants in small spaces…

You will find several of our display ideas that will really work for you – which is great! Before you buy the indoor plants, it is worth assessing exactly which type of plant will be happiest in each location. Sometimes because of lack of space, you cannot offer the plant optimum growing conditions, so it is best to choose good-tempered, easy to care for plants. If you feel that the growing conditions will be a challenge to any indoor plant, why not opt for beautiful artificial plants? The secret to success is that if you are planning to display the plant in a place that is quite shadowed and gloomy, choose an artificial plant in a species that normally can thrive in such a spot and in doing this, friends and family will never suspect that your plant is artificial- clever thinking!

1. Create a living room divide

A fun way to divide up your living space is with a live living wall. This can be as simple as some garden trellis set into a large rectangular planter, Choose interesting plants with different coloured or textured foliage. Alternatively, you can hang plant covers on the intersections of the trellis and pop in a variety of interesting trailing plants.

2. Small tiered shelves

Cheer up bare walls with shelves of plants!

These are ideal when you don’t have too much space on a desk or shelf and are a fun way to display a collection of different plants. In the kitchen, this idea is perfect for displaying an array of herbs on the windowsill. The shelves look lovely in wood but are easy clean if they are in white plastic. The plants can either be in flowerpots with drainage sauces or in flowerpots popped in a pot cover. These can be in a uniform shape and colour, or an eclectic selection of different sizes and shapes in shades that mirror the colour scheme of the room

3. Baby succulents look great in tiny pots

A group of small terracotta pots each filled with a tiny succulent can look really cute. This year’s trending pot containers are glazed square plant containers, which work really well as they can easily slot next to each other to take up the minimum of space.

4. Hang a plant in a bird cage!

If you don’t have too much floor space, be creative and use the ceiling! A small metal bird cage filled with a leafy plant like a Spider Plant or Boston Fern looks really good and add colour to the room, you can paint the cage in a colour to match your chosen scheme.

5. Wall mounted looks great!

You can make your own wall planters by attaching rustic basket pot covers to squares of wood that you have painted with wood stain or in your chosen colour. Don’t forget to place plastic plant saucers in the bottom of the pot covers to ensure that no water runs down the wall when you water the plants. Another fun idea is to attach a section of garden trellis to your wall – either wood stained, or painted to complement your colour scheme. Clip planters containing a fun variety of plants on all the intersections of the trellis.

6. Add a row of hanging baskets!

Hanging baskets can cheer up a bare wall and look great in front of windows

These can make an interesting feature if you have a large bare window. Suspend a collection of similar hanging baskets at different heights and fill each with an interesting leafy plant such as different ferns and a spider plant -if the window gets plenty of direct sunshine, choose your plants carefully.

7. Grow herbs on your kitchen door!

Use every available inch of space to enjoy your indoor plants! Use a lightweight plank of wood, cut to size and painted to match your colour scheme. Attach smart metal plant pot covers at regular intervals and pop in pots of fresh herbs – for fun, add luggage labels to each pot, describing each herb.

8. Buy some hanging glass planters

A row of stylish round glass planters instantly adds interest and colour to a dull wall! Hang the planters from the ceiling, just in front of the wall and fill them with good- tempered flowering plants such as kalanchoe or chose leafy plants with coloured or textured leaves.

9. Jazz up a dull corner!

Invest in a tiered corner unit and fill it with a variety of interesting and eye-catching plants..Choose your plants carefully so that they have different colours and textures to make your display look interesting. Display them all in pot covers that are in toning covers- but a variety of textures to add interest.

10. Add a terrarium

A large bottle containing a handful of plants can look really dynamic! You can buy some snazzy ready made ones that even have optional lighting and because of humidity they only need to be watered every couple of weeks. It is great fun to create your own terrarium and not as difficult as you think! Alternatively, you can grow several cacti or air plants in an opened topped bottle and these can look very dramatic.

https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/how-to-make-terrarium

Whether you have a tiny office, cramped reception or small home, it is possible to add plants to your space – and you will definitely feel better for having done so!