Pretty Ways to Use Green Plants in Your Home

With thoughts of spring entering our minds, I’m adding more green to our living spaces. Do you need some ideas for how, where, and when to use green plants indoors? Let me share some pretty ways to use green plants in your home.

Spring is not here yet, but it is on its way. Our tulips have come and gone, but the pansies are still blooming. Outside, the flower beds are still in hibernation mode, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have pops of green in our homes.

We’re at least a couple of months away from the profusion of color that spring flowers bring to our yards and our homes.

Until then, inside I use green plants for a natural look. These ways to use green plants will give your home a natural and organic feel.

Just to be clear, most of these green plants are live plants. You have to water and nurture live plants. (Thank goodness Sweet Shark is in charge of that job.) Sometimes a faux green plant works better for the location you need a plant.

My job is to make sure that our home is brightened with beautiful green plants that bring color, life, and interest throughout our home.

Until the geraniums, hydrangeas and other flowers give color outside, green will work inside. You can do this too with just a few ideas for inspiration.

These ideas for using green plants will show you where and how to bring nature into your home.

These pretty ways to use green plants in your home cover different types of plants, different sizes, different shapes and textures, and different containers – all for different areas of your home.

I’ll also share some information about why having green plants in our homes benefits us in ways that don’t have anything to do with decorating.

Our Greenery and Garden Inspiration

We can find inspiration for using green plants inside in multiple places:

• garden stores
• garden and shelter magazines
• Pinterest
• Instagram
• gardening books
• Google

This setting using a light and airy green plant and an orchid in stone planters from Maison de Cinq is the perfect example of how easy it is to use green plants in our spring home decor.

How to Use Green Plants in Your Home

First, I like to think of green plants as accessories. Like art, books, or decorative items, green plants add color, texture, and interest. They fill an empty space.

The containers that hold plants also add color, texture, and pattern.

Plants provide a living, organic presence in our environment. Living green plants make us feel good – a part of nature inside our homes.

Research suggests that indoor plants not only purify the air, but have calming effects on your mood, stress levels and blood pressure.

Green Plants in the Entry

Let’s start with your entry. Most of us have a table, a console, or a dresser of some sort in our entry hall. This is a great place to include a green plant.

The size of your green plant depends on the size and shape of the furniture. The type of green plant depends on the amount of light in your entry.

In our entry we have an antique commode – think of a chest of drawers. (It holds our china, silver trays, napkin rings, and other tabletop accessories.) If the commode is not decorated for a holiday, it loves just a pretty green plant.

Since the commode is stained and topped with a grey-green piece of marble, a green plant provides color, texture, and pattern.

Usually, I have the commode decorated for spring or a holiday. Otherwise, Sweet Shark keeps one of his favorite bonsai plants here. This is about as easy as it gets for using one large green plant.

This one is a Schefflera, which has pretty bright green leaves. As a bonsai, it definitely has an interesting shape. Since the mirror always reflects the back of whatever is placed in front of it, it’s nice that the plant looks good from all sides.

Although our front door is partially glass and there is a large Palladian window above it, the light in the entry (which faces west) can range from dark in the morning on a cloudy day to very bright in the afternoon on a sunny day. And it depends on the time of year also.

The bonsai seems to adapt to the changing light. Sweet Shark babies his bonsais and knows where they will do best. This one seems happy here.

Extensive research by NASA has revealed that houseplants can remove up to 87 per cent of air toxin in 24 hours. Studies have also proven that indoor plants improve concentration and productivity (by up to 15 percent!), reduce stress levels and boost your mood — making them perfect for not just your home but your work space, too.

Greenery in the Dining Room

If you peek into our dining room, you will see a mid-size Dracaena Janet Craig plant in the corner.

When I was redoing our dining room in the spring of 2018, I knew that it would need something tall in this one corner and that a green plant would be the best option. Since the wall color in the room is barely grey and white, the color comes from art and this green plant.

I asked Sweet Shark to select a plant that was 3 – 4 feet tall and on the slim side. The dining room gets a lot of sun in the afternoon so that light needed to be considered. I didn’t want anything big or bushy, but with smooth and shiny leaves.

He found the perfect green plant. This 4-foot tall Janet Craig dracaena plant fits the tall, skinny, shiny, and smooth requirements.

• It would take the bright sun, but be fine in the morning when the light is low.
• It provides a great pop of natural green color.
• It fills up that corner of the dining room quite nicely.

The container originally was an ugly green plastic one that I spray painted gold.

The plant grew so big that Sweet Shark cut off the top and rooted it. This is how it looks today. A corn plant sits next to it.

The dining room gets lots of light so it needs plants that thrive in the light.

Plants in the Living Room

Our living room has several places for live green plants and I bet yours does too. With coffee tables, end tables, bookshelves, and mantels, plenty of places provide a landing spot for a pretty green plant. And, just like in our dining room, you can have large plants that sit on the floor.

On each side of our bookcase, we have a mid-size plant sitting on the floor. These sansevieria tropicals have an interesting shape, stay compact, and are slow-growing.

I found the bright blue containers at Lowe’s. I love the burst of color they provide.

My mom always called them “mother-in-law’s tongue”. I recently heard someone call them snake plants. Their tall, slim leaves make them a great plant for narrow spaces.

The sansevieria provides some height and also softens the hard lines of the bookcase. With the white of the bookcase and the pale blue walls, the green and yellow leaves offer contrast and interest.

From Better Today: “As well as enhancing your mood and creating a living space that is soothing to be in, plants can also help with loneliness and depression: caring for a living thing gives us a purpose and is rewarding — especially when you see that living thing bloom and thrive.

On the mantel, simple mason jars are filled with a variety of green stems

Coffee tables are prime real estate in any living room. Besides books, trays, candles, and pictures, green plants are at the top of my list for coffee table must-haves.

I often have seasonal or holiday arrangements on the coffee table. For in-between time, I use trays, baskets or stacks of large coffee table books (rectangle in shape). A green plant always is appropriate.

Since our coffee table is made of glass and metal, I like to use containers in solid, natural and organic materials. Changing the containers occasionally keeps the look interesting.

This rustic vase with an interesting shape and texture perfectly held simple greenery on the coffee table. Set on wooden cutting boards, the vignette works in any season.

A 2007 study showed that people with more plants in their workspace took fewer sick days and were more productive on the job.

A maidenhead fern sits on one of the side tables next to our sofa. I love how the bright green color works with the blues in the lamp, container and pillow on the sofa.

These ferns are a little finicky. You have to spray them with water often.

On the other side table, another blue container holds a green plant – but this one is faux!

Sometimes you need a plant to fill a space. Next to our backdoor by an end table was just a big blank space. A green plant would be the ideal filler.

To fill in the space next to the side table, a Dracena provides lots of pretty green leaves.

Using Plants in the Kitchen

Since we spend so much time in our kitchens, this is another great place to add greenery. I can’t think of a better choice than herbs – especially if they come straight from your garden.

In our backyard, we used to grow all our herbs in pots. Then we created a small herb garden that now houses our herbs in-ground. Although several herbs, such as basil, cilantro, and dill are seasonal, Mexican mint marigold (tarragon), thyme, oregano, rosemary, sage, and mint are perennial.

I made some really cute containers to hold herbs to the kitchen counter. We’ll move these outside when the whether gets warmer.

We always have pots of rosemary, thyme, lavender, chives, and parsley that come back every year – unless we get a really hard freeze.

I love to cook with herbs and like to bring cuttings into the kitchen. It’s nice to have them ready for cooking, but also to provide a natural green organic presence in the kitchen.

The Le Parfait mason jars that I found in Atlanta and shipped home a few years ago are perfect for holding herbs. I really like to use them as accessories in the kitchen.

Here are some rosemary, chives, and lavender that I cut from our garden. I didn’t wash the herbs – that is done just before I snip some off for cooking. They get a good shake before I bring them in the house so little critters won’t stick around.

The fragrance of rosemary and lavender when I brush my hand across them is one of my favorite things.

Plants in the Sitting Room

To fill this niche between the kitchen and the sitting room, a faux tree provides greenery, texture, and interest. What do you think of the pothos plant on the floor?

The pothos plant is a $5.00 garage sale find. I don’t have to place a plastic tray under the plant on our hardwood floors.

Sweet Shark has been nursing this bonsai plant for years. It was a few inches tall when he bought it.

Greenery in the Master Bedroom

Since most of us have nightstands and sometimes a table by a chair – a little reading nook – bedrooms can also be great places for green plants.

We have a table between the two chairs in our bedroom in front of a bay window which gets morning light.

It’s the perfect place for some greenery.

I decided that this spot could use more greenery.

Out in our garage, I have a collection of planters that I recycle and reuse. I found a small blue container that would fit nicely on a stack of books.

Then I looked for a plant with an interesting shape and texture at Lowe’s and found just the thing – a small variegated Schefflera that fit perfectly in my container. Green moss tucked on top finishes the arrangement.

Since we can control the light coming into our bedroom with the shutters, we don’t need to be so concerned about the light requirements of the plant, just the size, color, and texture.

Master Bathroom Gets a Pop of Green

Finally, we come to the master bathroom.

With a vanity to set a plant on and a higher level of humidity, bathrooms are great places for plants.

We usually have an orchid here (one of Sweet Shark’s passions), but they are just beginning to bloom right now. This small corn plant was in the laundry room (That’s where the orchids stay when they are dormant and waiting to bloom.) to this spot.

The mercury glass planter is a favorite and I like the metallic contrast with the green leaves. The planter also reflects the metallic finish of the frame.

Our bathroom has a very large window, which is on the north side of our home. It can be very bright or very dark, depending on the season, weather, and time of day. The corn plant is doing well so far. I’ll move it somewhere else as soon as one of the orchids come to life again.

Best Houseplants for Stress and Anxiety

Mindful Searching compiled a list of favorite in-home plants for anxiety, stress, and overall well-being. The plants were selected based on their calming scent, ability to boost mood, and for their anti-anxiety effects.

• Aloe Vera
• Jasmine
• Lavender
• Peppermint
• Gerbera
• Snake Plant
• Rosemary
• Chrysanthemum
• Chamomile
• English Ivy Plant

Well, that’s my 7 pretty ways to use green plants in your home decor: places, types, light, and containers.

Here are a few more ideas for using green in your home:

• Green and White Rustic Winter Decor
• 5 Favorite Ways to Use Green in Home Decor

I hope that you enjoyed my little plant tour and learned something that you can use in your home. If you like and want to save for reference, please PIN it.

Let’s make the world a prettier place by using green plants in our homes.