Me, my place, and plants

Creating a beautiful space you spend a lot of your time in is important. Now more than ever when you see your coworker’s zoom background.

The basics of decorating your home with plants

Like any good landscaper will tell you about the basics of back/middle/foreground landscaping, similar rules apply to starting your home/plant decor project. I hope my tips below about my experience in creating a beautiful green home helps.

Tip 1: Know what you want, vision board it.

Always do your homework on plants, they are living beings. Yes, there are beginner plants anyone can work with, however you want to buy a plant with intention of occupying a space in your home, and also buy one you won’t kill (It happens to the best of us, but let’s try to minimize it. Haha).

I curate plants based on what I have visualized for a space in my home.

Some of us out there are straight up plant hoarders, like my best friend, and there is a beauty in that too. You amateur botanists out there, you do you!

Anyone who knows me, knows I am obsessed with monsteras. My Monstera deliciosa in the corner of my living room is hands down my favorite part of my home. The six feet monster has over the year grown to mold into the corner and it just looks so damn good there.

I grew up around a 8-9 feet tall monstera in our dining room, under it many memories were made, some good and some bad. So, my monstera corner now reminds me of home, BUT in a way I have reclaimed that memory and now I literally nurture it every day. There’s a weird beauty in that. Sort of like when you turn 30, and all of a sudden your parents feel like your children, you know? No? Ok.

Point is, you want to make memories or have stories in your space that make you smile.

Now let’s get to the part about how to make this happen for yourself.

This is where the knowledge of back, middle and foreground design come in. Self-explanatory in its name, it literally means how you can arrange based on depth. Tall plants will be closer to your wall, a window or a corner, medium height bushier plants on the floor or atop medium height furniture and smaller ones in the front like on a coffee table or end table. You can create a visual path of an incline, thereby framing a space. But hey, if you want just an absolutely beautiful, chaotic jungle of a home, DO IT.

Tip 2: Plants add to a Color Story

I literally use plants as one of my accent colors. My apartment is relatively muted with black, greys and white, so my babies are what makes IT. You ideally want to pick colors that go with green if you really want to be intentional about a color scheme in your place. There is a method to a funky crazy colorful apartment too.

Colors like mustard, terracotta (which is sooo in right now) and gold go really well with green. If you live in a home with a lot of brown and beige tones, use plants to tone down the warm tones. Making it look a lot less … sepia-y. If you’re like me who likes simple furniture and minimal prints and patterns, interesting foliage like the Swiss Cheese Monstera, and Bird’s Nest Anthurium leaves can add an amazing texture and vibe.

Tip 3: Plants as your center piece/focal point:

I have over 45 plants now, I know it’s a lot in a five-hundred-some square feet apartment. BUT, people always notice three of my plants as soon as they enter my home. My focal plants - the monstrous monstera, a majestic orchid and two dangly string of pearls that hangs in front of my kitchen window. Much like how an art gallery is curated, you can create a flow. My orchid is my only flowering indoor plant, so it’s an immediate focal point and my string of pearls are my only hanging plants.

In rooms you can’t have as many plants, add them as accent/center pieces. Like my orchid that (let’s be honest, all of us have received as a gift at some point) sits on my kitchen island.

Things to consider when using plants as center pieces:

• Size – Depending on your space, use plants to highlight it. For instance, you have high ceilings? Get an abnormally tall plant. You have a beautiful kitchen island, accent your island top décor items with a beautiful living bouquet, an orchid, or a bromeliad (current obsession)!
• Texture – I love foliage more than flowers mainly because I feel sad when flowers die off. So consider an ever green foliage to add some quirk/texture.
• Pots/Planters – I know, they’re expensive. Invest in beautiful fun pots for some of your plants that act as key displays.
• ALSO don’t throw away the nursery pots plants come in. Ask your local plant shop if they have any throw always which you can use to size up when your plant outgrows its pot. Plus, you can’t recycle black plastic, so reuse for years! I never pot my plants directly into decorative pots, that way I can change them up whenever I want to.

Step 4: Take care of your space

Your home is LIVING (pun intended). This is your space! You live, laugh, love in here, and ugly cry too. Taking care of your space is an act of self-care. AND nothing can beat the feeling of coming home to a beautiful space with plants everywhere. You can follow my plant account for plant care tips and ask me anything plant and styling related!

I have become a happier person since I’ve been able to create a beautiful space for myself - my very own nest. A beautiful living place where I have friends over for dinner all the time, filling my home with joy and impromptu plant facts and tips.

AND at the end of the day plant decor has taught me to find beauty in your being, to be creative, to be responsible for something/someone outside of yourself, to listen and be patient, and most important of all, to never buy calatheas ever again.

Personal insta: @sakshamrai

Plant insta: plant_plarenthood