How to Decorate With Plants: 9 Mood Lifting Ideas

Plants do amazing things for our mental health. There’s plenty of research out there to prove the power of foliage. From reducing stress and anxiety, improving mood and promoting mindfulness to increasing attentiveness and memory, nature reigns supreme.

Just being around plants or seeing them can help you feel calm and relaxed, and there are so many ways to incorporate greenery and botanical design into your home. Here are 9 mood-lifting ideas that show you how to decorate with plants in just about any setting.

Create a vibrant indoor jungle

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The main theme here is clear: the more the merrier. Firstly, plants naturally clean the air by eliminating toxins and they absorb carbon dioxide and pump out oxygen, creating healthy air for humans to breathe. Secondly, plants act as dehumidifiers, meaning mould doesn’t stand a chance.

So the more plants you keep, the better the air quality. But if you’re not exactly the green-fingered type, remember to start small. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too many plants to begin with to avoid unnecessary fatalities (it happens).

Mural in photo: Green Leafy Paradise

A jungle backdrop like this Green Leafy Paradise wallpaper mural could be a good starting point. Set the scene, then incorporate live plants gradually.

Turn potted plants into wall décor

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Make the most of your vertical space with planters that are mounted to the wall. If you want to know how to decorate with plants when floor space is scarce, wall plants are the answer to your problem. They also solve the issue of not knowing what to put on your walls. Not everyone is an art aficionado, hello?

The living wall trend has been spreading like a fast-growing perennial across homes around the world and we can’t get enough. Oh, and if you suck at keeping things alive, there’s always easy-care succulents or even Tillandsia – the plant that survives solely on air!

Enjoy the view with a garden mural

Mural in photo: Beautiful Spring Flowers

Apparently, getting your hands dirty in the garden is a great way of boosting serotonin, the hormone responsible for stabilising mood and generating feelings of wellbeing and happiness. This is because physical contact with soil (or a specific soil bacteria) triggers this hormone in our brains. Didn’t we tell you Mother Nature was almighty and all-powerful?

But what if you don’t have a garden? Or you just don’t like manual labour? The next best thing is enjoying a garden view. Simply looking at plants is enough to improve your outlook on life. Yep, plants make us positive, and a garden mural can be a shortcut to getting your positivity fix.

Gardens paint the perfect picture of seasons too, and this Beautiful Spring Flower mural is our favourite right now.

Deck out a dark bathroom

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Bathrooms with lots of natural light are great, but some of us have north-facing bathrooms or bathrooms with no windows at all! Some helpful decorating tips include skipping the cool-toned paints and opting for colours that bring warmth, and using mirrors to bounce light around the room.

What may surprise you is that adding plants can brighten up your space too. While many people avoid putting plants in the dark corners of their home and opt for areas with better lighting, there are actually some houseplants that don’t need much sun to survive.

Some plants grow particularly well in shade – these include Boston ferns, heart-leaf philodendrons, calatheas and marantas, spider plants, Swiss cheese plants, areca palms and snake plants – just to name a few!

Low light loving plants help you fill a space that would otherwise go unloved. So it’s definitely a win-win.

Jump on the cactus bandwagon

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Spiky, spectacular and sassy, the cactus is a sight to behold. There’s something very pleasing about the rounded shape of a cactus plant. Juxtaposed with its prickly spines, the cactus is a mirror for some common human traits. Tough on the outside, squishy on the inside.

Our love affair with this thorny trend began on Instagram, with interior enthusiasts sharing snaps of their bristly plants. They instantly brighten up the home and add a cool design feature, while being easy to care for. Plant murderers, listen up – these plants are notoriously hard-to-kill!

Mural in photo: Watercolour Cactus

Another great thing about cactuses (or cacti) is that they are aesthetically versatile. A stand-alone plant looks funky and chic, or you can group them together to create a cactus jungle. You can kick off the party with a stylish cactus wall mural too.

Get creative with dried plants

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Boy, do we love dried plants. They look super luxurious in any setting, and they don’t even die. While dried foliage isn’t designed to last forever (they usually stay looking fab for 2+ years), it’s a cost-effective alternative to getting fresh flowers.

Fluffy pampas adds instant texture and height, while palm fronds bring a tropical edge to your interiors. Combine dried foliage with neutral décor and you’ve got the perfect formula for chic, organic minimalism. Natural wallpapers provide a tonal backdrop for your vase displays and mixing dried and live plants can add a whole other dimension to your environment. We love this trend for bedrooms and living spaces.

Learn how to decorate with plants at a height

Mural in photo: Hanging Eucalyptus

For a greenery display that delivers serious impact, try decorating with plants from a good height. Think high shelves, ledges, or rails to hang planters from the ceiling. The plants that work best in this scenario are trailing plants.

Hanging pearl plants are popular in interior design right now, but other trailing varieties include ferns, nasturtiums, epiphytic succulents, indoor ivy and other vining species like peperomia ruby cascade or creeping fig.

Remember, regular pruning encourages growth. So if you’re trying to get these plants to cascade, be sure to give them a little trim every now and again. This gorgeous Hanging Eucalyptus mural is a brilliant shortcut though, and works well if your bare walls are crying out to be decorated.

Do you love plants as much as we do? What are your tips on how to decorate with plants for mood-lifting, happiness-boosting goodness? Share your decorative plant pointers in the comments below…