How Indoor plants can Transform Your Space – Part 1
Life in an Apartment:
Bringing Greenery Into Your SpaceI have been living an apartment lifestyle since I was born. Apartment living can be compact, and yes, you do have to give up quite a few things that come with an independent home. But honestly, there are moments when I absolutely love apartment living too.
Your neighbours are just a door away, you get beautiful skyline views from your windows, and living higher up gives you a completely different perspective of everything happening around you.
Of course, most of us dream of having an independent home with plenty of space. But not everyone is fortunate enough to have that. So, why not make the space we already have beautiful?
The simplest way to make apartment living feel special is to create an environment that makes you happy.
Remember the saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Why only Rome? Nothing truly beautiful, breathtaking or meaningful is created in a single day.
A home is no different. It is a space, a dream and a reflection of who we are. Creating that space takes time, patience, effort and, of course, a little bit of love.
The First Thing I Wanted to Bring Into My Home: Greenery
After I got married, my husband and I bought a flat in Mumbai in a high-rise building. Both of us used to spend almost 12 hours a day outside the house, except on weekends.
Even after coming home, I felt like something was missing.
The long work hours were tiring, and home was the place where I wanted to feel calm and relaxed. So, wherever I was sitting, working or simply unwinding, I wanted to see some greenery around me.
I am, in short, a complete plant freak. Hahaha!
Living Room Decor and Organization
1. The View From My Seating Area — Outdoor Greenery
GREENERY BRINGS A SENSE OF CALM AND ABUNDANCE.
GREEN IS CALM AND A SIGN OF PROSPERITY.
As soon as I opened the main door to my living room, this was the view I would see. The photograph doesn’t really do justice to how beautiful and calming it felt in person.
I have always felt that greenery has a way of influencing our mood.
Walk through a green farm and you feel abundant. Visit a hill station, and the greenery feels breathtaking. Walk through a forest, and suddenly you realize how small you are. Sit in a park, and the same greenery can feel peaceful and romantic.
It is all green, but somehow, each environment creates a completely different feeling.
Creating a Green Corner at Home
This was my little flowerbed, with greenery flourishing around the space.
You don’t necessarily need a huge garden to bring nature home. You can work with both indoor and outdoor greenery and use them as part of your home design.
For apartment living, this is one of the easiest ways to make a compact space feel more alive.
2. Bringing Greenery Indoors
Arranging Things That Look Good and Feel Organized
Introducing live plants indoors isn’t always as simple as it looks.
Every plant has its own growing requirements. Some need bright light, some prefer indirect light, some need more water, and some seem to survive almost anywhere.
I spent a lot of time figuring out which plants could actually survive in different corners of my home.
But honestly, I enjoyed the process.
To me, decorating with plants is almost like displaying living sculptures inside your home.
Over the years, I have experimented with hundreds of plant varieties. And yes, quite a few of them gave up on me during my experiments! Hahaha!
A Little DIY Plant Mystery
In this arrangement, I have a few handmade DIY pieces.
Can you tell which of the two plants is real and which one is artificial?
Leave your guess in the comments!
My DIY Planter
The shallow white cement planter holding the succulent with the little black-dot design was one of my earliest DIY projects.
I made it using white cement, and it is now several years old. Somehow, it is still going strong and looks like it could survive for many more years—as long as nobody in my house decides to “experiment” with it!
The Wooden Guitar Holder
The wooden guitar holder you see here has a little story of its own.
I picked it up from a local seller during one of my trips to Himachal Pradesh. The seller carved beautiful pieces from wooden logs, mainly for display.
The piece was completely raw and unfinished, which was exactly what I wanted because I had my own idea for customizing it.
I used acrylic paints and a piece of sponge to create a stamped background with different colors. Once I had the base I liked, I added the quote:
“Positive Vibes Only.”
A Note on the Guitar Decor
According to some Feng Shui interpretations, guitar imagery is associated with positive energy, creativity and harmony. Whether or not you follow Feng Shui, I personally liked the idea of having a piece of art in my home that represented music, creativity and positive vibes.
Quotes That Speak to You
I have always believed that words displayed around your home can influence the way you feel.
A good quote can speak to you when you are having a great day and sometimes even when you are having a terrible one.
So, if there is a quote that makes you feel positive, inspired or simply happy, why not bring it into your space?
Fill your home with words that you would like to hear.
3. When Artificial Plants Work Too
Not every corner of a home is suitable for a live plant. There were places where I simply couldn’t maintain natural greenery, so I introduced a few artificial plants instead.
And honestly, I don’t think every plant in your home has to be real.
For me, the larger idea was to maintain a consistent green element throughout the house.
When decorating a home, I don’t like every room to look as though it belongs to a completely different house. There should be some continuity—a color, material, texture, shape or design element that connects the spaces together.
Your living room can have its own personality and your bedroom can have a slightly different mood, but there should still be a visual thread running through the home.
Let your home have a personality, not just a collection of objects.
Plants, Positivity and the Feeling of Home
There are many traditional beliefs around plants and greenery bringing positivity, prosperity and good energy into a home. Whether you follow those beliefs or simply enjoy plants for their beauty, greenery can certainly change the atmosphere of a space.
For me, plants became more than just decoration.
They brought a little bit of nature into an apartment and made the space feel more alive.
My Home Keeps Changing, But the Idea Remains the Same
My home décor has never been completely fixed.
I like changing things around occasionally, especially when the seasons change or when I simply get bored of looking at the same arrangement every day. Sometimes all it takes is moving a plant, changing a cushion, introducing a new color, or experimenting with a different shape.
But the basic idea remains the same:
Create a home that feels like you.
You don’t need a huge house, an enormous budget or a professionally designed interior to make your space beautiful.
Sometimes, a few plants, a little creativity and the willingness to experiment are enough to completely change how your home feels.
Continue reading part 2 of this article.
Playing with colors and mural art is another chapter in my home decor that you can see here.
