How many plants are too many? The limit does not exist
Let’s be honest: You’ve likely accumulated more houseplants over the past few years than you’d like to admit. Call it a hobby or call it home decor, but either way, our house plants are here to stay—unless we accidentally forget to water them.
Enter: The plant room, solarium, or DIY greenhouse. The concept of a plant room involves taking a spare room, a spare wall, or even a spare cabinet and filling it to the brim with a mix of plants. Use these gorgeous plant room ideas and DIY greenhouses as inspiration for your future green room.
Even if there’s nothing good on TV, you can still enjoy your home media center with a few well-placed houseplants. These free-standing shelving units transform this living room into a lush plant room. To create a living wall vibe in your living room, add a shelf above the TV and fill it with hanging planters or vining plants. Think: hardy pothos, philodendron mican, or another hard-to-kill houseplant.
A checkerboard floor and a greenhouse cabinet is a winning combination that fits your kitchen as well as it does the garden from “Alice in Wonderland.” You can make your own indoor greenhouse using a flatpack glass cabinet and a few of your favorite plants. To get the same quirky edge, mimic the checked floor with a rug or hire a local tile installer to swap out your tile.
Raffaele Di Lallo, the author behind Ohio Tropics, created this dreamy solarium using free-standing shelves. While ample light is a must, if you want to create a similar plant room, he recommends minding the air circulation. “Indoors, we don't have the benefit of wind, so providing some light air circulation is important in helping your plants grow well, as well as to help reduce the risk of fungal infections and diseases,” Di Lallo says. The good news? A ceiling fan should suffice.
Want to create a low-maintenance plant room? Line your solarium with pastel succulents, and organize them by color. James Compton, who runs the succulent-themed Instagram page @gaymessucculents, recommends matching your succulent planters to your shelving and using a similar colored top layer (whether it’s rocks, moss, or clay) to hide your soil. “Blending the pots in with the surface ensures the plants are the main focus and helps avoid visual clutter,” Compton says.
What do you do if you don’t have a green thumb, but really want to make a plant room? Fake it. Create a full wall display using artificial or dried flowers. You can use a mix of greens, specifically larger buds, fruits, or branches mixed with delicate baby’s breath and berries. Similar to a gallery wall, you can hang them up at regular intervals with a nail or thumbtack.
Nosy neighbors? No problem. Who needs curtains when you have hanging plants? To create a gorgeous plant room that uses live vegetation as curtains, reach for trailing plants. Options like string of pearls, string of hearts, or wax plants will add texture without bulk. For thicker curtains, choose a larger leafed plant like monstera adansonii, jade pothos, or philodendron mican.
How do you create a living wall without shelves? You go big. This plant room jungle succeeds by layering smaller plants around a large bird of paradise to give it the feeling of a lush tropical rainforest. Opt for a small indoor tree for added authenticity and let your vines crawl up the wall on a trellis. Vining plants tend to grow larger leaves if they can climb.
If you want a plant room that feels full but uncluttered, make a vine wall. Vines take center stage in this bohemian-style living room, but they still manage to feel delicate and ethereal. You can train your vines to crawl in any direction by using thumbtacks to hang them up as they grow, and fill in the visual gaps as time goes on.
Greenhouse cabinets are popular for several reasons. They’re perfect for homeowners with a small space who want to grow a lush vertical garden. They’re also one of the few plant room ideas that works in spaces without much natural light. If you’re looking for a low-light solution, attach LED grow light strips on the inside of your plant cabinet.
Tall greenhouse cabinets are a simple way to arrange a large amount of house plants so they get the most natural light. Just put two glass cabinets near your largest window. The cabinets also do a good job at keeping in humidity during the driest parts of winter. If you live in an apartment building with dry heat, this could greatly improve your humidity woes. Goodbye, crispy leaves.
Sometimes, there’s value in leaning into the chaos, especially if you don’t have enough space to make a dedicated plant room. This small plant corner has a massive impact. Pick a bright section of your room, and think in layers. Choose tall greens for the floor, then prop up your plants at varying heights using different planters, stools, and side tables.
Sometimes your plants don’t need a room—they need a whole house. You can build your own DIY greenhouse in your backyard (or call-in a local greenhouse builder to help). During the spring and summer, it will help you grow lush vegetation. As soon as temperatures dip, put up some string lights around your greenhouse and sit cozy in your winter wonderland with a warm hot chocolate.
