How to Bring the Outdoors In: Inspiration for Greening Small Spaces
So, you’ve got a tiny apartment. (Or a cute cottage with approximately zero free square feet of space.) But you still feel the need to own a houseplant or 12. We totally get that and we’ve got great news: Tight living quarters don’t need to cramp your growing style. Here are some ideas for how to fit some leafy friends into your petite maison.
Get Vertical
Vertical gardens are a natural solution for those who dream of growing a variety of plants under tight square footage constraints. While empty wall space is an ideal component of this plan, it’s not actually necessary. All you really need to build your vertical garden is a bit of creativity — because you can also build your own “wall” if need be. These beautiful, space-saving gardens are becoming more popular all the time, hence the myriad of ways to construct them. We’re into these hangable, recycled pockets, to which you can add a gravity-fed drip irrigation system.
Rack ’em Up
As we mentioned above, you don’t need a wall, or even a ceiling, from which to hang plants. We like the idea of using a rack (like one that you’d use for clothes or luggage) and a bunch of hanging planters to construct a flourishing garden inside your home. The beauty of this design is that it can fit wherever you have space — even if that’s right in the middle of the room. Fortunately, this type of hanging plant arrangement looks incredible with very little effort and can totally do double duty as interior design elements.
Keep it Classic
Herb gardens on kitchen counters and window sills are nothing new, but they’re traditional for a reason: They’re successful, they’re useful, they’re aesthetically pleasing, and they’re space-conscious. Lemon balm, mint, rosemary, thyme, and sage are all well-suited to indoor growth through winter as long as you pay attention to their light and water requirements (they vary from plant to plant). If your window sills are too narrow to house herbs or you don’t have the counter space, consider mounting them to the walls surrounding your windows and using some cool mason jars as your planters.
Frame it Out
These framed succulent arrangements are a really stellar way to add a ton of life to your home while using very little space. They do require some extra work up front, but once they’re set, they’re pretty low-maintenance: You hang them on a wall (using sturdy hardware) and need to water them just once a month!
Go Small. (Really Small.)
From air plants and teeny sedums to baby snake plants, there are so many wonderful plants with small footprints and big impacts. Small plants can bring you just as much happiness as large ones (possibly more), and the best part about them is that you always have space for them. Put one on your bathroom counter, next to the kitchen sink, or on your nightstand. We promise that it’ll brighten up your day.
Have you created a lush oasis in your small home? Show us on Instagram by tagging @rexius_landscape or @opusgrows.