How To Style Your Faux Plants At Home
[Paid Partnership with Blooming Artificial]
Plants make people happy. That saying has become a hugely popular Instagram hashtag and one that is difficult to dispute. The last few years has seen a huge uplift in our interest and investment in plants in our home. Ten years ago I think I’d have been hard pushed to tell you the difference between a Monstera and a Pilea, but now we are all well versed in the language of plants, and biophilic design is a key component of many interior design schemes. And it doesn’t have to be real. I’ve teamed up with Blooming Artificial who have a wonderfully convincing range of artificial plants, to share how I style their plants in my home, so you can still create the look, without any worries over maintenance and care!
Fashion and interiors both accelerated the huge trend for plants and greenery with palm prints reaching peak popularity after being seen on the Versace catwalks and closer to home when House of Hackney took the interiors world by storm with their now iconic rich, luxurious velvets in palm and botanical prints. The trickle effect was set in motion and before long, the influence had filtered down to the high street, and its still going strong now.
Of course, the fondness for plants and greenery increased even more during lockdown when we all had a lot more time to nurture our houseplants, and when we all developed a strong need to connect to nature. However now lockdown is over and life is moving at a million miles an hour again, not everyone has time to look after a multitude of plant babies. Personally, I’ve never been very green-fingered anyway and have managed to kill off more cheese plants than I care to admit. I’d love to be that person who pops all her plants in the bath for a good drink each week, but I’m just not.
In my defence, I’d also argue that our house makes it quite difficult to keep plants alive. We live in a tall, narrow Victorian terrace and in lots of rooms we don’t get a huge amount of natural light. Our kitchen is ideal plant rearing territory, however our North facing living room is not, and this has been the scene of many a plant death. That said, I still love the look and feel that greenery and plants bring to a room, so luckily for me (and you) Blooming Artificial offer incredible quality faux plants, so you can still create that look, without any of the pressure to remember to water them.
Which plants you choose to have in your home, will depend a lot on your interior style. Plants like Monstera(cheese plant) Palms and Bamboo are a natural fit for a 70s Boho vibe. Maximalists will take the more is more approach, with shelves bursting with greenery. I have used a singleartificialmonkeymonsteragarland across the top of our shelves here, but you could use multiple to create a much bigger garland.
Meanwhile for the Japandi minimalist, a simple trailing bamboo bush or string of pearls can look really effective hanging over a shelf, or mantelpiece, as I have styled here. This bamboo bush is one of my favourite pieces from Blooming Artificial, and I can see it working in various places around the house. And that’s the beauty of it, I can move it around without having to worry if it will be happy in its new home. I was also really impressed by the sanseveria which looks super realistic. This plant will work with lots of interior styles, and it has a really lovely colour and tone.
I always say my style falls somewhere between maximalism and minimalism. I love colour, texture and luxe fabrics and materials, and am not afraid to embrace them in my designs, however I like to keep things simple in terms of design and objects. I don’t use a lot of pattern (I prefer to layer textures) and I don’t like a room to feel too full or busy. Plants are therefore a perfect way for me to introduce texture and create a homely feeling. For example, the chamaedorea palm has added interest to that tricky middle zone of our lounge, which is always a difficult area to style.
I’ve already told you about my cheeseplant woes, so I was very happy to find this super sized cheese plant which has found it’s home in a dark empty corner of our living room, where nothing else could survive. One of the key things when it comes to styling faux plants is to put the pot within a bigger pot or holder because often the small pot a faux plant comes in can be a dead giveaway. Because of the size of this plant, it’s best to take the time to unfurl and shape some of the leaves when you take it out of the wrapping. A couple of days after removing the wrapping it will drop a little and take on a more natural form anyway, but it’s worth putting in a little extra time to bend and move some of the leaves to get more of a natural look.
While faux plants don’t need watering and are much, much easier to look after than real plants, there are still a few things you can do to keep your faux plants looking their best all year round. It is a good idea to give them a dust and clean every now and then to keep them looking their best. And I’d also recommend moving them around, or rotating them every few months, to freshen things up a little. Think about switching things up with the seasons, just like you do your wardrobe, because sometimes a small change is all you need to make something feel fresh again.
