Okay, I’m fully acknowledging this blog post title sounds like I’m about to discuss something other than adding a few plants to the bedroom, so I’m sorry about the let down – that’s just going to have to be a post I pull together for another day! Today, however, I’m discussing how we added a few plants to our bedroom.
BRINGING PLANTS INTO OUR HOME
I’ve never been the type of person who has plants around the home or who splurges on a bouquet of fresh flowers on a random weekday. I have a cat who eyes every living thing that comes through the front door, and with all the plants that could be poisonous, it’s just never been worth the risk – plus, they all end up with chew marks on the edges anyway.
Well, when Adam and I moved in together, he brought with him a pot of succulents. A very large pot of succulents. Then, a friend brought us an orchid as a housewarming gift. And I quickly realized that Hampden doesn’t realize that succulents and orchids are plants. They’re just a bit too plastic-y feeling for her to chew. She eyes them up and down, bats at them a bit…but chewing? She’s not interested. So, finally, we had a solution for the lack of living, breathing plants in our home!
THE SUCCULENT STRUGGLE
The pot of succulents I previously mentioned started to struggle shortly after moving into our apartment. I’m not sure if we didn’t get the right light or if they were just accustomed to living outside but we ended up with a big pot of nearly dead succulents. I tried several times to replace them, all with the same result. Adam was convinced that putting them right in front of the window for optimal sunlight would be the solution, but it just turned into an eyesore – an eyesore that both physically and visually disrupted the path to my side of the bed with plants on their last leg.
Finally, last week, I’d had enough. Dying plants surely aren’t good for feng shui in an apartment (I mean, we all saw the love fern die in How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, right?!), and, because Adam is all about succulents, I was determined to figure out a way to successfully bring a few plants into our bedroom. So, I walked up to Trader Joe’s, picked up a few (more) succulents, a couple orchids, and made my way back over to H Street, ready to work these plants into the decor.
INCORPORATING PLANTS INTO THE BEDROOM
Typically we think of plants as living in the main areas of the house – the living room or the kitchen, but in our apartment, but our bedroom gets far better light than the living room due to large windows on two of the walls. So, plants in the bedroom it is, and after sleeping and waking up to a room with touches of green, I’m all about adding a bit of nature and life to the bedroom.
- Choose low maintenance plants. We went with orchids and succulents because our cat won’t mess with them, but another reason to go low maintenance is because you really don’t want dead plants in the bedroom. This is your retreat and a hard to care for plant adds unnecessary stress.
- Think bright and light. I’m not someone who’s obsessed with orchids, but I get why their delicate, paper thin, bright presence is perfectly suited for a bedroom. Orchids look like they belong in a spa, and isn’t that how you want to feel when you go to bed?
- Go for calm. Succulents are the most perfectly symmetrical, perfectly sage green, perfectly (almost) fake looking plants you can find – and that’s exactly why they’re so wonderful in a bedroom. They have an intentional and calm look that’s ideal for your bedroom.
- Don’t overdo it. We opted for several small pots rather than one large plant in our bedroom. Part of this was logistics – I wondered if our succulents kept dying as a result of unsuccessful repotting – but part of this was because I liked that the smaller pots could blend in with our other decor. They’re just enough to add a touch of life to a dresser without overpowering it. Plus, because of the nature of orchids and succulents, they’ll never overgrow their space.
How have you incorporated plants into your home? Let me know what’s worked for you – and if you have any tips on caring for succulents and orchids, pass them my way!
