26 Clever Ideas for Decorating With Greenery

There are plenty of reasons for being hung up on lush, leafy greenery. For starters, planted beauties scrub indoor air while invigorating décor with a chic 1970s vibe. Plus, compared to fresh-cut flowers, houseplants last much longer giving you a bigger bang for your decorating dollars.

Do not have green fingers? Faux plants or dried bunches such as eucalyptus are also perfect for bringing lovely leafage into your abode. Even better, both are typically cheaper than living houseplants. To help you make your space feel brighter and more lively, here are our favorite tips for decorating with gorgeous greenery.

• 01 of 26 Decorating a Bar Cart

Plants can magically soften edgy décor. Kimberly, the design-obsessed do-it-yourselfer behind Swoon-Worthy, created an indoor garden in her thoroughly modern apartment using a bar cart. In her case, the greenery brightens an awkward recess. The best part is the trolley makes it easy to wheel plants to the kitchen or bathroom for spritzing or pruning.

02 of 26 Tropical Houseplants

Natasha Denness, the simple living expert behind Candy Pop, says houseplants help her create that summery feeling year-round at home. The trick is picking greenery that you might spot on a far-flung tropical vacation. Her top three choices include succulents, ​cacti, and palm trees.

03 of 26 Faux Houseplants

This beautiful botanical themed bathroom by Rachel at The Ordinary Lovely uses verdure-inspired décor to green up white space. Because the blogger does not have much luck with living houseplants, she went with a faux palm tree. She says while up close it may not fool a plant aficionado, it is lifelike enough to brighten the room. To boost the feel-good green feeling, she added a few pieces of botanically inspired décor including the cute hamper on the left.​

04 of 26 DIY Greenery Arrangements

Making hand-tied bouquets out of homegrown or found foliage can be a tad intimidating when you are not in the know. These rules for getting it right by Melanie Lissack Interiors will help you achieve beautiful results. Her recipe for creating a vibrant explosion of color and texture involves combining five different types of flowers with two kinds of contrasting foliage. So you can easily slip your arrangement in a vase, strip off leaves from the stems below the binding point as shown.

05 of 26 Decorating With Houseplants

Stylist Lisa Dawson uses plants to create soft focal points around her living room. On the left, a Swiss cheese plant perches on an end table. On the right side of the sofa, a fern plant gets an extra boost from a stack of books. The biggest houseplant in the bunch, a fig tree, is set down in front of the patio doors.

06 of 26 Indoor Palm Trees

A sun-drenched room is ideal for tall plants that require lots of light to flourish. A personal favorite is the Kentia palm. Two are shown flanking the sofa in this space by ​Homepolish. The elegant and durable tree can thrive in a container, and because it grows slowly, it is well suited for indoors. Also, if you do not have the budget or space for lots of plants, a single palm tree is a great statement piece.

07 of 26 Dried Eucalyptus Branches

We dig sprays of dried eucalyptus because a bouquet usually costs less than $10. Even better, it can last several years with regular dusting. To display, steal this decorating tip from the blogger who pens Just Kaylee. She added a splash of greenery to her entryway by hanging a bundle of eucalyptus on her coat rack.

08 of 26 Fake Trees Can Look Great

If you live in a dark apartment or do not have the patience to take care of a living thing, decorating with fake plants is A-OK in our book if you use artificial greenery that looks somewhat real in your home. In this living room, Ashley, the mind behind Lazy Daisy Jones combined a faux tree that came in a cute, metal bucket with a couple of real houseplants.

09 of 26 Mini Greenhouse

Make your entryway more interesting (and welcoming too!) with this idea by Emily Murray, the editor of The Pink House. The blogger keeps a brass and glass greenhouse filled with tiny succulents near her front door.

10 of 26 Stems and Leaves

A few leafy stems or branches will bring a pinch of Mother Nature indoors. Interior plant designer Lisa Muñoz from Leaf and June prefers to use clear, glass vases to display fresh cut greenery.

11 of 26 Create a Plant Shelf

Add a pop of greenery to your gallery wall with a well-placed shelf. Olivia Silk from Lust Living used a tiny copper shelf to show off several succulents. The Swiss cheese plant on the floor and the banana leaf print on the wall round out the layout.

12 of 26 Trailing Succulents

Trailing fishhook plants, which are reasonably easy to grow, liven up a white bathroom by Beth Kooby Design. To keep these succulents happy, place them in a bright spot with indirect sunlight and plant them in a pot with drainage so their roots can quickly dry after watering.

13 of 26 Pair Plants with Floral Wall Art

A flowering houseplant like a peace lily (shown on the right) can prettify a space for many years. Pairing the shade loving plant with floral wall art added color and pattern to this living room decorated by the blogger behind Swoon Worthy.

14 of 26 Hanging Greenery

Instead of filling that blank wall in your living room with art and photos, you can display hanging greenery instead. To green up her space, Amber from Amber Interiors used some cord to suspend a selection of plants in striped ceramic planters.

15 of 26 Add Something Colorful to Greenery

Courtney from 12th and White created a colorful ​eucalyptus arrangement for her daughter’s first birthday party by adding a few faux flowers.

16 of 26 Leaf Decor

We love decorating ideas that do not cost a cent. Here a beautiful found leaf from a Japanese maple tree injects a dollop of greenery into a white bathroom seen on Alvhem Makler.

17 of 26 Bring Geraniums Indoors

Geraniums are a favorite outdoor garden plant. But with a little watering and lots of sunlight, they can thrive indoors too. We think they are the best bet if you are looking for greenery with beautiful blooms. Shown in this apartment from Fantastic Frank is a type of geranium called Allure Light Pink. Also good to know is that other varieties can fill your home with a lovely scent. Examples include the leafy lemon balm or peppermint geranium.

18 of 26 Safe Plants for Cats

Many cat owners deny themselves the joy that comes with indoor greenery because they are safeguarding their pets. If you count yourself among them, here is some good news: air plants are safe for cats to chew. But if you want to keep these plants out of your kitty’s reach, this DIY from Anna at ​Don’t Cramp My Style will keep your air plants safe. She whipped up the geometric wall planters shown using air-hardening clay.​

19 of 26 Indoor Herb Garden

Growing your own herbs indoors is an efficient way to green up a kitchen. On hand in this cooking space seen on Fantastic Frank is a mint plant on the left and a thyme plant on the right.

20 of 26 How to Hang a Staghorn Fern

Plants can help you get over the blues—for real. And thankfully an eight-step tutorial by The Fresh Exchange makes adding something green and leafy to your home during those chilly months a cinch. The project shares how to mount a staghorn fern to any wall in your home that receives moderate sunlight. FYI, to keep this plant happy you will need to cover the roots with organic matter like peat or compost soil.

21 of 26 Indoor Plant Trellis

Here is a spectacular way to flaunt a collection of greenery. Mandi and Courtney from Vintage Revivals transformed a bare kitchen wall in their home into a vertical garden with a DIY trellis.

22 of 26 Mix Artificial Plants with Living Ones

Yes, you can recreate this gorgeous plant wall for less money than you think. To get the most bang for your dollars, Kate from House Mix Blog suggests combining real plants from your local garden center with inexpensive fake ones, which you can find at stores like IKEA or Home Goods.

The living houseplants she purchased cost on average $10 a pop, while the faux greenery cost up to 75 percent less. Because Kate hates cleaning her bathroom, she selected living greenery that does not shed lots of leaves.

23 of 26 Creating a Faux Centerpiece

These ideas from Ann Marie at White House Black Shutters share how to make faux greenery look like the real thing. First and foremost fresh sprigs are naturally droopy so you should bend the stems of your fake greenery to give it a natural look. Just like you would with a fresh-plucked bouquet, strip off any leaves from the lower half of each stem. It will make arranging your display in a vase a little bit easier. If you are putting your arrangement in something transparent like a Mason jar, consider adding simulated water to complete the realistic look.

24 of 26 Decorating with Fruit Tree Branches

Another tip worthy of borrowing is decorating with kumquat branches. The cute arrangement on the desk in this home office styled by Studio McGee features the tiny fruit hanging from leaf-filled branches. In the corner on the right is a fiddle leaf fig tree.

25 of 26 Creative Houseplant Ideas

As long as living greenery gets enough sunlight and water, you can get really creative with plant placement. In this apartment featured on Alvhem Makleri, a kitchen light fixture doubles as an indoor garden.

26 of 26 Play with Scale

When filling your abode with pops of greenery, try playing with scale. Oversized clippings like the palm leaves shown on the right in this living room by Homepolish add an exotic element that will raise your home’s chic factor.