London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

6 Expert Tips for Decorating With Houseplants So Every Room Feels Like an Oasis

6 Expert Tips for Decorating With Houseplants So Every Room Feels Like an Oasis

Here’s how to effortlessly transform every room with greenery.

For Hilton Carter, life got a lot more interesting when he met a fiddle-leaf fig named Frank. It was 2014, and Hilton, feeling inspired after dinner at a café in a greenhouse, purchased the tree in an attempt to infuse his New Orleans apartment with a similarly idyllic feel.

Today, more than 200 plants (including the now towering Frank) fill the apartment he shares with his wife, Fiona, in Baltimore. His specimens climb the walls and take up every last inch of the windowsills. "I just started bringing in plants to create a space that made me feel great," he says, "and somehow ended up with a lot."

            

It’s a story that no doubt sounds familiar to the plant obsessives featured in Hilton's second book, Wild Interiors: Beautiful Plants in Beautiful Spaces ($19, Amazon), which showcases leafy homes in the United States and Europe. What all the spaces have in common are inhabitants who, as he likes to say, have been bitten by the botanical bug. "Plants are a way of creating a moment of escape within your own home, of bringing the outside world in," he says.

And, of course, that feeling has never been more welcome. Hilton documents his plant-collecting adventures on Instagram, where you can also sign up for his virtual workshops on topics like potting and propagation. He believes there's no such thing as too much green, so here he offers six simple ways to fill every room in your home with houseplants.



1. Surround Seating Areas With Plants


"The power that plant life has in a home is transformative," Hilton explains. Floor-to-ceiling greenery surrounds a hanging chair in this Antwerp, Belgium, apartment. "By gathering plants in this deliberate way, the homeowners were able to create a spot everyone is drawn to," Hilton says.

            

2. Dress Up Your Dining Room


“Unlike a vase of flowers, a plant can breathe life into a dining space for a long time,” Hilton says. In this Los Angeles dining room, a dwarf umbrella bonsai tree serves as a centerpiece (its diminutive size means it won’t block sightlines) while tangles of golden pothos and philodendron brighten an otherwise neutral nook.

    

3. Use a Group of Closely Spaced Plants as a Focal Point


"Sometimes more is more," says Hilton of this deliberately overgrown credenza in a Berlin apartment. "I love the feeling that wildlife has taken over a space," he says. "It’s almost like the ruins of an old building, where the people have left, and the plants have moved back in." However, to keeps things from getting too out of control, "only bring in what you can care for," Hilton advises.

        

4. Go Vertical


This patio in Barcelona is surrounded by tall, white walls that seemed to overpower the space. The owner’s solution: Hang small ferns, spider plants and more with brackets. "What’s great about this arrangement of little containers, as opposed to something like ivy or another climbing vine, is that the pots add a real sense of depth," Hilton says.

        

5. Tuck Plants into Unexpected Spaces


Add excitement to a stale vignette with a few well-placed plants. Here, a simple cart doubles as a plant stand and bar. "I’m always looking for ways to tuck little plants into an unexpected spot like that," Hilton says. "They make a space dynamic." Plus, the heart-shape philodendron trained around the mirror frame "really adds depth and interest," he says.



6. Green Up the Bedroom


Try hanging trailing plants from the ceiling or placing them on a shelf over your bed. “Sleeping under plants makes it feel like you’re camping or on vacation,” says Hilton, whose wife made a mini macramé hammock for his plants.
Which Plants to Choose for Specific Rooms

Not sure which plants would thrive in certain areas of your abode? In general, Hilton cautions against "bringing plants into a space just because you like the plant due to its trendiness." Instead, pay attention to the light each type of plant needs. A few low-maintenance favorites for beginners include ZZ plants, ponytail palms, and peace lilies, which are easy to love and hard to kill. Plus, Hilton's got a few more tips for specific parts of the house.

Entryway


Sturdy specimens like snake plant or rubber plant best withstand the changing temperatures that come from opening the front door, as well as the occasional brush from a winter coat.

Living Room


The space where you host guests calls for a statement-maker like a giant monstera or a tall and leafy bird of paradise.

Kitchen


The easy access to a sink makes this room an ideal place for water-lovers like rattlesnake plants. Or line up small succulents on the windowsill or counter to add life without occupying the valuable surface area.

Comments

Double bed with mattress 5 year ago
double bed with mattress all the fillings in the cooc soft bed are the plant fiber nine-hole breathable cotton, which is processed from corn fiber, which is natural, environmentally friendly, breathable and elastic.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
×