Bringing The Outdoors Indoors
August 4, 2008
If, you want to revamp your home but don’t have the money to spend on Interior designers putting new finishing touches to bring a room’s design together, do it yourself. Don’t stand there with your mouth agape, just a few simple additions like living plants and fresh cut flowers can add a sense of calm and breathe life into a room’s design. Indoor plants not only add beauty to interior spaces, they also make them healthier and more productive places to live in.
NASA sponsored research sponsored shows that plants like the bamboo palm and Madonna lilies, actually reduce the levels of harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as, benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene. Plants like ivy, spider plants, palms, dracaena, peace lilies and dieffenbachia also have chemical absorbing abilities and can also improve humidity levels inside buildings up to 20%, even removing pollutants like cigarette smoke.
Research shows that people feel better about indoor spaces that have greenery than those without. There are many psychological benefits to bringing the outdoors indoors, as greenery tends to have a relaxing influence on people, thereby reducing stress and blood pressure symptoms.
Apart from health benefits, living plants have an equally impressive influence on interior design. Lush, healthy houseplants add natural colour, texture and life to any indoor setting, bringing to instant life any sterile or dull room, just with a well-placed potted plant. You can use plants in every room of your home, but do check their lighting and watering needs, including temperament, before bringing them indoors.
You can start an herb garden on the sunny sill over your kitchen sink, or plant a small peace lily in a contemporary pot, arranging in threes along the counter top, as small pots always look best placed in threes.
African violets placed on top of the toilet cistern are great for the bathroom, while Orchids love the humidity created by your shower, adding beauty and sophistication to an otherwise unimaginative bathroom. You can even hang up a spider plant in front of the window or in a corner of the room.
For the bedroom, how about a potted peace lily placed on either side of the bed? It is one of the best ways to freshen the room by generating oxygen and removing carbon monoxide generated by your breathing.
A pair of trailing ivy placed on either side of your living room mantel piece will help to absorb any gas residue or carbon monoxide created by lighting a real fire. The ideal location for displaying unusual plants in unique containers is at the end of a table or coffee table, while a tall palm or fig tree can actually soften an empty corner.
And, if you are a firm believer in feng shui then you already know that placing healthy, living plants around your home is good feng shui, while dried or artificial flowers or plants are bad feng shui.
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