Warm weather is such a rarity in England. Everyone is keen to make the most of it when it appears. But our fickle climate may mean it is raining again next week, and there is nothing so disheartening as grey skies and drizzle.
There is, however, a part of my home that will be forever summer. It is centred mostly around my kitchen window and involves a large number of house plants.
Living Decorations
‘Urban Jungles, ‘ Plant Life’, ‘Insta Plants’… if you head over to Instagram there are countless hashtags that will link you to fabulous interiors that are littered with amazing plant life.
One of my current goals is a complete declutter of my home and I dream of having many more plants in it. They have become quite the aesthetic addition to any Insta photo, and are well worth investing in if you want to get that minimalist urban loft look.
Maybe you have already considered getting a few houseplants; they are a great interior design staple after all, but what is the point? There is the watering, but that is about all the care they need really if you buy the right plants. But what if even that seems like a bit of an effort? What is in it for you if you create a green haven in your living space?
4 Reasons why you should get some house plants
1) They purify the air in your home
Do you breathe?
You know, take in oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide?
Same! Me too!
And you know that plants do the opposite right?
So having them in the house has to have some kind of air filtering benefits.
(Well, technically, they photosynthesise and to be fair, they also steal oxygen at night, which is why you should only have succulents or bromeliads in a bedroom because they don’t do this).
According to research done by NASA, indoor plants can remove almost 90% of the volatile organic toxins in the air during a 24-hour period. There are substances present in the average home: in your plastic products, in the paint on the walls, even in your books and paperwork, that could be drawn and trapped into the soil of your houseplants.
Many people have homes that are double-glazed, and as the weather gets colder, we tend to open up the windows less. We create an almost hermetically sealed environment for these pollutants to build up in, so by introducing a bit of greenery into your living space, you are mitigating these nasties in the air.
The NASA research even suggests the best house plants to have if you want to remove airborne toxins. You could get a spider plant, a Peace lily or bamboo palms.
All of them were inexpensive; my pineapple plant came from Ikea and cost £7, while the bamboo palms were from Wilkos and cost around £3 each (I have 2 in one pot). The recommendation from NASA is that just one potted plant is required for every 10 square metres of space, so you could soon be creating a fresh air feeling in your own home, for very little cost.
2) They help increase humidity and boost your health
Plants are basically like little green, well behaved, people.
Except, they sit still and do as they are told. They breathe, they drink, and they tend to ignore me when I talk to them… perhaps not that well behaved then, but you get the idea.
Plants also release water vapour into the air as part of the transpiration process. When watered, they soak it up into their roots, and then the moisture circulates around their systems like a blood supply.
Once the water gets to their leaves, it evaporates, increasing the humidity in the room. Only 10 per cent of all the moisture in the air outside comes from plants, so you will need to have a number of plants to effect a change in the humidity in your home.
But studies have claimed that doing so can help decrease colds, dry coughs and sore throats, as well as helping with dry skin. Another study carried out in Holland claims that office sickness fell by 60% in workplaces that had plants, with a decrease in colds and headaches.
3) They help you to focus and work better
It is believed that by having plants in your home, you are going to see an improvement in your concentration, your productivity and your memory; Just by carrying out your tasks or studying around plants, you can produce more.
Apparently, nature has an amazing psychological impact on us, and it increases our accuracy and the quality of our work. Studies on both office workers and students saw a rise in knowledge retention in a plant-filled environment over an empty one; being among greenery is relaxing, and this translates into a feeling of wellbeing that helps people work not just harder, but smarter.
Plants, when used in large enough numbers, are even able to help reduce background noise; They are able to refract sound that would otherwise bounce off walls. Have you ever noticed how empty rooms tend to echo?
If you place plants against the walls this can lessen the effect, creating a more homely environment.
4) They are just so aesthetic
As mentioned at the beginning of the piece, if you were to type ‘interior design’ into a search engine and go to the images, you would see just how many of those rooms have plants in.
It will probably be most of them. Greenery in your home is so now! It really brings a room together and is a cheap ( and removable) way of decorating a rented place or bedroom.
As a consequence, not only is your health benefiting but now you have amazing, ready-made props for your photos.
I love a bit of social media; there is my Pinterest account, my twitter and I have an unhealthy obsession with Hashtags.
If you are any good at taking photos and happen to have a few good looking houseplants you will never be short of aesthetic shots for your followers.
Just be sure to incorporate the right tags, so everyone can see your houseplants:
#plantlife #plantlover #natureinthehome #urbanjungle #houseplantsofinstragram
#houseplant #livingwithplants #green #plants #indoorjungle #instanature
Over to you
Do you have house plants? Are you feeling any health benefits? Any recommendations for easy to care for greenery?
Let me know in the comments below.
Oh yes I need some plants 🌱
But I need them to survive more than a week!
I do love indoor plants, but I have such a hard time keeping them alive. In my house, I keep the thermostat low in the winter, and I think that makes it too cold for them. At my old job, we had over a dozen indoor plants, and when my boss got sick, I took over the watering duties. All but a few plants had died within a few months. I do much better with outdoor flowers and vegetables, but I’ll keep the ones that you mentioned in mind if I ever decide to try again.
That’s why had to go for easy maintenance ones! It is so easy to kill off indoor plants – they are certainly not as hardy as their outdoor cousins!