Why we should be greening our homes with plants, a top trend for 2018 in interior decor, and how to go about it
Wellness can be fostered through the ‘living’ decor plants provide – they absorb harmful chemicals and regulate humidity – and they’re an inexpensive way to add instant colour and glamour to home interiors
Influential colour forecaster Pantone might have moved on from Greenery, its 2017 colour of the year, to 2018’s Ultra Violet, but green – as in, living plant life – is still trending, and designers see it as one of the big interiors stories of the year.
There’s more than aesthetics to this look: plants are believed to be good for health, and help clean the indoor air. So, “living” decor marries well with an even bigger overarching trend – wellness – which designer Rowena Gonzales, founder of Liquid Interiors, sees as something for which homeowners are willing to pay a premium.
On that score, though, plants are luxury interiors’ thrifty cousin. You can shop locally from flower markets, or even harvest from the roadside. Pop into lovely pots to add glam to the greenery, and you have a relatively inexpensive way to decorate, and hopefully clear the air of toxins at the same time.
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Gonzales concedes there are those who consider themselves to be “a house plant kind of person” – and others who are not. However, she argues that we should all be filling our homes to the brim with plants.
“Introducing plants into our homes is one of the ways we can easily and practically counteract the negative effects of city living,” says Gonzales.
Indoor plants can improve air quality by creating oxygen and absorbing carbon dioxide, regulating humidity, and absorbing harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds, she continues.
