Turn Your Home Into An Urban Jungle

Kim here with anther house update! It’s now been two years since we moved into our home, and ever since then I've been getting more and more into interior design. One thing that I've learned in my home decorating journey, is that no room is complete with out one (or two, or three!) plants. I'm serious! Indoor plants make an area feel more thought out, more homely, and more colorful. Not to mention there are health benefits to having house plants too - they act as air purifiers, they can reduce stress, and boost your mood overall.

So when I say that I want a jungle's worth of plants in my house - there's good reason! Keep reading for all the details on my current plant collection and the tips, tricks, and mistakes I've made caring for all my plant babies.

LET ME START WITH THE HARD TO KILL PLANTS THAT REQUIRE LITTLE WATER AND SUN.

These are great if you travel a lot or are forgetful.

Pothos N Joy
She will tolerate basically any light condition. I have her in my kitchen where she gets moderate to low amounts of light from the window above our sink. We wait until her soil is completely dry before watering her, which due to our low lighting conditions, can be every 2 weeks.

Snake Plant
These are such popular plants, but the Laurentii variation is my favorite because its leaves are wider, while still growing tall. Again, this plant can grow just about anywhere. We have ours in our bathroom, which gets low amounts of light. It rarely needs watering, I'm talking like once every 2 months. In fact, the first snake plant we had we killed by over watering it!

Dracaena Green Stripe
It can tolerate low light and low water. Don't let my photo fool you, our bathroom doesn't get much light at all. I just brightened the photo a ton so you could see the details of the plant. Like the black spots on its leaves, which we're thinking is due to the chlorine in our tap water.

THESE ARE OUR TROPICAL PLANTS THAT NEED BRIGHT, HUMID ENVIRONMENTS.

We have all these plants on the same watering schedule - water when the top few inches are dry (that's about every 2 weeks for us) and mist the leaves once a week.

Monstera, aka Swiss Cheese Plant
My goodness the leaves on this plant are so gorgeous! She likes bright indirect light, we have her in our living room a few feet away from a window. We've only had her for a month, but she is growing so quickly!

Calthea Ornata, aka Pin Stripe Plant
The bright pink stripes on this plant are so pretty. We have her in our living room as well, near the Monstera, since they both need such similar environments. She was a cute lil thing when we first got her, but you can see she's growing tall quickly (those top 3 leaves that are light green are all new growth).

Peace Lily
This plant can handle more moderate lighting conditions, so we have her in our guest bathroom where there is one small window. The good thing about her is she will tell you pretty quickly, by sagging her leaves, if she needs more water.

PLANTS THAT THRIVE IN BRIGHT, INDIRECT SUN LIGHT.

n my opinion, these are the ones that are tricky to care for.

Rubber Tree Plant
This was our first house plant! She's grown slowly but surely and figuring out how to care for her was tricky. We have her in our stairway, which has two windows and gets the most light. Her soil needs to be kept moist during the spring and summer and her leaves need to be wiped every so often too. However, in the winter/fall we don't water her as much.

Zebra Plant
Can you believe the leaves on this guy?! He, and I say he because we keep this plant on my husband's nightstand, needs plenty of light and plenty of water. We never let his soil dry out.

Peperomia
This little cutie is kept on my nightstand, which is next to a window. Her leaves kinda look like a succulent's leaves and she needs to be watered as you would a succulent - meaning barely ever.

Chinese Evergreen
Watering this one is a bit tricky. Similar to the rubber tree, we keep the soil moist during warmer months and pull back on watering in the colder months.

Fiddle Leaf Fig
I don't know what to tell you guys about this plant. We got it from Ikea, which was a huge mistake. I'm pretty sure the leaves were diseased when we bought it, they had (and still have) brown spots everywhere. But we refuse to give up on this guy! All the new leaves that have grown since look healthy, so it's just a matter of time until this plant looks better.

And if this post wasn't long enough already, here are a few additional tips for caring for plants in general!

Let your water sit out overnight, before you use it to water your plants. This will help get rid of chemicals like chloride, which can be harmful to your plants (remember our dracaena from earlier?).

Keep your plants in the plastic nursery pots. Then when you need to water them, just lift the plant out of it's pretty decorative pot, put it outside or in your tub to water and drain. This will keep the rest of your house dry and dirt free!

Fertilize your plants at least twice a year, once in the spring and once in the summer.

Don't be afraid to get pots that are a bit too big. Your plants can/will grow into them!

Lastly, I highly recommend buying plants from a larger nursery instead of the small plant stores. We've gotten our plants from a few different places like Ikea, plant shops that keep their plants indoors, and nurseries that keep their plants outdoors. I have to say, the plants from nurseries are much more happy and healthy!

SHOP INDOOR GARDEN