Succulents will Suck You In: Modern, Clean Houseplant Ideas

Throughout my adult life, whenever I thought of the idea of houseplants I pictured a house filled with messy greenery at every turn.  Spider plants along the windows, hanging plants in every corner.  Honestly, the thought makes me cringe.

As my wife and I began decorating our new home, we became addicted to Houzz.  Houzz is a site where you can go, much like Pinterest, to get design ideas for your home.  We would spend our evenings looking at pictures to get ideas for every empty room in our house (which was most of them). 

We quickly noticed that almost all of the pictures showed plants.  Not at everywhere, like my imagination had assumed, but strategically placed in just the right spots to bring out some color and bring in some nature.

Every once in a while we would see a plant idea that wouldn’t make us want to, as my wife would say, “throw up in our mouths just a little”.  For the most part, however, we liked the concept but still feared plant overgrowth and dirt.

Then came the succulent.  More and more designers have started bringing these into their repertoire.    They are low maintenance, low profile, and have a really playful unique look.   Also, since they vary so much in size, you can have fun with all shapes and sizes of vases.

As a New Years resolution last year, we decided to get over our houseplant fear. We made a commitment to add some succulents to our dining room.  

For our dining room centerpiece, we went to Michaels and got a few different shaped bowls.  Two small glass squares and one larger tilt bowl.    We headed over to Home Depot for a bag of dirt and to pick out our succulents.  Have you ever checked out the indoor plant selection in Home Depot?  It’ s not half bad. 

When planting in pots you always want to do odd numbers.  So, for the two smaller square vases, we picked three succulents each.  We picked five for the larger tilt bowl.   You also want to try and get a good mix of succulents that stick straight up, hang, and some that provide ground cover.

These take 15 minutes to put together and around $40 for all the materials.  It is such a low cost centerpiece and looks great with our rustic wood dining table.

If you want a taller corner plant, but don’t want something that will get messy, go with a cactus.   We found a white pot from Marshal’s for $19, filled it with dirt, added a $30 cactus, and topped it with some charcoal rocks.  The top layer of charcoal rocks really gives the plant a nice clean feel.  Helps you avoid that messy dirt and overgrown plant look.   

For vases, using the clear bowls is cool because people can see what is going on underneath, but white vases have a more modern look.

You can do these types of plants all over your house for some added color and decoration.  Put them in your kitchen, on your fireplace mantle, on your coffee table.  Just remember to use a little variety, and don't go overboard!