Having a room enhanced with plants brings movement and life in your home. Other than the life aspect, there are numerous health benefits associated with adding green plants to your room.

Though the idea of furnishing your room with plants sounds pretty exciting, the whole picture will only be a reality if there is harmony in the arrangement and colour of the plants you have chosen.

Otherwise a room can turn into an indoors jungle. At her home, Claudine Umutoni said that the face of her sitting room transformed ever since she placed plants at each corner.

"Plants are so natural and I appreciate their effect on me and the rooms as well. I cannot compare them to plastic flowers or plants, they simply have no life in them,” Umutoni said.

Many people feel the same way as Umutoni. Once you have learned how to choose a beautiful plant and place it strategically in your room, taking into account the colour, lighting, aeration and size of your room, then that is when you let your taste and imagination, take action in your home.

According to Soline Mukamana, a plant specialist and the owner of the Saint Paulia Flower and Plant Centre’s located, in Remera, Kanombe and Kicukiro, the above factors of size, air, light, and background colour of a room matter. 

The larger the room you are working with, the bigger and more numerous the plants you can place in. Let’s face it, a single small green plant looks lost in a large empty space.

For bigger rooms, according to Mukamana, the best option is going for treelike plants. These she said have great importance in the sense of decorating. 

"Large-leafed plants can really fill up a spacious room that is less furnished. Even better, large plants are perfect for entrance halls and will always leave their mark,” she explained.

For a small room, on the other hand, large plants are oppressive and take up too much space.  In order to get the best effect in a small room, choosing medium sized or small plants and positioning them where they are going to be visible will bring out their beauty and have full impact on the room.

On the other hand Mukamana cautions against crowding plants in bedrooms. This she said should be avoided as they breathe in oxygen at night and this can be dangerous for anyone. However, placing a simple plant in a clean bathroom with an open window where sun rays can reach it is perfect.

Further more, plants always look best against simple backgrounds. Plants with large foliage should be placed in front of a plain and less decorated background.

Wooden and brightly painted backgrounds usually match perfectly with climbing plants arranged on a piece of wood or bamboo stick. 

One thing that should not be left out in your decorative scheme is lighting. Positioning plants in the path of light entering your room can do wonders.

Their shadows can create interesting and unusual patterns on the walls or ceiling that are excellent for relaxing. To keep them looking healthy and green, Mukamana advised that house plants especially those on corridors and rooms that do not receive enough light should be taken out in the open.

This she said will prevent them from yellowing and drying due to lack of sunshine. Among all these factors the colours of leaves and flowers chosen must not clash with your decor. 

"You don’t want to take expensive furnishings and wall coverings and reduce them by the wrong coloured flowers in your pots” she explained further.

Not only do plants affect your decorating sense and help you pretty up your home, they all have a way of improving your room climate.

Plants like Hibiscus are known to have effects of increasing the humidity in a room. There is no need for air fresheners when you have scented plants like lavender, roses and morning glory in your house.

The wonders of plants are endless; research findings show that some plants reduce the chemicals in the air. Common plants like Aloe Vera besides being medicinal, clean up chemicals in the air like benzol and formaldehyde emitted from most cleaning agents and paints.

At the end of the day playing around creatively with plants as you figure out what enhances your style is another skill that can be developed.  It’s really not that hard. Once you start placing and moving plants around, you will know what goes with what and what doesn’t.

Contact: anyglorian@yahoo.com