Maximize Your Space with Vertical Decorating for Plants

If you’re decorating a small space like an apartment or a student dorm room at college, you are probably very aware of how much surface space you have available for your decor. What’s a plant parent to do when you seem to have run out of space? Start decorating up! 

Vertical Decorating 

Vertical decorating is using wall hangings, ceiling hooks, shelves, and other vertically-oriented objects to take advantage of the vertical space in your home. This means you can decorate to your heart’s content without needing more surfaces, and it keeps clutter off your dressers, counters, and tabletops too! 

Take a Shelfie 

Take advantage of existing shelf space or find a spot for a tall narrow bookcase in your room for your collectibles -- including your plants! Tall plants can live on the top shelf where they won’t be limited by an upper shelf, and vining plants can be kept on upper shelves and allowed to trail downward. 

You can also install a few small “floating” shelves strategically on the wall and place one plant on each shelf. Mix and match colors and sizes for a visually interesting display! 

Let’s Hang Out 

Using a cup hook and a macrame hanger, you can suspend your plants from the ceiling for a beautiful decorative touch that will leave you surrounded by nature. Or, like one of our previous Real Life Plant Parents, you can create a hanging installation of multiple plants! 

Get Hooked 

Using a tension rod with hooks, you can make a mini junglescape in one corner of your room! Use hanging baskets or macrame hangers to suspend plants from the pole’s hooks. 

Mount Up 

If you have epiphyte plants, like orchids or staghorn ferns, you can try your hand at wall mounting them using a wood board, some sphagnum moss, and twine or fishing line (along with some screws or nails to use as anchor points for your mount). 

Check out these YouTube video tutorials on mounting for more details: 

Nick Pileggi: How to Mount Houseplants 

Sprout Home: Mount Your Staghorn Fern in Under 5 Minutes! 

Move On Up

How will you take advantage of your vertical space? Share your ideas in the comments and tag us on Instagram when you post photos of your vertical plant decor! @wild_interiors