I’m not entirely sure how it’s happened but as I’ve spoken of before, I’m getting a little obsessed with house plants. They add so much life and colour to a room that I find myself wandering around the house plant section of Homebase, dreaming of adding loads into my basket and covering my whole house in them.
It could have been the influence of Emily Henderson and her amazing
transformation of Bri Emery’s living room. I’m still utterly obsessed with this entire space – to the point where I basically want to throw some gasoline on the living room, light a match and start to rebuild THIS EXACT SPACE. But even with all that amazing furniture and beautiful vintage pieces, it’s the plants that make it for me. A whole wall of gorgeous life.
Since then, other spaces have caught my eye. Spaces where plants engage the senses, drawing the outdoors in, creating a fabulously bohemian 70s vibe.
Oh yes, house plants are back. And they are back in a BIG way.
How far can it go? What about an entire wall full of plant life – an entire living wall?
Incredible, no? Well, it gets even bigger and better than this.
How about the entire outside of a building?
I’m a little in awe of this new
living wall installation in a boutique hotel in the Victoria area of London. It’s
The Rubens at the Palace. It takes the living wall concept to a whole other level. I love the juxtaposition between the beautiful London architecture at the front of the building with the wall of fantastic GREEN on the side.
Not just that, but it’s sheer SIZE is rather incredible as well. 350 square meters containing over 10 THOUSAND herbaceous plants anchored by more than 16 tons of soil.
That’s a lot of plants, y’all. Not just that but it’s environmentally friendly too. We all know that house plants clean our air, providing vital carbon dioxide, but this installation actually cleans the air in
London (!), provides wildlife habitat for a huge variety of insects, bees (sadly in decline in the UK) and butterflies, keeps the hotel cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Not only that, but it will bloom into colour at certain times of year – with crocus, strawberries and winter geraniums and buttercups. It’s all rather fabulous, no?
He certainly seems to think so! Look how happy he is!
I also am loving this video of it’s installation so I’m going to share that with you too!
While at the moment, my own home has a lot of plant life, it’s nothing quite on this scale… but get me in Homebase eyeing up the plant section and you never know what’s going to happen ;)
So what do you think of using plants en mass in the home? Would a living wall show up in your dream home? What do you think of the Rubens Hotel’s Living Wall? Are you as enamoured as I am?
This was post was sponsored by Hotel Direct but all words and opinions are entirely my own.
I love living walls! There's one by Kings Cross which they have planted so that it shades of purple in the spring/summer. Seeing such a shock of colour in an otherwise industrial place is very cool.
That sounds absolutely lovely! Agree, I love the thought of something so wonderfully green in a cityscape :) x
i'm thrilled you're getting obsessed because i love the reminders and images and want to jump on the bandwagon. i've got all this light, and lord knows the air needs to be cleaned. i get discouraged but you gotta keep trying, right?<br /><br />:)<br />michele
You've inspired and encouraged me to be braver about house plants Kimberly – I'm a little averse, except for orchids and herbs in the kitchen.<br /><br />I have got a big bay window which is crying out for a huge cheese plant or palm, so I'll give it a try. <br /><br />Ew to that interior living wall – I imagine it would be all humid and dank smelling somehow. Like a bag of compost.
An outdoor living wall is my project this winter and if it goes well I will adapt the idea for inside.<br /><br />Am taking the living wall idea and mixing it with wood cladding and possibly insulation.<br /><br />The idea will be an evergreen winter hardy wall that also helps retain heat to the house in winter.
Oh wow, that sounds incredible! You'll have to let me know when it's completed, I'd love to see that. :)
Hopefully will have the test system built before the end of the year and will post on my site <a href="http://plantpost.co.uk" rel="nofollow">Plant Post</a> for you to see.
I have been accumulating quite a plant collection myself. Love them … just wish I was better at assessing and attending to their needs. But, like you told me at some point, as long as I don't pay too much for them, I can think of them like buying fresh flowers — if one dies, I can easily buy another one!