Featuring Styling By Numbers™ Sketches
For many years, I lived in upstate New York, and when I had to put my garden to sleep I still wanted to bring elements of the garden indoors. I call it “The Conservatory Effect”, a term I came up with when I visited England and swooned over the gorgeous greenhouse conservatories in many urban and country homes. Below is the conservatory of British gardener Polly Nicholson, via The New York Times:
But you don’t need a whole conservatory (or house) full of plants to bring the garden indoors. You can create a beautiful Plant Tablescape inside your home with a focal point-worthy table (at a reasonable price), accentuated with outdoor planters, easy-to-care-for plants and garden style elements, such as stone ornaments and botanical-inspired artwork.
The image below is a vignette of the plant table in my office, which was the inspiration for this post.
Here’s where my Styling By Numbers™ concept comes in.
I’ve created three styled tablescapes below (with a Styling By Numbers™ drawing, so you can see the final look, fully styled). You may already have some things around your home that would fit into one of these schemes. In that case, you could fill in with some of the items I’m showing in the gallery. All you need is a room with a moderate amount of light – and not necessarily in front of a window. A dining room, a corner of the living room or an entry foyer are great spots. I placed my plant table in my home office, where I can appreciate it every day. You just need space for a console table about 4′ wide and about 18″ deep. I’ve found that this size is perfect for creating a lush, curated focal point.
NOTE: All three tables I selected can also be brought outdoors in a shaded area or porch, if you live in a more temperate climate.
And about the plants: I’m featuring live plants, but if you’re not comfortable ordering plants online, you could easily head to your local big box store’s indoor greenhouse or a favorite local nursery and pick up your plants there. Just pay attention to the scale of the plants, as illustrated below.
My first Plant Tablescape drawing features “TERRA COTTA TRADITIONAL”. This look can go with many home styles – from cottage to more traditional looks. What makes this look classic is terra cotta (especially aged terra cotta) which never goes out of style.
“TERRA COTTA TRADITIONAL” PLANT TABLE
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The metal console table is super-practical for plants, and can go with many decorating styles.
A pair of terra cotta lions head planters feature a pair of live Arbequina olive trees that I’ve under-planted with terra cotta pebbles to give them a finished look. Aged terra cotta pots planted with button ferns are interspersed throughout the tablescape.
A glass garden cloche adds an English touch to the center of the table (I’ve included two options in the gallery). And a classic copper watering can makes watering easy (or you could substitute a practical and pretty copper top plant mister from image #7).
I’ve also added another plant option (a maidenhair fern), plus another aged terra cotta planter option (#12), and a candle in an aged terra cotta pot (#11). Finally, If you want to be inspired by some of the most gorgeous outdoor rooms by the esteemed California landscape designer Scott Shrader. I highly recommend his book. The Art of Outdoor Living.
My second Plant Tablescape is called “EUROPEAN INSPIRED MONOCHROME”. There’s a bit of “Frenchiness” to this look, but it would also be fabulous in a neutral themed home, and would be an unexpected focal point in an otherwise modern home.
“EUROPEAN-INSPIRED MONOCHROME” PLANT TABLE
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For this tablescape, I started with the same metal table featured in the “Terra Cotta Traditional” plant table.
The “Monochrome” aspect comes in with a selection of beautiful white ceramic planters. A statuesque ming aralia plant anchors the plant table in a large white ceramic planter. Clipped myrtle topiaries (one of my favorite plants) in single– and double-ball shapes look like mini boxwoods, and echo the formality of Parisian gardens. The topiaries are planted in white ceramic planters. An airy Australian Fern and a small maidenhair fern are planted in white planters, to finish the tabletop’s elegant look. I like to add simple white pebbles to the top of the plants, to echo the monochrome theme.
And let’s not forget that the space under the table is a perfect spot for a fabulous focal point. I love the clean lines of these gray garden spheres (one in an 18″ large size, and one in a 12″ medium size), which subtly echo the shape of the myrtle topiaries. You could also add a pair of pretty artichoke garden ornaments (image #8) below the table, for a more traditional garden element. For more European garden inspiration, I recommend this book on Secret Gardens of Paris.
“Rustic Elegant” Plant Table
“RUSTIC ELEGANT” PLANT TABLE
My third Plant Tablescape is a nod to the very popular Modern Farmhouse style called “RUSTIC ELEGANT”. My vision for this tablescape is a mix of elegant elements (cast iron urns, artwork) with more rustic elements (the outdoor table, wood planters, baskets and woodland-inspired ferns). The whole look is unified by a grey, brown & black color scheme.
CLICK ON THE LINKS BELOW TO SHOP THE LOOK:
I started with a rustic solid wood outdoor console table with a beautiful weathered grey finish. I love that this console table has a bottom shelf for additional accessorizing and storage.
The anchor piece on top of this table is a large dark gray lion’s head planter featuring a a super low-maintenance ZZ plant. which I chose for its height and shape. A small black cast iron urn is planted with a cool bonsai jade plant, and a trio of weathered dark gray planters in three different sizes are planted with my favorite Chinese Money Plant.
A black and white botanical print (leaning, for a more casual look) adds a modern garden touch, and a rustic pillar candlestick balances the height of the tablescape.
The anchor piece on the lower shelf is the large grey fluted urn planted with an airy Plumosa Fern. Two faux wood planters (or birch wood planters) on the lower shelf are planted with easy-to-grow Button ferns. Finally, a large woven basket adds a textural (and storage) element to the lower shelf.
And here’s a favorite indoor gardening tip: The small grey planters in the Rustic Elegant plant table sit atop a metal tray filled with with black pebbles, to make watering easy. Below is an example I used on the plant table in my home:
I hope my styled Plant Tables will inspire you to Make Your Every Day More Beautiful® by creating a little bit of “green paradise” in your home throughout the year. And please follow me on Instagram @homestylingworks and tag me in your finished plant tables. I can’t wait to see!
