Decorating with Plants: What to Choose, Ways to Style, and How to Make Them Thrive

Description

Product Description “This book will help you keep your plants healthy.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune, 7 Books to Shake Up Your Home Decor Houseplants are more popular than ever before—especially with millennials, who are setting up their homes for the first time and discovering that nothing can add energy, style, and that essential “lived-in-ness” to their spaces better than a little bit of green. Whether it’s a statement-making fiddle-leaf fig or a tiny tabletop succulent, a houseplant instantly elevates the look of your home. But where to begin? In Decorating with Plants, Baylor Chapman walks readers through everything they need to know to bring houseplants into their home. First, there’s Plant Care 101: from how to assess light conditions to tricks for keeping your plants alive while on vacation, Chapman gives readers the simple, foundational info they need to ensure their plants will thrive. Then she introduces us to 28 of her favorites—specimens that are tough as nails but oh-so-stylish, from the eye-catching Rubber Tree to the delicate Cape Primrose. Finally, she guides readers through the home room by room: Place an aromatic plant like jasmine or gardenia to your entry to establish your home’s “signature scent.” Add a proper sense of scale to your living room with a ceiling-grazing palm. Create a living centerpiece of jewel-toned succulents for a dining table arrangement that will last long after your dinner party. From air purification to pest control, there’s no limit to what houseplants can do for your home—and Decorating with Plants is here to show you how to add them to spaces big and small with style. Review “Chapman tackles the houseplant craze and cuts through the noise. Her tips are practical and always given with an eye towards creating beautiful spaces in your home.”—Sunset “Decorating with Plants gives you the most basic of information, plant by plant: How much light do they need? How much fertilizer? What about water? What about bugs? And once you get past the primer, the good stuff starts: where and how to hang them; which groupings look best; where to find lovely containers; how to keep your herbs thriving all year round. . . . Healthy plants add color, life, and a whiff of outdoors to a room. This book will help you keep your plants healthy.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune “Covers all the basics a plant lover needs to know to beautify your home.” —Austin American-Statesman "This book makes me feel like I just took a warm bath, had a massage, a cup of chamomile."—Albany Times Union “An easily followed roadmap to horticultural success. . . . Chapman's inviting tone mixed with the gorgeous photography makes for an ideal volume for the brown- and green-thumbed alike.” —Publishers Weekly “Copious ideas for styling your living spaces, room by room, with a wide variety of houseplants. Narrow entryway? Big flat-screen TV? Noisy neighborhood? Yes, there’s a plant for all of that, and Chapman’s design ideas will leave you ready to frame a window with cacti, geraniums and pelargoniums or to outfit a kid’s room with touch-friendly greenery. Chapman has an artist’s eye and a plant lover’s delight in the details. Her go-to plant list digs deeper than basic care info, occasionally weaving in historical background.” —BookPage “Horticulturist Chapman encourages readers to add a green thing (or two or three) to every room in the house—for mood, tone, fragrance, clean air, and just plain good looks. . . . Room-by-room ideas . . . . Inspiring photographs. . . . [A] reference for any room, any lifestyle." —Booklist, starred review “At last! A book where savvy interior design and houseplant smarts intersect with finesse. Your home will be more beautiful, your life will be uplifted.”—Tovah Martin, author of The Unexpected Houseplant “I will let you in on a major decorating secret: Every room in your house would look better with a houseplant (or three) to add some life to it. With Baylor Chapman’s handy guide, you can pick the best plants—whether for a sunny windowsill or a dark corner—as well as create artful arrangements that will thrive in your home.”—Michelle Slatalla, author of Gardenista “Yes, Baylor is a masterful designer—that’s evident from the beauty she conjures in everything she touches. But Decorating with Plants reveals Baylor’s other magic power: Teaching. Her latest masterpiece offers endless design pursuits, all effortlessly demystified from start to finish.”—Johanna Silver, author of The Bold Dry Garden “This fresh approach to designing with houseplants goes well beyond the basics of selection and care, providing lushly illustrated style guidance for every room of the house. A fantastic mix of practical and inspirational.”—Susan Morrison, garden designer and author of The Less Is More Garden About the Author Baylor Chapman is the author of Decorating with Plants and The Plant Recipe Book and founder of Lila B. Design, a San Francisco–based plant design studio. She has been a guest on PBS’s Growing a Greener World, and her work has appeared in Good Housekeeping and Better Homes & Gardens. When not in her studio, she’s scouring plant nurseries and leading workshops to help plant lovers of all skill levels feel confident that they can make their spaces feel like home with just a little bit of green. Check out her tutorials on Sunset.com and Houzz.com, and follow her on Instagram at @lilabdesign. Review: Pretty/Informational Coffee Table Book - While I live in a sub-700sq/ft apartment, I do love to see how plants can add to every conceivable room you could have in a house. I like that the author takes you through the whole process of adding a plant to your home, asking such fundamental questions as, 'How much time do you want to spend caring for your greenery?' right away, and then helping you plan for your (8 room!) home, helping you narrow down what will work in your space (out of 28 mostly common houseplants). Not all of the plants listed throughout are "beginner" plants, per se, but I think that's awesome! Your chosen plants can be anything if you have (or create) a great place for them in your home, and the way the book is arranged inspires you to decide what is going to be perfect for your situation. I always enjoy a no-limits attitude (Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers Hardcover by Leslie F. Halleck is also recommended if you live in a cave house as I do). There are some great visuals of not only the plants and the spaces you'll keep them, but also subtle things like how you can arrange items and plants on a shelf several ways to to refresh your space. Or how to balance one side of the room to the other, and make your wall color or backsplash pop, by playing off different plant+pot colors, textures, and scale. I especially enjoyed the Kitchen section, as I felt it had some unexpectedly fun ideas: encouraging you to try your hand at sprouts and micro greens, lemongrass (lovely to see and smell in the winter!), and out-of-the-box suggestions for carnivorous plants to keep pests at bay. The author also mentions which plants are considered toxic, and what that means for kids and pets. Some of the ideas in the Playroom section are definitely still fun for us adults, too, like a wheatgrass terrarium and wall-mounted marimo moss habitat. I honestly enjoyed this book more than I expected to, and it is a fantastic companion to design books like Domino: The Book of Decorating, which in my opinion is sorely lacking on plants in many of its beautiful sunny rooms! I uploaded an example of a similarly styled bedroom, sans plant, from that book to compare looks. Obviously the one with a plant is superior. Review: A bible for house plants expressing your design and style - I was introduced to Chapman with her first stunning book, The Plant Recipe Book. This book took me through the steps to create stunning succulent gardens on my property. I wasn't sure how she could create another book teaching me new skills. However, she did it. Decorating with Plants opened my eyes to new plants and ways to create living art in our home. The book is an inspiration with incredible photos and decorating ideas.