How should I style/arrange the plants on this long windowsill?

March 4, 2019 8:02 AM

I have a great windowsill at work and I have lots of plants to put on it (and dreams of getting EVEN MORE plants). But I don't have a very good vision for how to display all the plants. Seeking advice and suggestions from MeFites who are better than me at design-type things, which is probably all of you.

OK, more about the space: the windowsill is about 10" deep and like 9 or 10 feet long. It's about 3 feet high. I can't do anything that will put holes in the walls. I might be able to hang something from the ceiling if I can find a spot that will support weight. The ceiling (typical office ceiling like this) is pretty high though.

Picture of the space.

I feel like the array of plants needs some height variation, but I'm stumped on how to do it in a way that will look good. How do you make a row of plants look intentional and all Apartment-Therapy-ish instead of just looking like a plunked-down row of plants??

I also have a rolling file cabinet thing that is just a bit taller than the windowsill that I can put next to the sill, if that helps at all.

Suggestions and ideas would be great. If you have suggestions of things to buy, links to specific examples of where to buy them would be extra helpful.

Thank you, brilliant and design-savvy MeFites!

posted by aka burlap to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Best answer: Despite my houseplant obsession, I find plant accessories to be inexplicably overpriced, so I make do with what I have whenever possible, which is usually stacks of books at varying heights (just make sure all of those plants are self-contained and won't leak out when watered). I also have one plant stacked on a large coffee can that I took the label off of and another on top of a terra-cotta pot I turned upside down. I have other plants around both of those, so it doesn't really matter what they're sitting on as you can't see it anyway.

For general styling, I would google "how to style a buffet" (aka sideboard, credenza, or console), as it might give you some good tips for how to arrange things on a long low space like that. I know one rule of thumb is "take things of varying heights (or shapes/colors/textures) and group in 3".
posted by lovableiago at 8:14 AM on March 4, 2019 [3 favorites]

Best answer: As a first step, you want some planters on legs. I say this because you've already got a nice variation of pot shapes; now you want to add some height variation, especially because your window is so tall. Here's an example from West Elm, but you can find products like it everywhere from vintage shops to Target.

(On preview: what lovebliago said - you can also stack pots on whatever you've got!)

What a wonderful windowsill; I'm envious.
posted by minervous at 8:19 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: How's the view? If you like the view out the window that's going to inform how you want to arrange the plants, because you'll want to be framing the view with the plants. But if you dislike the view you'll want to obscure that with the plants.

With the view, put the tallest plants to the sides and the shorter ones in the middle. Depending on what's out there to look at, you can cluster the taller ones on one side that covers the boring parts of the view and space the short ones along the bottom of the focal point of whatever's outside.

If you really don't care about the view and it's all just a backdrop for your plants (which it sounds like might be the case) then the way to do this is to think about clustered groupings. Make small groups that consist of odd numbers of plants - 1, 3, 5 - and cluster them closer together, leaving some space between the groups.

One way to determine groupings is with the height the foliage is at: Group your two little pots together along with the medium sized leafy one in the white cylindrical pot - that way the leaves of each plant are at different heights in the cluster. Similarly, take the blue pot and the lower white pot of succulents and tuck those nearer the tall snake plant. The terracotta pot has a plant in it that I believe will grow out and begin to trail, yes? So the height of that plant will actually go lower over time. Tuck that one slightly apart, and get it some taller skinny friends when it's time for more plants. You can also control the height of your foliage with the pots, so putting some on boxes or books or empty upturned pots or whatever you've got will give you more immediate results if you don't want to repot or look for cute standing planters. The idea though is that you pick a thing to organize your objects to, and do so. It's not so much about the right way to do it as it is the intentionality of doing it, whatever it may be.
posted by Mizu at 8:26 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: How's the view?
It's a nice view, but the windows are so big that even covering up part of the view still leaves plenty visible. So blocking part of the view is fine.

These are great answers so far, thank you!
posted by aka burlap at 8:32 AM on March 4, 2019

Best answer: Use other stuff than plants to add visual interest. I have driftwood, and some branches with lichen tucked in amongst my plants, along with a few interesting rocks.

For hanging things, try airplants in seashells. They are super light and won't stress a drop tiled ceiling. Use microfilament / fishing wire to hang.
posted by ananci at 11:49 AM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: One thing that makes the Apartment Therapy aesthetic is getting all matchy-matchy up in it. I'd repot the pothos in the terra-cotta pot, or just set inside a plain white cylinder, then swap positions with the round-bottom green pot at the end.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 10:12 PM on March 4, 2019 [1 favorite]