Faux Plants not Faux Pas

Plants help bring a bit of the outside in and are great on tabletops or filling empty corners. If you do not have a green thumb or are worried about added maintenance, you need to check out faux plants – trust me, the right ones are so good.

I used to be a 100% real plant person and I have had pretty good success keeping them alive – I had a philodendron for over eighteen years which sadly did not make the move to California because the state does not allow any live plants across the border. As a result, all my live plants remained with the house in Washington and now I have 4 real plants and around 20 fake and I am not even mad about it. My real plants are a fiddle leaf fig tree (also have a fake) an orchid is pretty hard to kill, a maidenhair fern which is very easy to kill, and one ZZ plant kill status unknown.

Faux plants come in many shapes and sizes from small planters to large trees and stems which are great for filling decorative vases and can be changed out with the seasons. If you like easy DIY, succulents are a great option.

I recently fell in love with a black cement bowl filled with succulents, but it was nearly $200 at a designer furniture store. After thinking about it for a few days, I decided to try to DIY using some fake succulents purchased at Amazon (have since repurchased a few times), floral foam, and a black cement bowl also purchased on Amazon. Seriously, what did we do before Amazon? For around $75, I had a DIY success and even used the leftovers as well as some old orchid pots I already had and now have fake succulent arrangements in most rooms in my house. Making them is so easy, affordable, and addictive that I often give them away as gifts.

You will be surprised at how adding the right amount of plants will add life to a room. On average, a large family room or living room can generally support at 3-4 with 1-2 per bedroom and do not forget the bathroom and laundry. Below are some pictures of the faux plants around my house for inspiration as well as some links to many of my faux favorites. I currently have this beauty on order from West Elm – good news it was 20% off, bad news it will not arrive until Dec. Click through the pictures below to check out sources on my faux recommendations.