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Best Indoor Plants for Luxury Apartments

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Although often overlooked, plants play an essential part in designing the perfect luxury apartment. In fact, plants are instrumental to creating a living space that is homely and chic at the same time. Luxury apartments that do not have plants often seem cold, pretentious, and uninviting. So, not only do indoor plants improve the air quality of your home, but they also improve the overall aesthetical cohesion and appeal of the place.

Why are plants important for our living space?

Interestingly, plants and humans live in a symbiotic relationship. This means that plants keep us alive as much as we keep them alive. This is especially true when it comes to indoor plants. Not only do they use up the carbon dioxide we produce while breathing, but we also plant, water, and fertilize them. In return, they give us oxygen, which improves our health, mood, attention, and sleep. Not to mention they make our living space look refined and luscious on top of healthy and pleasant! 

Hence, if your plan is to update your apartment by, for example, designing a cozy reading nook  know a few plants you should opt for to make your space feel luxurious. 

Some indoor plants can improve your health and your interior decor via

Some indoor plants can improve your health and your interior decor via

Jade Pothos Totem

What better way to evoke luxury and extravaganza in your apartment than by ‘junglefying’ it? Planting this potted cutie will help you set the stage for your tropical oasis even despite the fact you might be living in a skyscraper in Manhattan. 

Apart from having a gloriously chic name, this plant is also very easy to take care of. Its appearance is lovely and apartment-friendly due to the fact it has a vertical pattern of growth. This means you will be able to fit it almost anywhere you need to add a little bit of life. 

 It’s a great corner plant - it never overgrows into width, so it never looks out of place. What’s more, its tall, slender shape and large leaves complement hardwood floors and shelving astoundingly well.

White Philodendron Cordatum

Also great for keeping the integrity of your interior decor, the White Philodendron does not grow too big. It has a very peculiar but sleek appearance as it has green leaves with big white specks. And if you thought that this plant couldn’t get any better, you thought wrong. It is incredibly low-maintenance despite its unique, sophisticated look. 

Any upscale apartment with suave, contemporary design can benefit from having this plant because the white parts of the leaves perfectly complement the white and neutral colors of furniture and interior decor. 

Bird of Paradise

This plant is perfect for homeowners who like both green plants and plants that grow flowers. The leaves and flowers have a unique avian growth pattern, which is why some people consider it ‘plant royalty’. Hence, this plant can act as a great centerpiece for a well-designed guest bedroom. Why, you ask?

The flowers resemble an orange bird’s beak surrounded by green ‘plumage’, a characteristic to which this plant owes its name. The foliage resembles a banana tree but is much more alluring because of the potential to grow mesmerizing flowers. 

The Bird of Paradise grows luscious ‘blood-orange’ flowers. Via

The Bird of Paradise grows luscious ‘blood-orange’ flowers. Via

Together with the dark green of the leaves, which contrasts amazingly with white and off-white, these show-stopping flowers are going to give your apartment that dash of unassuming taste and luxury. However, in order to grow, they need humidity and frequent exposure to the sun. 

This means you might have to make compromises and store away some of your old or excess furniture to make way for this large, slightly tricky, but very rewarding plant. A moving and storage company such as TB Moving & Storage NYC can help you with this mission. 

Chinese Fan Palm 

Plants can help you liven up and reinterpret a reduced, angular architectural style. When they are young, these plants’ size can be compared to a smaller bush. It takes about a decade for them to be classified as trees. 

Chinese Fan Palms are great for retaining your apartment’s sleek, tasteful vibe while adding a dash of exoticism. This plant’s frond (fan-like leaf) is interesting because it has a fountain-like growth pattern. In other words, its leaves spread to form a fan that falls at the edges, strongly resembling water flowing from a fountain. 

Yet, a word of caution before you proudly position this extravagant plant into your living space. Chinese Fan Palms require a lot of exposure to daylight. This means that you might have to remove furniture in places where light can reach your plants. 

Their interesting fan-like shape makes them one of the best indoor plants for luxury apartments. via

Their interesting fan-like shape makes them one of the best indoor plants for luxury apartments. via

Since Manhattan luxury apartments are still not as big as townhouses, you should consult your interior designer about the most optimal placement of furniture to achieve this. If, however, your space isn’t big enough for all of your belongings and this gentle giant, you might even want to consider moving to a slightly more spacious and more luxurious apartment. Manhattan offers various options when it comes to reputable moving companies, so all you will have to worry about is finding the perfect spot for your plants. 

Common Fig

Do not let the name confuse you - fig trees are one of the best indoor plants for luxury apartments. What makes them an outstanding addition to your living room or balcony is their cultural status. Namely, the shape of their leaves is world famous because of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. It was a fig leaf that obscured Adam’s intimates! This makes this tree not only a beautiful and bountiful addition to your indoor garden (you can eat the figs in early summer) but also a living, breathing cultural artifact! 

5 Plants to Grow Indoors for Improved Air Quality

In recognition of Earth Day, we are sharing some fun facts about something all around us…air! This year, we have seen interesting facts on air quality as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic forcing much of the world to come to a halt – images have surfaced of cities that are normally blanketed in smog with some of the highest visibility we have seen in recent years.

Earth Day Air Facts
Air Facts Earth Day

What about indoor air quality? Since Americans spend nearly 90% of their time indoors, healthy, quality air should be a top priority. Controlling Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) can start with the HVAC system in your home and be supplemented by room-based air purifiers as well as natural options such as plants.

Having plants around your home can not only make a room look beautiful, but certain plants can actually aide in removing toxins and chemicals from the air including formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, and benzene.

5 Purifying Indoor Plants

Fiddle Leaf Fig

Because of the Fiddle Leaf Fig’s extremely broad leaves, it is very efficient at purifying air. The plant can also help control humidity. They do require a lot of sunlight, so be sure to position them appropriately!

Restoration Hardware Fiddle Fig
Spider Plant Best Indoor Plants

Spider Plant

Spider plants are easy to care for, and fun to watch thrive in your home as the offshoots grow and hang over the pot, hence the name spider plant. They do well in indirect sunlight. Note they do not like damp soil so be sure they are drying between watering.

Rubber Tree

These plants have been shown to absorb and break down harmful chemicals in the air. Similar to the Fiddle Fig, their broad leaves make them efficient at doing so. In fact, they take in the carbon dioxide we exhale and convert it into oxygen.

Rubber Tree Indoor Plant
Aloe Vera Plant

Aloe Vera

Follow the succulent trend while cleaning your air with aloe Vera. These easy to care for plants clean the air of benzene and formaldehyde. They prefer a sunny spot to grow. The added benefit of having aloe is that you can use it on your next sunburn.

Dracaena Marginata

Also known as the “Dragon” tree, these plants have been shown to remove 4 out of the 5 major indoor air pollutants. This makes them the perfect plant to improve air quality while adding a fun vibe to your home with the plant’s resemblance to palms. Note they can be toxic to pets

Dragon Tree