How to Turn Any Space into an Urban Jungle
I consider myself a bit of a plant lady with the dozens of plants I have in my room. While I’ve spent years buying and propagating plants, you don’t need to spend years to re-create this style! All you need is a few key things (plus a bunch of plants, of course).
One of the best ways to transform your space into in urban jungle is to add wall shelves. Most rooms that pull off the plant-filled look either have natural wood shelves or shelves that blend in with the wall.
I tend to prefer the wooden shelves since it adds a more jungle feel and some warmth to an otherwise cool room. My favorite ones come from IKEA, but most places have wooden shelves!
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Step 1: Buy some plants!
This is an obvious one. If you’re really terrible at keeping plants alive, maybe get some fake ones that look real. If you’re set on getting real plants despite having a brown thumb, a few types that are easier to take care of:
Pothos
Spider Plant
Split Leaf Philodendron
Peace Lily
Rubber Tree
These are all plants that hold up well even in lower-light conditions – especially Pothos! With that being said, light is key to happy plants. You want to make sure they at least get a solid few hours of light each day. The plants that do the best in my room are the ones near the window because they are able to see the sky and get the most light.
I got most of my plants from Home Depot, but also have a few from local nurseries (which I recommend checking out first!).
Step 2: Get some shelves
As I mentioned in the beginning, shelves are an important part of creating an urban jungle in your space. They give you more areas to fill with plants and save you lots of floor space!
Some nice shelves that are similar to what I have:
Floating wooden wall shelves (above my desk)
3-tier wooden shelf (next to bed)
IKEA wooden shelf (above my bed)
IKEA Wall shelf unit (if you have limited wall space)
The exact wall shelves I have above my desk and next to my bed are no longer sold, but I linked similar ones above. The exact shelf above my bed is linked above!
Step 3: Create a propagation station
Fill those shelves with propagating plants! Pothos, spider plants, and philodendrons are all pretty easy to propagate. You’ll need to google some tutorials to make sure you do it correctly depending on which plant you’re propagating.
This is a great way to create MORE plants without having to buy more and quickly fill out your space with more greenery. I recently started sprouting avocado pits and have a few of those in my propagation station.
I started with 2 Pothos (the two hanging, trailing plants). I now have 15+ just from propagating them! This was over the span of 2 years, but they grow very quickly and are so easy to propagate.
Step 4: Get a some mirrors
A mirror will reflect light and brighten up any room. It also will give your plants more of that essential light. I got mine from a thrift store, so check your local thrift shop to see what they have. If you want to buy a new one here are a few ideas:
Step 5: Get some plant accessories
The best plant accessories (in my opinion) are nice pots and macrame plant hangers. The pots can be found at any of your local nurseries, home improvement stores, Target, etc. Macrame plant hangers can be found on Amazon or you can hand-make one!
IKEA also has some nice, white plant pots (seen below my mirror in the photo above).
Step 6: Take care of your plants
Plants can be complicated to care for, but the ones I listed in step 1 are pretty simple. Make sure they get enough light and don’t over/under water them.
I water my plants about every 7-10 days during summer when it’s warm and they are getting lots of light throughout the day. The dirt dries out faster in the warmer seasons and therefore the plants need to be watered more often.
In Fall/Winter I water my plants about every 10-12 days. They don’t get as much light and it’s colder, of course. I water them with lukewarm water in the colder months!
For propagations, pour out and refill the water every other day if possible. The more often you change out the water, the faster it will grow and it will be healthier.
Good luck with your urban jungle! A few quick tips to really complete the look:
Get white bedding
Paint your walls white
Add a macrame hanging
Get hue bulbs (seriously life changing!)
