Green decorating

No, not the hyper-conservationist type green.  I'm all for taking care of the earth God has blessed us with, but He's given it for our use.  This post is a little bit lighter than that.  Like houseplants light.  I love filling my home with live plants, and maybe by sharing a few photos I'll be able to inspire some of you to enjoy them too.  My main inspiration for acquiring this collection began with a lack of the other kind of green.  I love plants for the same reason I love mirrors: they fill a lot of space for not a lot of cash.  Here's the little pony wall that separates our dining room from our family room.  The first shot is a nice collection of some of our favorite photos, knickknacks and mementos.  It's pretty enough, but lacks height, life and color.  Add a $5 plant in a clearance blue pot, and it becomes much more interesting. 

Here are few larger examples of space filling:

This beautiful Vietnamese pot (under $40 last summer at Costco) and plant ($18 at Sam's Club) distract attention away from our hideous builder-basic fireplace. 

This one sits in another clearance pot on an orange "Homer" bucket (draped in an old tablecloth) to fill the corner behind the couch in our living room.

Another larger specimen ($8 at Target with the pot) makes a neglected corner of our kitchen feel... less so.

I have plants in my bathroom (each less than $8 with the containers):

Plants in my kitchen:

I can't remember how much it cost to make this little terrarium, but it was cheap.  I bought supplies enough to make several for gifts, the plants themselves were the smallest cheapest ones Home Depot carries, and the glass jar was one I had on hand for serving drinks but never used because the little spigot thingy never worked right.

I love this little vignette of a dollar store rose, $1.49 pot that originally came with and housed paperwhites (Target post-Christmas clearance), my $2.50 bird from Michael's and little "designer" plate, also from Target ($3 maybe?).

I don't even mind fake greenery, as long as it's not trying too hard to be really green.  Does that make sense?  If not, maybe the pictures will.  Neither of these little beauties cost more than $4:

And two of my favorite new additions came courtesy of my favorite MIL, who somehow thought I could better care for some of the beautiful plants she inherited after her hard work at our church's Shepherd's Conference:

I've never had a fern or an orchid before, so I'm hoping I can keep them alive.  The funny thing is, my plants (like my goldfish) seem to live unnaturally long lives.  Honestly, I think they thrive on neglect.  Maybe other people just give their plants too much attention.  I don't feed them (the plants that is.  Our goldfish do get food fairly often.) I only water them occasionally and give them a good spray or wipe down once in a great while to combat dust.  All that to say: don't be afraid!  Plants are beautiful, inexpensive, and good for the environment!