This East London home shows that all you need to decorate your home are houseplants

This gorgeously airy home in East London forgoes traditional decorations in favour of houseplants, to a stunning effect

Navarino Road
(Image credit: The Modern House)

This house in East London is a plant lover's dream come true. Proving that you don't really need very much in the way of decorating a home if it has good bones (that is, it's architecturally beautiful), the four-bedroom Victorian home offers clever versions of the same motif – natural finishes and the dizzying variety of shapes and shades of green offered by indoor plants.

The modern home has made us completely rethink how much decoration a house really needs. Here are the lessons in house plant styling we'll take from it. 

1. Use houseplants as sculpture

Navarino Road

(Image credit: The Modern House)

The best house plants can be used in so many different ways and have to many different benefits. On the one hand, bringing house plants into your home is the easiest way to breathe a little nature into your home decor. In the case of this London home, the easy-going, natural palette of light woods and whitewashed walls is complemented perfectly by the plants. 

But there's another brilliant thing about decorating with plants – they offer sculptural, structured shapes that can add a graphic, even formal quality to a room.

Navarino Road

(Image credit: The Modern House)

The bright, airy spaces of this house are given focus with the extra-large ficus trees. Ficus are immensely popular for a reason – their firm, glossy leaves look like ready-made art installations. 

2. Explore both plant minimalism and maximalism

Navarino Road

(Image credit: The Modern House)

How many plants are too many? That is a question that has no right or wrong answer. Moreover, it's perfectly appropriate to experiment with both minimalist and maximalist approaches to decorating with houseplants in the same home. Even a single plant can create an interesting focal point, as is the case in the kitchen. 

Navarino Road

(Image credit: The Modern House)

If you have the space for them, however, why not transform a room into an indoor jungle with as many plants as you can fit? Luscious, tall plants can make an especially effective contribution to dining room ideas where there is an open-plan layout and plenty of empty space to play with. 

3. Houseplants and bathrooms are made for each other

Navarino Road

(Image credit: The Modern House)

Likewise, modern bathroom ideas with a boho bent always benefit from a houseplant or two. The clever blend of industrial and rustic styles in this bathroom interacts beautifully with the natural softness of the large house plant.   

4. Blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors

Navarino Road

(Image credit: The Modern House)

Finally, if you're looking for modern home extension ideas that create an effortless link between the inside and outside, decorating the perimeter of the extension with plants is one of the easiest ways to blur the boundaries between the two. Here, the hanging plants indoors echo the containers outdoors, creating the illusion of one continuous space. 

The house in Navarino Road is on sale for £3,495,000 by The Modern House. 

Anna K. Cottrell
Freelance writer

Anna is a professional writer with many years' experience. She has special interests in architecture, photography, and high-end interior design. Her work has appeared in Homes & Gardens, Gardeningetc, and many other publications.