The Best Houseplants For Your Living Room

The living room is a place for gathering and enjoying the ambiance. As a high-traffic area of the home, and one of the main spaces we show to guests, plants make a huge impact in your living room's overall aesthetic.

When you are choosing plants for the different rooms of your home, you’re often a bit limited by the size of your room. Generally, living rooms offer the most space of any room in the house, so you have a fair bit of freedom when choosing plants for your space. When you are choosing plants for your living room, it’s important to know which direction your living room windows face, so you know how much and what kind of light you will get. If its south-facing, plants that light lots of direct sunshine will do well. If it’s north-facing, you’ll want a collection of low-light houseplants.

Here are a few of our favorite houseplants for decorating Northwest Arkansas living rooms.

Philodendron

Philodendron has been one of the most popular houseplants for over 100 years. It even inspired Picasso’s sculpture Woman in the Garden. Philodendron is very easy to grow, and it suits nearly any space. You can let it branch out and climb around a room, you can trim it and keep it more contained, or you can let it trail out of a hanging basket. However it’s planted, it adds a rich and vibrant green to your living room. It’s so resilient that it will still look amazing if you forget to water it for a few weeks. It’s also happy in both low-light or fairly bright-light settings.

Peace Lily

Peace Lily is another easy-to-keep houseplant. They retain their richly colored leaves for a long time, and their beautiful white blossoms add a touch of modern elegance to your living room. Peace Lily prefers moderate light, so they’ll do best near the wall opposite windows or in a bit of a shaded corner. Peace Lily won’t tolerate overwatering; they prefer to dry out between waterings.

Anthurium

Anthurium is a striking and exotic houseplant. Their unique blossoms add a tropical feel and a shock of bright color to a room. Anthurium requires good drainage and prefers to dry out between waterings. They’ll do well in a mix of half orchid mix and half potting soil. You can fertilize them with a high phosphorus fertilizer mixed to ¼ strength 3-4 times per year, to help them bloom. Anthurium likes bright indirect light. Direct sunshine will burn the leaves, so keep them away from south-facing windows. You may need to move them even further from the window in winter when the sun is low to avoid chilling the foliage.

Monstera

Monstera is an extremely popular houseplant, and for good reason! They’re beautiful, exotic-looking, and can get very large. Lately, its striking graphic leaves have been featured on everything from coffee mugs to phone cases to clothing. Monstera is a statement piece, so it deserves a prominent place in your living room. You can control the size of a monstera by not repotting it too often, and pinching off new growth. Monstera prefers bright indirect light. It also likes the soil to dry between waterings, but it loves humidity, so its a good idea to keep a humidifier nearby during the winter.

Rhipsalis

Rhipsalis, also known as Mistletoe Cactus, is a striking succulent houseplant. It’s perfect for hanging planters, but should be kept about 2 feet away from a window. It should also be protected from the hot mid-afternoon sun. It also needs good drainage, so it should be potted in cactus or orchid mix. Its unique tendrils will hang down all around its pot, so it’s great for a hanging planter or on the edge of a shelf that it can cascade down.

Norfolk Island Pine

A Norfolk Island Pine adds grace and elegance to a living room with its beautifully drooping branches. These plants aren't a true pine, but rather a unique evergreen accustomed to a coastal environment. Norfolks have been known to live up to 150 years, so with proper care, yours should last you a long time.  

As a houseplant, they like bright light near the windows. However, they don’t like drafts, so your Norfolk Pine should be kept away from heat vents. They’re used to rocky and sandy coastal soil, so they need well-draining soil. The soil should be dry to about 1" deep before watering.

Fiddle Leaf Fig

Fiddle Leaf Fig trees have taken decor magazines, Pinterest boards, and Instagram feeds by storm for a few years running now. Beloved for their expansive, fiddle-shaped foliage, which contrasts with the clean lines of their narrow trunk, it's no wonder why these trees have captured the imaginations of many interior designers!

While the famed Fiddle Leaf Fig makes a high-impact statement piece, they are known for being a little finicky. Bright, filtered light suits them best, as direct sunlight may cause leaves to bleach and too little sunlight will lead to dropping leaves. Fiddles should be allowed to dry out between waterings down to a soil depth of 3-4”, but check often. Leaves with brown edges hint at under-watering, whereas limp, yellowing leaves could signify the plant is being over-watered. Fertilizer should be applied strictly to package directions between April and October, and half as often from November to March.

Choosing houseplants for the living room is lots of fun because you have the opportunity to play with larger statement plants that might be unwieldy in other rooms! Make sure you’re choosing houseplants that work with the amount of light you receive in your living room. If you’re on the hunt for a new living room plant, stop one of our garden center locations in Northwest Arkansas. We’ve got plenty of unique plants to add some striking ambiance to your living room.