Making the kitchen cozy

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The kitchen is a fairly functional room. And more often than not, it grows out of an ordinary catering unit and becomes a kind of small living room - a place for relaxation, socializing, receiving guests, intimate conversations and songs with a guitar. And so often in the kitchen you can find not only a TV, but also a sofa, a newsstand, bookshelves. Each housewife tries to give her kitchen the maximum coziness and comfort, decorating her with paintings, decorative accessories and fresh flowers. If you perceive your kitchen not only as a place of eating, try decorating it with indoor plants. Properly selected and correctly placed plants are able to animate and bring harmony to any interior. Let's see what plants are suitable for your kitchen.

Where to start the selection of plants for the kitchen

No need to rush to the store for flowers and pots. First, it is necessary to make the simplest measurements of the zones where you plan to place the plants, to assess the illumination - a vital factor for all plantings. Best of all, plants that love light feel near windows facing west, east and southwest. Therefore, on these windowsills, decorative-deciduous orchids and succulents can comfortably be placed. Places with high lighting are also preferred by azalea, agave, aloe, euphorbia, cacti, passionflower, cataractus, cyclamen, calceolaria and plants of the family Crassulaceae.

On northeastern and northern windows, only shade-tolerant plants develop well. Monstera, ficus, ivy, fittonia, pilea, sheffler, spathiphyllum, sansevieria, arrowroot, pteris, ctenanthe, nephrolepis, aucuba, aglaonem, buddley, aspidistra and some varieties of dracaena are considered such. The farther from the windows, the weaker the effect of life-giving sun rays. That is why in north-oriented or shaded rooms it is recommended to place the plants in the closest possible proximity to the windows or apply additional lighting.

Temperature is also very important. Window frames must be insulated. When ventilating the kitchen, you need to ensure that the cold air from the street does not directly get on the plants. To maintain the necessary humidity, pubescent plants are planted in boxes with wet peat or moss, spraying regularly. Pots with plants should not stand on a cold windowsill - this can lead to hypothermia of the root system, and, therefore, reduce the intensity of plant nutrition with moisture and minerals.

Perhaps even rotting the roots. Pots with plants are installed on special wooden supports. If the window sill, on the contrary, is overheating due to the steam heating battery located beneath it, polystyrene is used to create thermal insulation. Typically, the kitchen is the warmest place in the apartment, so it is not suitable for those plants that need a low (up to 10 degrees) temperature in the winter. This group includes camellia, agave, myrtle, cacti, yucca, fuchsia, cyclamen, azalea, clivia, pelargonium and other plants whose vegetation slows in winter.

Food plants can rightfully take their place in the kitchen. Typically, garlic, onions, basil, watercress, thyme, marjoram, parsley develop remarkably on well-lit window sills. Some housewives arrange whole window structures in the window opening, for which low-growing bushy varieties of these plants are well suited. These plantings not only delight the eye and smell, but also allow you to daily remove a small crop of fresh green from your home plantation.

Citrus fruits and peppers are very popular. They look very original even individually. These plants are quite moody, but the fruits are not only an ornament, but also a pride of the home gardener. Culinary and floral compositions are a fashionable novelty. For example, a lemon tree in combination with porcelain tea party accessories and beautiful tea packages, a coffee tree and a nearby coffee grinder. The composition can be supplemented with miniature plants that are suitable in style in the original flower pots or pots - cyclamen, uzambari violets, salioli.

The main requirement when decorating with living plants any premises, including the kitchen, is the unity of style. It should be borne in mind that curly, hanging or creeping plants of a free silhouette reinforce the element of ease and naturalness in interiors decorated in a fantasy, romantic or country style. Here, by the way, there will be ginura, indoor bamboo, adiantum, streptocarpus, asplenium, pellet, nephrolepis, saxifrage, ceropegia or hypesthes.

Plants having a clear outline — dracaena, calathea, aspidistra, alocasia, strelitzia, fatsia — are perfect for a kitchen room designed in the techno style. Placing them in metal buckets, pots or flowerpots of the correct geometric shape will only enhance the feeling of minimalism. It is recommended to choose neutral or, conversely, bright colors. When choosing plants, it is necessary to take into account their growth rate in order to provide for timely replacement of flowerpots or pots, which must necessarily be combined in style and color with furniture and room decoration.

Plants are also used for zoning the kitchen. For example, you can isolate the food intake from the work area to create the most calm and comfortable atmosphere. In this case, one should take into account the fact that a large number of plants brings the kitchen closer to the conservatory. High humidity may require special wall decoration, floor waterproofing and additional lighting. Organizing such a green corner for relaxation, you will have to provide for a lot of nuances, to consider not only the technical aspects, but also the background, lighting, flower pots, pots, flower girls, and the materials used.

Take a look at your kitchen. It may not be as spacious as you would like, but there is also a place for green spaces in it. Floor, walls, window and doorways, furniture surface - everything will do, but only taking into account the requirements of lighting. Even with the help of an elementary shelf or whatnot, you can create a green corner in the kitchen, giving the room warmth and comfort. When placing plants, do not forget that any compositions and free-standing plants should not hamper your movements when moving in a limited kitchen space.

Where to place plants in the kitchen

Placing plants is best, of course, on a wide windowsill. There can be located next to each other the most diverse plants: violets, cacti, ivy, freshly rooted cuttings of propagated plants, spicy herbs, green onions, indoor tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant and lemons. Pots with ampelous plants (passiflora, stefanotis, drooping begonia, etc.) are well placed on the hinged shelves or hung in wall mounted flowerpots.

However, do not forget that the kitchen - the room is not very large and hanging baskets should not interfere with movement. Do not put pots on the top of the cutting table (although it looks beautiful in photographs in magazines). Practice shows: it is inconvenient for both the hostess and the plants.

It is better not to force the whole kitchen with plants - a carefully thought out option that can also visually reduce or enlarge a room will look much more interesting. High ceilings will be lower if you hang a basket with hanging plants, and a kitchen with low ceilings will be higher if you put a pot with a large tall plant on the floor. Arcuate stems and small leaves will visually expand the narrow space.

What kitchen plants do not like

Do not place flowers near the sink. Humidity is, of course, ideal, but splashing water with an admixture of chemicals for washing dishes will not add health to plants.

Plants also suffer from the smallest droplets of fat that sticky film cover their leaves. As a result, the flowers begin to choke. They grow worse, foliage becomes dull, in the end they can even die. Therefore, at least once a month it is necessary to arrange a “bath day”. Large leaves are gently wiped with a cloth dampened in a mild soapy solution. Plants with small leaves are first sprayed with the same solution, and then rinsed under shower with room temperature water. By the way, this will protect plants from many pests.

What can you choose from plants for the kitchen

Plants with glossy leaves (ficuses, monstera, palm trees, philodendrons) are suitable for the kitchen. They trap a large amount of dust on the leaves, but they are convenient to wash and wipe.

Of the spicy aromatic herbs in the kitchen are appropriate: coriander, parsley, basil, thyme. They are both beautiful and possess phytoncidal properties, and their practical benefit is undoubted - fresh greens on the table.

But cacti and subtropical plants that need a cool wintering, as well as many types of bulbs in the kitchen, can be too hot and uncomfortable.

A variety of kitchen designs with plants

The image of the kitchen can be different, and, probably, everyone has his own. Someone is prettier than the smoked hearth, and someone needs snow-white sterility. The kitchen can be either the warmest and most comfortable place in the apartment, or a cold hi-tech giant. Naturally, the plants decorating it should clearly fall into style.

For any ordinary cozy kitchen any indoor flowers are suitable. The requirements are simple: there should be no bare earth, planters - whole containers, not pots with pallets (there are still products nearby), something blooming (senpole, hibiscus), something fruit (pepper). You can plant a lemon, if you are not confused by a pleasant, but very strong smell of flowers. You can even arrange a mini-garden, but more decorative than utilitarian in nature.

If the kitchen is conceived as a medieval coaching inn with false beams on the ceiling, “brickwork” or stone on the walls and accessories appropriate to the spirit of the times, there should be a minimum number of plants, because in reality they were very dark rooms. Ivy twisting the wall and beams is enough.

Another thing is a bright southern European version. You can decorate the kitchen as an outdoor pergola curled with grapes. Textured driftwood imitating the lower thickened trunks of lianas are attached to the walls, and indoor grape vines (ideally tetrastigma, but roicissus can be used) are launched along them.

In a "sterile" kitchen, it is good to keep orchids planted in artificial orchid chips, or bromeliads in a decorative hydrogel. However, ordinary, only very neat plant specimens will do.

If you tend to minimalism, you should choose one or two plants, but very high quality and interesting. Pay attention to the coffee tree - a very unpretentious, unusual shape, constantly flowering, with dark red fruits.

Fantasy - as much as you want. Tropical display cases, bromeliad trees, succulent compositions, water gardens - all this can decorate your kitchen and give it a sparkle and originality.

With the right approach, any kitchen can be turned into a stunningly beautiful place to relax.