Plants are the perfect addition to any home, but if you spend any time whatsoever on social media, you’ve probably noticed a growing trend in recent months. The living plant wall has completely taken over the world of interiors, ideal for both the green-thumbed and design-obsessed.
If you’re wondering how to create a DIY living wall indoors, you’ve come to the right place. In today’s blog, we’re going to provide you with a step-by-step guide to upgrade your interiors with a feature any plant-lover will envy.
Grab your notepad, and let’s get started.
What Is a DIY Living Wall?
If you’ve stumbled upon this article out of pure curiosity, you might be wondering – what is a DIY living wall? Essentially, a living wall is a self-supported vertical garden through which the plants get all of the nutrients they need to thrive. They’re extremely common in urban community areas but have recently grown in popularity for indoor living spaces too.
A living wall of plants offers a whole host of benefits, including:
- Air-purifying qualities, especially if you opt for air-filtering plants
- A unique interior feature unlike anything you can buy in a store
- Low-maintenance hobby for people with less time on their hands
- Great indoor garden for homes short on outdoor space
How to Create Your Own Living Wall of Plants
Now we’ve established what a DIY living wall is and why you might want to build one, let’s take a look at how you can bring yours to life.
1. Search For Inspiration
When considering any new interior feature, the first thing to do is to search for inspiration. Browse on Pinterest, Instagram or your favourite home websites and collect some ideas of how you’d like your living wall to look. There are plenty of shape and style options to choose from, and you can also incorporate different plants to suit different interior themes.
We recommend putting together a virtual vision board of all your favourite indoor gardens before you begin planning and shopping for supplies. This will avoid waste or overspending and ensure you achieve the exact look you’ve been dreaming of.
2. Choose the Right Location For Your Living Wall
Choosing the right spot for your living wall DIY is probably the most crucial step on the list. Assess your home and opt for a sturdy wall that can take the weight of your installation. If you’re renting a place, you might want to consult your landlord for permission first, too.
There are two other key considerations to take into account:
- Find somewhere that gets plenty of light so your indoor garden can thrive
- A wall too close to a window might be negatively impacted during colder weather
3. Mark and Measure Your Chosen Space
Next up, it’s time to mark and measure your chosen space. Figure out how much room on the wall you’d like to be taken up with plants and list a few potential measurements you could work with. If you’re a gardening beginner and want a cheaper project to start with, it’s recommended to go smaller than larger.
Living walls are built into frames and purchased at your local gardening or interior store for a small fee. Use a pencil, spirit level and some masking tape to mark out where your frame will sit – this will help you envisage how much space it will take up.
4. Choose Your Frame
Choosing the perfect frame is one of the most exciting parts of planning your DIY living wall of plants. By shopping around, you’ll find a range of shapes and sizes on offer. They’re also available in different colours and materials too. Some shops sell metal frames in hexagonal shapes, while others offer a more affordable plastic version. The most important consideration you need to make is finding a structure that won’t allow any water to seep into the surface your garden is attached to.
Before you blow your whole budget on a pricey frame, make sure to account for all of the other supplies you’ll need, including:
- Plants
- Drills, screws and rawl plugs for attaching to your wall
- Topsoil
5. Buy Your Plants
Now it’s time for the really exciting part: shopping for your plants. Depending on the vibe you’re going for, you’ll want to choose plants based on their colour, shape and size to perfect the look.
If you’re wondering which plants work best for a vertical garden, we’ve got you covered. There’s a wide variety you can choose from, but these are some of the low-maintenance options that thrive in a living wall setup.
6. Set Up Your Living Wall
Once you’ve got all your supplies, it’s time to turn your living wall vision into a reality. While the planning process can seem pretty complicated, the setup is super simple. Grab your frame, attach to the wall and start planting. Most vertical garden frames or kits come with guidance specific to their product, so make sure to follow these when it comes to setting up your living wall.
7. Maintain Your Living Wall
Once you’ve created a stunning living wall and snapped those essential shots for your Instagram, it’s vital to put a maintenance routine in place. We recommend ‘servicing’ the wall weekly, checking the following factors off your list:
- Drainage – make sure there’s no water build-up at any level of your living wall
- Health – look over your plants and remove any dead leaves or signs of disease
- Light – depending on your space, you may need to add artificial lighting or increase shade, especially if the weather is particularly hot outside
- Fertilize – if your plants are looking a little dull, add a fertilizer or soil amendment to the mix
TOP TIP:
You can create your own soil amendment at home from your household food scraps by using a FoodCycler. The ideal alternative to an outdoor compost bin, the device takes up little room and produces enough goodness to give your indoor garden a much-needed boost. Save the planet by reducing your food waste and level up your living wall in the process!
That concludes our tips on how to create a DIY living wall of plants! If you’re looking for more gardening tips or ways to make your life a little greener, stay tuned with the FoodCycler blog for our weekly updates.