3 DIY Plant Art Projects to Decorate Your Living Room

Plants are an integral part of living room decor—they brighten up the communal space and add so much visual appeal. They have just as much of an impact on your home’s aesthetic as a piece of artwork. So, naturally, it makes sense to combine the two ideas by creating living plant art! 

These 3 living art project ideas aren’t your typical kitschy DIY craft (we guarantee they’re 100% free of popsicle sticks and glitter glue). They’re actually quite modern and tasteful, making great statement pieces to give your living room a stylish edge and a fresh burst of color. No need to splurge on gallery art when you can harness the natural beauty of plants and create your own masterpiece!

Living Art Project Idea #1: Succulent Living Art Frame

Succulents have shallow root systems and can be arranged tightly together in ornate, colorful assortments. This gives us a lot of freedom to experiment with creative living art projects for displaying them! Framed wall art full of succulents is kind of a genius idea for living room decor. You can integrate it so easily with your existing art or a gallery wall full of other pieces.

We recommend using several assorted succulent cuttings like echeveria and kalanchoe for this project. This way, you can fill your frame with lots of texture and tiny details while also allowing them to grow and develop. Plus, the smaller pieces are more lightweight and won’t dislodge as easily. Make small cuttings from your selected plants and allow the cut ends to dry and callus for a few days before planting.

Materials:

• Antique frame
• Cedar 1X3s for building the box
• Gorilla glue
• Metal hardware cloth
• Staple gun
• Chopsticks
• Succulent potting mix
• Assorted succulents 

Directions:

1. Measure the dimensions of your frame, and build a simple, shallow wooden box with cedar 1X3s in the correct size to fit against the back of the frame. 
2. Fill the box with a potting medium formulated for succulents, and pack it down. 
3. Lay a sheet of metal hardware cloth—cut to the dimensions of the frame—and staple it on. Use Gorilla Glue to fasten the frame on top without having to drill it. Your frame will now be ready to fill with succulents.
4. When your cuttings are ready to plant, use chopsticks to press holes into the soil through the metal cloth, and then insert the stems of your cuttings into the holes. When it’s full, put it in a room with no sun for three weeks. During that third week, water your succulents and let them sit for one more week. By the end of the fourth week, they should be sufficiently rooted, and you can hang your frame up without the plants falling out! Ta-da, your first successful living art project!

Living Art Project Idea #2: Honeycomb Trellis

A honeycomb trellis is the perfect DIY wall art for your living room that makes use of plants you may already have! Trailing plants like pothos, philodendron, and hoya grow long vines that will simply hang down if they aren’t trained to grow around a structure. But, with a pretty wall-mounted honeycomb trellis, you can train your plants to grow up and around it. This keeps those vines out of reach of curious pets or kids and creates a lush, leafy statement piece that sparks interest!

Materials:

• 1X2X8 miter boards
• Miter saw
• Gorilla glue
• Paint or wood stain
• Measuring tape
• Hooks for wall mounting

Directions:

1. Cut your miter board pieces into long, matching trapezoid shapes in groups of six. The size and spread of your trellis is entirely up to you. Once you’ve got six identical trapezoids, attach them with Gorilla Glue to form a hexagon.
2. Create several more hexagons and attach them with more gorilla glue together in a pattern you like. Let it sit and dry overnight.
3. When the glue is dry, paint or stain it in the color of your choosing, and screw some hooks into the back so it can be wall-mounted. Mount your trellis on the wall over a table or shelf—somewhere you can place your plant and easily train the vines upward onto the trellis. If you like it, you can repeat the project and make another honeycomb trellis to mount on your fence outside!

Living Art Project Idea #3: Glass Table Succulent Planter

If you can find a used glass-top coffee table for cheap, you’ve got yourself the perfect base for this amazing table planter project! Ideally, you’ll want a table that has a hollow reservoir and a removable glass top, so you can easily fill it with potting medium and plants without having to build any extensions.

Sunlight can still access your succulents through that glass tabletop, so this living art project idea allows you to enjoy all their beautiful colors while you read the newspaper and sip your morning coffee right overhead. When curating your plant assortment, play around with contrasting textures, like cute, quirky crassula, delicate pink echeveria, and spiky haworthia. 

Materials:

• Glass top coffee table with a hollow reservoir
• Decorative pebbles
• Succulent potting mix
• Assorted succulents

Instructions:

1. Carefully remove the glass top and set it aside. Clean out any dust or dirt that may be hiding inside the table’s reservoir.
2. Fill the base with a layer of pebbles, followed by a layer of cacti potting mix. 
3. Plant your succulents, and if you want to fill up any patches of exposed soil, you can spread some more pebbles on top. 
4. Place the glass top back on the table. Wait two weeks to water your succulents, and then after that, maintain a consistent watering schedule.

Searching for more ideas and inspiration for decorating with houseplants? Browse our webstore to see all the gorgeous plants ready to be shipped to your door. There are so many exotic and distinctive varieties with just as much wow-factor as each of these living art project ideas, so take a cue from the Plant Decor Shop playbook and start beautifying your home with stylish plants!