Plans For Our Living Space - Modern Botanicals

They say you when you first move in to a space the biggest mistake you can make is to rush into decorating it.  You should give yourself the time to live in it, get to know how the light changes throughout the day, what works for you, what doesn't. In the beginning when we moved in here, I was very set on what I wanted to do with the space and, at the time, it all revolved around white, grey and copper. I wanted a dark grey on the chimney breast (yes, the one with the dodgy "retro" gas fire) grey curtains and a grey sofa. For months I trawlled the DIY stores to hunt down the perfect shade of grey to coat the wall with, painting large sheets of paper, taping them up for a week at a time and "umming" and "ahhing" over each one. But then I couldn't find the right shade at all, in fact, all they seemed to do was draw the room in and suck in all the beautiful light we get here, and I realised that I was forcing the room into being something it wasn't.So I tried another tack, stopped over-thinking it and just let it be. For months. And instead of getting caught up in all the trends, some of which I'd rather forget (I mean you, "Radiant Orchid"!) I sat back and let the room come together on its own. Looking at what we already had and noticing a pattern in what I like to buy, I picked my most recent purchases of two beautiful ombre green rattan baskets as my "jumping off point". This past week as I've been working on Project Indoor Jungle the room is suddenly coming alive and I can finally see a coherent style emerging. Modern botanicals.

|1| Leran rattan pendant lamp | Ikea |2| Dog rose wall chart | Wallography |3| Heal's 1810 Herbarium coasters | Heals |4| Poppy angled floor lamp | NOTHS |5| Large woven basket | TK Maxx |6| Scarlet Green cushion | Imogen Heath |7| Buttoned velvet box cushion | Cox & Cox |8| Low wire storage unit | Loaf  |9| Black chair with armrests | Ikea

I picked out a couple of looks that I love and working from my Plants & Botanicals Pinterest board and from those selected 9 key pieces to tie the look together. Keeping our white walls as a base with tones of grey to tie in our curtains and sofa, I'm bringing in a little more green in soft furnishings and possible in painting a couple of our wooden dining chairs a soft green. The matt black gives the look a more contemporary feel as the house is Mid-Century and I wanted to update our existing vintage dining table with the addition of the black chairs to compliment the green-what do you think to that?I'm desperate to own an original Jung Koch Quentell botanical chart, but being a little on the pricey side, Wallography have a beautiful alternative and I love the pink of that dog rose against the black background. It's so striking!The coasters were a discovery I made last week during my two day visit at Heal's (more on that next week!) As part of their new 1810 fabric collection-the first since they stopped producing a range in the 1970s, these gorgeous coasters are taken from the Hvass & Hannibal Herbarium collection. To die for.I think by now you know I'm a complete basket case, I need to have a lot of baskets in this house. Have you seen Marvin, my new rubber plant? He's in desperate need of repotting, so I thought when I've done that he'd look amazing in this black woven rattan basket to compliment my green ones.Last but not least. Storage. Given that my little urban jungle is growing by the week and reluctant to put up too much shelving to display them, something like this gorgeous wire shelving unit would be perfect for them. Maybe adding in my favourite cook books on one of the bottom and middle shelves would break them up a bit and make it easier for me to have them closer to hand-they currently live upstairs in the spare room.So there we have it-a much easier way to tie in an 'almost there' look and with minimal effort. It's light, fresh and satisfies my craving for green and print. I won't have to paint out that chimney breast when we move again either!What do you think? Are botanicals still floating your boat? I'd love to hear your thoughts!.