I love it when a new interiors look hits the scene, bringing a fresh vibe that we all can’t wait to get our hands on. The latest new look to catch my eye is something I refer to as the Palm House Look. It’s a more reserved version of the jungle fever trend from a few years ago, which you may remember as being full of tropical prints and hot colours. For me, Palm House is about bringing the outdoors in and encapsulates the colonial passage-to-India vibe with lots of lush greens and rustic rattan. What’s great about this look is that you don’t need to turn your entire house into a homage to Kew Gardens to make it work. Instead, blend elements throughout your home to create zones of lush tranquility.
Real-life Palm House inspiration from Erica Davies & some terrific clustering & print pairing by H&M.
There are three key elements to the Palm House Look. They are:
1. Houseplants
The houseplant is back in a big way and everyone in the design community is loving them! Houseplants bring a great sculptural element to a room and they can fill a space very nicely. But they don’t just look great, they also help purify the air in your home and have the added bonus of just needing regular watering, rather than flowers which need regular replacing. Of course, the pot is just as important as the plant when it comes to the home. I love to go retro and indulge my love of vintage ceramics with my houseplant pots, but West Elm currently has some gorgeous pots with legs that allow you to play with staggered heights, which I really like. When it comes time to decide where to place your plants (and pots!), I recommend you style them by layering them together in clusters in a corner of a room or on tables, sideboards, or shelves.
The plants that work best in the home are succulents, ferns, peperomia, cactuses, and spider plants. The most popular plant among bloggers appears to be the Fiddle-Leaf Fig, which has big, broad leaves and can happily fill a corner. Houseplants are readily available almost everywhere these days, including the supermarket aisles, but my favourite place to shop for plants is The Stemm. They post you a stunning plant in a pot and it comes complete with care instructions. What’s not to love about that? But no matter where you buy your plants, remember that the Palm House Look is all about foliage that brings green, green, and more green into your space!
No one blends this look better than Erica Davies of The Edited – follow her on instagram to see her home design come together!
Another happy pairing of houseplant and wicker photographed by Lindsay Salazar
2. Revenge of the Rattan!
It’s no secret on Twitter that I’m lusting after a peacock chair, and it appears I’m not the only one! Peacock chairs are bang-on-trend and are popping up all over the place, including Clarke and Clarke’s latest press release. No Palm House Look is complete without embracing your wicker, cane and rattan chairs! If you want a cool modern look, then Graham and Green’s Trumbo Round Rattan Chair is a perfect product for you. If you’re like me and love adding vintage for a bit of a retro vibe, then you need to head to ebay. If you get in quick, you can still get a bargain on peacock chairs and other wicker furniture, but you need to act fast as prices are creeping up as word gets out!
Clarke & Clarke charming Monkey Business wallpaper from the Colony range, photographed by Anthony Parkinson
3. Bold Fauna Prints
These prints have been around for a few years now, ever since the tropical look first took storm, but they’re still going strong in wallcoverings and fabrics. The great thing about the bold fauna prints is that they work well in both dark and light interiors, and bring real impact to a space no matter how conservative you are with the amounts you use. When deciding on a print, look for big, bold palm or banana leaf designs with a giant dollop of green throughout. From there, you can decide how bold you want to be with using the print– use it on a small cushion or a lampshade, or go big and cover your walls with it. House of Hackney is the king of embracing the fauna print, but it’s interesting to see Clarke and Clarke’s Monkey Business print come out– I think it’s going to be a hot purchase this autumn. What do you think?
More Palm House beauty from Erica Davies of The Edited, with these reupholstered Halabala Chair in Banana leaf fabric!
What I love most about the Palm House Look is you can take as much or as little of it as you like and infuse it throughout your home. I’m really enjoying the slight 70s edge the look brings and once I have my peacock chair, I will enjoy sitting inside my very own Palm House zone. Let’s hope the sun will stick around to join me!
