Featured on RTÉ's Room to Improve
The most recent Season 17 of Room to Improve featured homes in Clonsilla, Kells, Harmonstown and Raheny.
We assisted the talented producers and interior designer Karina Heaslip with plants and pots for the final reveal of the newly refurbished homes.
The family in the Raheny episode were gardening and plant mad. Their new home married a conservatory like extension with a bright airy kitchen. The dream really! Those double height ceilings and custom shelving were perfect for houseplants which really added colour and life to the space.
Our 1.5metre tall Branched Rubber Tree helping create the perfect vignette here. All that good light will have this tree grow around a foot a year, turning into a real prominent feature. I love how rubber trees take on their own organic shape over time, reaching for light and sending out new branches. Rubber trees are so easy to care for at home, they are a classic for a good reason.
On top of this lovely coffee table was this pink anthurium lilli in one of our orange and pink striped pots. Any houseplant that flowers needs lots of good light to keep re-flowering, so if you have an anthurium make sure you put it near light particularly in winter time. You'd never know if was January though on this shoot day, the winter light is glowing!
A gorgeous satin pothos in our red stripe pot sits on top of a side board in the Raheny home. Satin pothos are brilliant trailing plants, you can let them dry out a lot which means minimum faffing required! While I love this variety pictured, I think the Trebie variety is my no.1 as the leaves are impressively big.
We're seeing reds and burgundy creep more and more into homeware and interiors the last year or so. Have you heard of the 'unexpected red theory'? It's the idea that adding a small or "unexpected" bit of red into your room like a lamp, chair, or picture frame - makes it look more intentional, and balanced. It surprises the eye and is also a really weirdly comforting colour that adds energy and warmth to spaces.
We've been seeing these "unexpected reds" feature more and more in plant pots and vases I for one am loving it. Check out our odina vase, burgundy vase, blue and maroon pot, and the stripe pot pictured above too.
Ok, back to Room to Improve. In Harmonstown episode you can spot a beautiful Dracaena tree that is 1.8m tall, sitting in our Athena Pot. Perfect plant for a narrow space like a hallway or corner spot, as these plants always stay upright and no wild splaying out happens. Very 'neat'.
Lastly we have another beautiful rubber tree, but this is a smaller single stem variety that is just brilliantly easy care. Usually about 90cm - 1 metre tall, these rubber trees are a great medium plant to buy if you are willing to wait a few years and watch it grow into something special.
We don't have photos of all of our plants featured across the episodes, but if you spot one that you'd like to know the name of just shoot us a message on instagram or email us at hello@hopelessbotanics.ie
It's no easy feat buying a home or undergoing (and paying for!) a renovation in this country at the moment. Congratulations to the lovely homeowners on making through to the other side and making their house a home fit for family life and all the wonderful hobbies they enjoy. We loved being (a very very tiny) part of the journey.
