Installing a living wall in your apartment

Personalizing a rental apartment can be tough — there are limits to what one can do in a space you do not own. Because of these limitations, you might think you can’t install cool things, such as a living wall. Guess again.

If done right, you can have a vertical garden either inside your apartment or on the exterior wall on your balcony or patio.

When you have limited floorspace — such as in a rental apartment in a building — having a lot of plants can make your place feel stuffy and crowded. By putting your plants on the wall, you’re saving that precious square footage.

Vertical gardens double as wall art — and can be scaled up or down depending on the space and the look you’re trying to achieve.

So, how do you install a living wall without damaging your rental unit’s wall?

Hang it like a picture

In simple terms, living walls are built on a frame. You can build this frame to the size you need or buy a prefabricated system. Different styles require different methods for inserting the plants. Some have self-watering systems; some do not.

Basically, the frame needs to be mounted and hung like a piece of art or a flat screen television. To ensure that moisture and insects don’t become a problem, build the kind of green wall with separate pots for each plant, so that you can remove them to clean the wall.

Face the light

Before you build or buy a frame, you need to find the right place for your vertical garden. The perfect and most obvious choice is to install it on a wall that receives the most natural light in the apartment. Whether you want to cover the whole wall or just hang a small frame is up to you.

You also need to choose plants that work well for the available light. If your apartment has low light on the best of days, you will need to purchase plants that thrive in those conditions.

Reap the health benefits

Living walls don’t just save space and look great; they also help create a healthier environment. Indoor plants remove pollutants from the air, absorbing them through their porous leaves. Plants absorb light and energy to help them grow, and in doing so they help humans by freshening up our air. A living wall is a great way to incorporate more plants into your home to improve indoor air quality.

If you’re looking for a new place to decorate, find your next rental apartment or home on Gottarent.com! Search for rentals in your area and view photos of units. You could find the perfect wall to build a garden on!