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Writer's pictureFeline Jungle

3 Easy Steps: Book Shelves to Plant Wall

Updated: Mar 6, 2022

When you love plants but don’t have outdoor space for them, it can be difficult to find a spot for your plants. I live in a small NYC apartment, and turning my book shelves was the perfect solution to grow my plants vertically!


Vertical plant wall biophilic-design plant shelf FELINE JUNGLE

Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this article which means I do earn a small percentage if you buy any of these products. It won’t cost you anything, but it helps me to run this site. Thank you for supporting my plant and cat journey! Let’s grow together 🐱💚🌱


1. Find the the Perfect Shelf


The shelf is the base of the overall look of your plant wall. In addition to keeping your houseplants organized, indoor plant shelves can add an aesthetic touch to any blank space in the room. Think about style and size when picking a shelf for a room. A natural wood shelf gives a totally different vibe than a smooth metal shelf. Both work very well in their own way with real greenery!

Vertical plant wall biophilic-design plant shelf FELINE JUNGLE

I choose this floating shelving system from Ikea as base of my plant wall. (Unfortunately, is discontinued!) It is a multi-use system that allows me to be surrounded by my plants while still giving me workspace. I like to be surrounded by plants when I’m brainstorming about more planty content for Feline Jungle. My partner named the plant wall“ the wall of distraction” because I seem to get lost checking up on my plants. But I like to think that I’m constantly drawing inspiration from plants even when I am taking a break from creating content.


If you have enough floor space, you can style a similar a shelf that is available on Amazon, or a few shelves or opt for a rolling cart or a plant ladder. In smaller areas you can save space by choosing a floating shelf or tiered shelves.


For my favorite plant shelfies, click this link for plant shelf ideas available on Amazon.


2. Pick the Plants


The next step is to choose your plants. Pick houseplants with attractive leaf shapes, patterns, and textures to add visual interest.



Airy Plants: This foliage is delicate and soft to touch.


Trailing Plants: Trailing plants like the Philodendron Micans or the Philodendron Brasil add movement to the plant shelf. They are a great way to break up the horizontal lines of the shelf.


Structural Plants: These provide bold shapes. They are plants with strong architectural elements like the snake plants.


If you need some inspo, check out this link for a full video tour of my plant wall.


Don’t forget the importance of the planter pots. I am a big fan of terracotta pots! I love terracotta pots for its aesthetics and well-draining properties. Check out this blog post for unique terracotta pots I've collected over the years.

3. Set-Up the Right Condition for Happy Plants

In addition to finding plants that will thrive in your home, make sure you create the right environment to keep your plants happy. A humidifier will help maintaining moisture levels in your plants.


Artificial light provide the adequate amount of light that is needed when there is a lack of natural light. These are indoor, full-spectrum lights that can imitate the sun and are best suited for low light areas. These Soltech growlight will provide supplement light that your plants need.


For 15% off your Soltech grow lights use my discount code "FELINEJUNGLE". Click here to check out their different types of growlights ranging from $75 - $200.


plant wall grow light plant humidifier.jpg

My Plant Shelf Set-Up

I broke down my plant shelf design process and will be reorganizing plants with you.

00:00 Plant Shelf Set up

00:53 Ikea Plant Shelf - Ikea Svalnas Series (Discontinued)

Click here to check out these Plant Shelf ideas on Amazon

05:07 Plant Arrangement & Plant Styling Tips

07:00 Shelf Art & Design

07:55 Plant Grow Light Soltech Lighting & Wiekurt Humidifier Set up

09:00 Reorganizing everything together!

10:55 Final Plant Shelf Arrangement (for now)


Hope you get planty of inspiration!

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