 JUST PEEL AND REVEAL
I moved into my first parent free house when I was 18. It was a small 2 bedroomed terrace and hadn’t been modified since the early 1950’s. Details like multicoured carpets, a pink bathroom suite and dark brown vinyl wallpaper didn’t bother me much as I had more interesting issues to deal with like working and going out on the town.
There were two things I did in the house to brighten things up a bit. The first was to peel off the 25 year old wallpaper in the front room. It came off really easily and underneath there was some more brown paper from the 1940’s. It looked good to me, so that stayed on the walls for another four years until I moved out. The other improvement I made was to add houseplants. I had more than 50 different types around the house and sprayed them all regularly, which is probably the main reason the house also needed a damp course putting in.
FERNS
I particularly liked the ferns in the bathroom and had them hanging everywhere. They all enjoyed the shaded light and humidity that someone who had at least one bath a week could offer. I tried to get as many different types in there as I could without the pots slipping into the bath when I was having a soak and covering me with soil.
Here are a few you will find in the shops. They can all grow quite large in the wild, but will keep to a manageable size in a pot.
Boston Fern
Boston ferns (Nephrolepis exaltata) are long-lived plants and the most popular for the bathroom. They can live for years with little attention.
Lemon Button Fern
Lemon button fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia) produces cute, golden-green fronds with rounded edges (that give them their button like appearance). It's an easy-to-grow fern that fits in well with a lot of decorating styles.
Maidenhair Fern
Among the most loved ferns, maidenhairs (Adiantum raddianum) offer fine-textured fronds on black stalks. The arching fronds emerge light green and darken a bit as they age.
Rabbit's-Foot Fern
(Humata tyermanii) This slow-growing fern offers dark green, fine textured fronds and fuzzy stems that creep down over the pot or along the soil. These stems are what give the fern its delightful common name.
Staghorn Fern
(Platycerium bifurcatum) Among the most spectacular of ferns, staghorns don't need to be grown in soil so you often see them mounted and grown on walls or posts.
Bird's Nest Fern
I found my plant in the road when I was coming home from work one day. It had been run over a few times but soon picked up in my fern sanctuary. It’s another favourite ofthe bathroom and mine lasted years. Bird’s nest fern (Asplenium nidus) is a slow-growing plant with bright green fronds that radiate from the centre of the plant, creating a vase or bird's nest shape.
Silver Brake Fern
(Pteris cretica)The crested fronds are almost spidery and bear a bright silvery stripe down the centre.
Kangaroo Paw Fern
(Microsorium diversifolium) This interesting fern offers shiny, dark green fronds in an unkempt mound reminiscent of Medusa's hair. Like rabbit's-foot fern, it bears creeping stems that may grow down the side of its container.
 FRESH AIR TOO
Plants are just the thing to brighten the house up and freshen air. Check out the more common ones you can get locally, from the Peace Lily, Philodendrons, Dracaena varieties, Spider Plants, English Ivy, Ficus varieties, Bamboo, Aloe and Umbrella plants. They all filter impurities. My house must have had the cleanest air in the street.
How To Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home Or Office
There are big steps in architecture to bring greenery into heavily built up areas for this reason, not only into buildings, but on the outside of them too. The new ideas have been coined Vegitecture.
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Although ferns are tropical plants they do best in average to cooler temperatures of 65-75F in the daytime and 50-70F at night. They do prefer high humidity but most varieties will do fine in moderate as well. Just be sure not to let this plant get overheated as that will surely cause its demise. Ferns require more frequent but light watering to thrive. Do not over water instead small sips of water three to four times a week during the summer and about once a week during the colder months will keep it very happy and healthy.
Ferns need about half as much food as most other indoor plants. A safe bet is to just half the the suggested rate on the instructions for plant food. In spring and summer fertilize weekly and during fall and winter fertilize once a month.