When Steve and I designed our Boho Chic home reveal, we really wanted to make sure I could finally be the plant mama I’ve always wanted to be, and fill the place with houseplants. Air plants are one of my new fav obsessions, and we love anything from nature, so I wanted to think of a cool air plant display idea that would really make a statement about what those things meant to us in the room. We came up with this branch chandelier air plant display idea, and I couldn’t be more happy with how it turned out! Originally, I wanted to hang it over the dining table, and use some LED tea light candles in some of the orbs for a romantic alternative lighting feature. But plants need sunlight, and air plants prefer a lot of bright light. Unfortunately , the dining table didn’t work for that. So we moved it into the window area, and it’s the perfect plant accent! Almost like an air plant chandelier “mobile”. So here is how we made this super simple branch chandelier air plant display!
Branch Chandelier Air Plant Display
Supplies
Large interesting branch. This is a grapevine branch you can find in craft stores. You could also use driftwood, or something interesting from your backyard too.
Glass air plant/succulent orbs. I got mine from Amazon.
Small Air Plants – We get all ours from Etsy seller ‘Spyloh’.
Jute twine and leather cording.
Cup hooks.
Branch Chandelier Instructions
This cool air plant display idea is one of the easiest DIY projects you can do!
- First, tie leather cording to each end of the grapevine branch. Screw large cup hooks into the ceiling at a distance apart from each other the same as the distance between the hanging cords.
- Then figure out how high or low you want each end to hang, and tie the ends in a tight loop and hang onto the cup hooks. Make sure you play around with the height of each end. You could get an entirely different look based on how your piece hangs.
- Tie jute twine to the hooks on the top of the glass orbs, then hang them by tieing them to the branch. Make sure they all hang at different heights to give the branch chandelier a more natural look.
- Trim the ends of the knotted twine and cords.
- Pop in your air plants!
Done!
When choosing where to hang your branch chandelier air plant display, make sure you pick a spot with bright, indirect light.
Another tip for a hanging air plant display… don’t choose air plants that are too large in size for the orb. If you do, you will have a hard time removing them to water them, and could damage the leaves in the process. See more about how to water air plants below.
Another thing we love about air plants is that there are many different kinds. Choose ones that vary in shape to make your air plant display more interesting to look at.
Don’t hang your branch chandelier so high that you can’t see the beauty of each individual plant. Hanging it too high will make it difficult to care for the plants as well.
How to Care for Air Plants
There is a misunderstanding among a lot of people who buy air plants that they need no care whatsoever. While they are one of the easiest plants to grow, you need to learn how to care for air plants, or like most living things… you guessed it, they will die. 😉 So air plants, also know as Tillandsia, need three things in order to thrive. Water, light and air. Watering air plants is pretty simple. Once a week, take the air plants out of their orbs, and place in a bowl or sink of water for 20 minutes. Once a month, add a liquid houseplant fertilizer to the water you soak them in. When you remove them from their water bath, give them a good shake and place upside down (pointy side up) for a few minutes to drain. Air plants can rot at their base if water is allowed to pool there. Then just place them back in their orbs! We already discussed that they need bright, indirect light, and I’m pretty sure the air part of the equation is an easy one. Thats it!
So now that you have made your own branch chandelier air plant display (you have, right?), check out our posts on How to Decorate with Air Plants and then jump on over to TGG and learn how to make an air plant terrarium!