In the last year or so, I’ve become sort of obsessed with indoor plants. But I came to discover that I have something like a brown-ish thumb after I got my first few succulents. Granted, the plants were cheap, but I was still sad to see plant after plant die…so I decided to get serious (as serious as one can get about tiny cacti) about plant care. I tapped my dad for help, since he’s a bit of a plant wizard (he protests this, but he resurrected two of my plants) and I did a tiny bit of research. Since then, my plant woes have been almost completely cured – and one of my cacti has even started to grow (after doing absolutely nothing for a year). I’m by no means a plant expert, but I thought I’d share what I’ve learned – I hope these tips will help if you’re discouraged, or looking to start a collection. And at the very least, there are some nice pictures of some of my favorite plants for your viewing pleasure.

1 // POTS

This one might have been the hardest for me to wrap my head around: plants actually need drainage. But why are pretty, hole-free pots sold everywhere? I thought. The water will leak on everything! I was sad, especially because I had just found nice white pots at IKEA. Turns out, there’s an easy fix: fit your pots with those plastic plant pots (the kind plants are sold in), and put the plants in those. You can’t really tell without looking closely, and your plants won’t drown/rot.

(As you can tell, I’m still in need of a few pots – I’m on the lookout for cute and reasonably priced ones, and I’ll come back to you with my finds.)

2 // WATERING

Not over-watering is key, even when you have drainage – but don’t be afraid of watering plants like cacti. I started watering one of mine a little more often and it magically began to grow. It’s a little hard to figure out a watering schedule if you have plants with different needs, but I’ve found that my leafy plants (fern & purple waffle) need water every few days, while my succulents and cacti can get watered at the same time – I give my cacti just a little, and then make sure the other soil is moist (sorry for using that word).

3 // DON’T GIVE UP

Plants are going to die. I actually bought a cactus once that was already in some stage of dying. But a little leaf from it was able to re-root in some soil and now it’s growing like crazy. Same goes for my kalanchoe – after putting the stem of a non-rotting leaf in some water for a while, roots began to grow. Now it’s in soil and it’s its own plant again. And don’t be afraid to trim off old/dying leaves (but you probably knew that).

Square pot // Round pots

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Last month I shared some of my favorite things from modern home decor mecca CB2, and I thought I’d do it again – this time with one of my favorite stores of all time, IKEA (and I’m not even embarrassed to admit that). I feel like it’s far too often overlooked as a place to shop for cheap furniture – and while it’s great for that, they also carry a ton of modern and sometimes-quirky Scandinavian decorations (like, they carry pretty nice wrapping paper in lots of cool patterns – who would’ve thought?). I pulled out my two favorite chairs (one’s in my bedroom, the other is in my studio) plus the best shelving unit ever (I have it in two sizes). And they sell gorgeous fabric – I used this in the loft in my studio, and this pillow is one of my favorites (it’s velvet!). I’m also drooling over the crisp white and rustic wood combo – I’m in need of a watering can and this one is just what I’ve been looking for. And how pretty would this bowl look filled with summer fruit? (The name, nödvändig, actually means necessary. Enough said.) And these prints…so fun for a gallery wall.

Now I’m seriously craving a trip to the big Swedish store. What are your feelings about IKEA?

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