As far as bathrooms in rental apartments go, we're pretty lucky. With a palette of white and more white, we were saved from the Pepto-Bismal pink tile and glitter-flecked vanities that I've seen in my friends' apartments. Still, white tile nearly up to the ceiling can make even the most adamant minimalist yearn for a spot of color. My favorite way to liven up the space is with plants.
Photographs by Erin Boyle.
Our bathroom is the sunniest spot in our apartment and we've had luck over-wintering a geranium and nurturing a silver spotted philodendron, but our most recent addition has admittedly stolen the show. The delicate button fern thrives in the filtered sunlight and moisture of our tiny bathroom. If you can't find one locally, a Button Fern in a three-inch pot is $10 from Pernell Gerver.
Perched above our bathroom medicine cabinet, the fern weeps sideways and shoots upward, creating a dramatic display against the bright white. Because of its position on a somewhat precariously hung cabinet, I opted to plant it in a lightweight vintage tea tin instead of a much heavier ceramic planter. A large selection of Vintage Tea Tins is available on Etsy.
A small nail and hammer was all I needed to poke drainage holes in the bottom of the tin. Like most ferns, button ferns like to be kept fairly moist, but without proper drainage they run the risk of getting too saturated.
Before I transferred my fern from its nursery planter to the tea tin, I loosened the soil around the roots. Since a proper potting table didn't make the cut in our small apartment, I work with a bit of unfolded newspaper on my kitchen table/desk to make cleanup easy.
Button ferns need a little bit more sunlight than other ferns. If you have a shadier bathroom, you might consider going for an equally moisture-loving fern that does better in dim lighting. We have a rabbit's foot fern in another spot that's doing quite well, but I really love the way the delicate button fern leaves catch the sunlight in the mid-afternoon. A Rabbit's Foot Fern is $10 from Pernell Gerver.
High above the medicine cabinet, with a vintage snuff jar filled with cotton balls for company, the patina on the tin warms up our otherwise very white bathroom. In case you're hoping for a little vintage addition to your bathroom, I purchased this tea tin inexpensively at the Brooklyn Flea. For non-locals, Etsy is an excellent source for scoping out similar vintage treasures.
Looking for more ways to add a little greenery to your bathroom? See 5 Favorites: Plants for the Bathroom.