Indoor Plant Divider: How To Make A Houseplant Screen For Privacy

plant divider

(Image credit: KatarzynaBialasiewicz)

last updated 20 October 2022

Thinking about separating two rooms with a divider? It’s an easy do-it-yourself project that’s limited only by your imagination. Want to go a step further and add live plants to the divider? Yes, it can be done! Plants not only improve air quality, but they absorb noise, add aesthetic beauty, and the color green typically invokes a calm, soothing feeling.

How to Make a Houseplant Screen for Privacy

Dividers can be purchased, built by contractors, or put together yourself. They can be wood, metal, plastic, or engineered wood. Dividers can be free standing or mounted to the floor and ceiling. Here are considerations to think about before starting your design:

How much do I want to spend on the project? Besides the divider, include cost for pots, plants, hardware, and a grow light or fluorescent light, if needed.
Is light ample for the plants I want, or will I need supplemental lighting?
Will a wall of plants make one side of the room dark, or will it let light through?
How will I water the plants? Purchased plant dividers have a built-in watering system that doesn’t require a hose. (You fill a receptacle with water at regular intervals.)

After answering these questions, start planning your design. Options abound on putting one together yourself. Here are a few ideas:

Select a tall, narrow, and long planter box and fill with soil and tall plants to create height.
For indoor vines, start with a metal or wood trellis. Secure it inside a planter box the same width or wider than the trellis. Fill with soil and plants. (These also can be purchased assembled.)
Purchase vertical plant stands with three or more pot rings. Erect two or three next to each other between the rooms and fill with pots of houseplants.
Purchase or build a shelving unit with no back. Decorate with different plants in colorful pots.
Affix different lengths of chain from the ceiling and at end of each chain hook on a flowering or foliage hanging basket. Alternately, use a pole clothes hanger stand.

Choosing Plants for an Indoor Plant Divider

Be sure to choose low light plants unless you have an exceptionally sunny room. Flowering plants will need ample light, preferably near a south-facing window. Examples include:

After graduating from Oklahoma State University with a degree in English, Susan pursued a career in communications. In addition, she wrote garden articles for magazines and authored a newspaper gardening column for many years. She contributed South-Central regional gardening columns for four years to Lowes.com. While living in Oklahoma, she served as a master gardener for 17 years.