Post #103455 by Humuhumu on Thu, Jul 22, 2004 4:23 PM

Re: plants, I'd make them fake, but that's because I can't be trusted to remember to water the poor things.

The low light is a concern, most plants you put down there will tend to be more pale & leggy than they would be in an ideal lighting situation--they'll look decidedly un-tropical. I know plenty of outdoors exceptions, but I know less about indoor low-light plants. There's a common plant used in offices that is a kind of corn, its common name is Janet Craig. They look passably tropical, and are hardy as all get-out. They'd probably do fine in the low light. (Note to non-Seattlites: the pictures dogbytes has posted may look bright & airy, but let me assure you: in Seattle, even a south-facing windowsill is pretty darned low light, and having been to her house, it's gonna be really low light for the plants in there.)

The great thing about poor lighting is it's that much harder to tell the plants are fake. If you want to shell out some big bucks, Ethan Allen sells some rather nice fake plants. I bought everything I needed to make my palm trees at Display & Costume Supply up by Northgate. (Except for the fake coconuts, those came from Hawai'i General Store on 45th. Oh yeah, and the pipe, flange & dowel, those came from Home Depot.) Here are the instructions:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7060&forum=7

Most of the fake flowers & whatnot I picked up at the Michael's up by Alderwood Mall, they've got a huge selection of crappy silk flowers, and a small selection of really nice ones.