As of late, fake plants have come a long way, and olive trees are once again popular in interior design as a plant for decorating homes. I love Olive trees for their subtle look and delicate, silvery leaves. They complement so many home décor styles, think farmhouse, modern and contemporary, you can’t go wrong. Today, I’m sharing some of my best faux olive trees!.
Fake olive trees have surpassed the faux fiddle leaf fig tree and I’m not sad about it. Fiddle trees are still my favorite, but olive trees have always been my favorite, so I’m glad they’re so popular right now.
The Olive tree is one of the most beloved, sacred trees symbolizing peace, wisdom, and tranquility. The olive tree has long been a sign of friendship and peace. This tradition goes back to the fifth century BC in ancient Greece. On top of that, it stands for peace, cleanliness, and recovery. We all know the phrase “extend an olive branch” when someone wants to end a fight, because who has time for hate these days? I know I don’t.
As a child, I remember that my parents were building a house from the ground up. Every weekend, we would go see the progress, and it was such an exciting time in our lives. After the cement was poured for our driveway, a huge circle was left for a huge olive tree with six branches, one for each member of our family. When we moved in, my parents had a big open house, and a priest blessed our house, starting with the olive tree. He spoke about the meaning of the olive tree and it has stuck with me my whole life. There is now an olive tree growing on the side of our house. It’s there for many reasons, but the main one is to bring peace, safety, and quiet into our home. I think it’s working!
The olive tree is an iconic symbol of the Mediterranean region, with its twisted trunks, wispy silvery leaves, and aged appearance. While real olive trees thrive in warm climates outdoors, their beauty and old-world charm have made them increasingly popular statement pieces in living rooms and other indoor spaces.
Adding an olive tree to your living room allows you to bring a touch of the Mediterranean right into your own home. Olive trees add lovely greenery, visual interest, and loads of character to both traditional and modern décor styles.
In this article, we will cover everything you need to know about decorating your living room with an olive tree, including:
- Benefits of using olive trees in home decor
- Choosing between real and faux olive trees
- Ideal olive tree sizes and placement
- Caring for a real indoor olive tree
- Styling and decorating with olive trees
- Other Mediterranean inspired living room ideas
Let’s explore how to use olive trees to bring the charm and ambiance of an Italian villa or seaside Mediterranean escape right to your own living room!
Why Decorate Your Living Room With an Olive Tree?
Olive trees offer many benefits when used in home decor:
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Bring nature indoors – The wispy foliage and aged trunks add organic, natural elements.
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Provide visual interest – The knobby twisty branches have loads of visual texture,
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Offer character – Old world, aged appearance suits traditional décor.
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Infuse Mediterranean style – Olive trees instantly evoke images of sunny Tuscan villas.
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Act as a focal point – Olive trees naturally draw the eye in any space.
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Fit with various décor – Olive trees suit contemporary, modern, rustic, and boho styles too.
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Purify air – Real olive trees help clean indoor air.
Olive trees are versatile and full of rustic refinement. They bring the feeling of lazy days under blue Mediterranean skies right into your living room.
Choosing Between Real and Faux Olive Trees
The first decision is whether to use a real living olive tree or a faux olive tree. Here are the key differences:
Real olive trees require diligent care and ample sunlight but offer the benefits of a living plant. Sizes range from tabletop to large floor size.
Faux olive trees need zero maintenance and work well in any lighting. High-quality fakes can look quite realistic. Easy to find smaller sizes.
Consider your climate, space, décor style, and commitment to caring for living plants when choosing between real or faux. Fake trees work best for low light rooms in cool climates while real trees thrive in bright sunny rooms in warmer zones.
Determine the Best Size and Placement
Measure the space in your living room to determine the ideal olive tree size. Here are suggested heights:
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Small living rooms – Choose a tabletop olive tree under 3 feet tall.
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Medium living rooms – Opt for a 4 to 6 foot tall standard olive tree.
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Large, high ceiling rooms – Go big with a full-height 8+ foot olive tree.
Ideally, position your olive tree in a space with ample sunlight from south or west facing windows. Place it off to one side rather than dead center. Angled in a corner is nice. Near a seating area works well so you can appreciate the intricate trunk and branches up close.
Caring for a Real Indoor Olive Tree
Olive trees need very specific growing conditions to thrive indoors:
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Light – Provide at least 6 hours of direct sun daily. South or west facing windows are best.
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Heat – Ideal temp range is 65-80°F. Cannot tolerate temps below 45°F.
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Water – Allow soil to dry out some between watering. Drainage is crucial.
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Soil – Use a sandy, clay-based potting mix. Amend with perlite for drainage.
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Fertilizer – Feed with a balanced liquid fertilizer every 2-3 weeks in spring and summer.
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Pruning – Trim back overgrowth and shape as needed in early spring.
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Pests – Watch for whiteflies, scale, and spider mites. Quarantine new trees.
Caring for an olive tree indoors is challenging. Be prepared to provide ample sunlight, stable warm temps, and attentive watering and pruning.
Styling Your Olive Tree
A Mediterranean inspired living room deserves a properly styled olive tree as the star. Here are some olive tree styling tips:
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Pots – Choose a decorative container like terra cotta, wood barrels, cement, or woven baskets.
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Soil topper – Cover soil with pebbles, moss, or sand for a natural touch.
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Uplighting – Use discreet lighting to illuminate the tree’s intricate form.
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Accessories – Tuck succulents, air plants, ceramic pots, or driftwood around the base.
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Backdrop – Position in front of an antique mirror or mounted woven tapestry for visual depth.
Take time to artfully arrange the branches and accentuate the gnarled trunk for optimal impact. The olive tree should feel aged and organic like it was growing in your living room for decades.
More Mediterranean Living Room Décor Ideas
An olive tree alone brings lovely Mediterranean flair, but you can amplify the ambiance further with these additional living room décor ideas:
- Neutral color palette with pops of terra cotta and azure blue
- Plaster walls or wood beam ceiling
- Tile flooring or sisal rugs
- Wrought iron, distressed wood, or rattan furnishings
- Roman shades or linen drapes
- Carved wood doors and window frames
- Collections of ceramic vases and planters
- Accent pillows in florals and geometric patterns
- Glass terrariums and brass plant stands
- Candelabras, woven baskets, and glass hurricanes
Blend these elements around your aged olive tree to fully transform your living room into a relaxing Mediterranean escape.
Bring the Charm of the Mediterranean Home
With its beautifully weathered trunk and graceful wispy foliage, few plants evoke the allure of the Mediterranean region quite like an olive tree. Displaying an olive tree in your living room is a simple yet powerful way to infuse rustic ambiance and bring lovely organic texture into your décor.
Whether you choose a real tree to care for or opt for a quality faux olive tree, positioning it thoughtfully within your space and taking time to artfully style it will help create a peaceful, inviting room with old world charm. Let your olive tree transform your living room into your very own Mediterranean getaway!
My Favorite Faux Olive Tree At a Reasonable Price With high-quality Materials
At almost 7 feet tall and strikingly realistic, this is the one for you! Let’s be honest, looking for the perfect faux tree can be difficult, there are so many to choose from, and that’s why I love it when websites have a place where real people can leave great reviews and a picture of how they styled it! Nearly Natural has exactly that! Once I looked over each review and all the beautiful pictures I knew the olive tree with an impressive height of 82 inches was the perfect tree for a corner in our downstairs great room with tall ceilings. I needed something that was narrow and tall, that would look good in tight spaces. I love that the branches can be spread out to create more width and they can easily be adjusted. It’s sophisticated yet rustic and the shape and color of the faux olives look so realistic. I love that there are black olives as well as green and brown., I get asked all the time how I keep it alive. No one believes it is fake, it looks and feels real, not kidding!
When I look at fake trees, I don’t have to worry about my three dogs eating anything bad. Our vet bills are already too high these days.
How To Style An Olive Tree
Most people mess up when they take the tree out of the box, put it in a corner, and are done with it. Not at all! Think of it like a Christmas tree: you have to care for it by fluffing and arranging each branch. Olive trees aren’t straight; each branch grows in a different direction. The one outside is being staked up right now because it wants to move around. Make some of your olive branches straight and others curl, it’s ok if they are touching. Have the branches going in opposite directions, don’t make it look too perfect.
Faux Olive Trees: The Best Faux Olive Trees for Your Home or Office
FAQ
Is an olive tree good for indoors?
Where should I put my olive tree indoors?
How tall should an olive tree be in a living room?
Where is the best place to keep an olive tree?
How do I Keep my indoor olive tree healthy and beautiful?
Here’s what you need to know to keep your indoor olive tree healthy and beautiful: What kind of light does my indoor olive tree need? Sun, sun, and more sun! After all, they’re natives of the Mediterranean’s hot, dry climate.
Can olive trees grow indoors?
The best you can do for the tree is to move it outdoors during the summer months because even the best indoor conditions can’t match preferred conditions outdoors. Aside from those caveats, slow-growing olive trees are easy to care for indoors. Can You Grow Olive Trees Inside?
Is there a specialized olive tree that only grows inside?
There isn’t a specialized indoor olive tree that only grows inside. The trees you’ll see in baskets in minimalist homes online are either a version of the standard Olea europaea, or an ornamental dwarf variety in the case of shorter plants.
Are olive trees a good addition to a sunny room?
Olive trees can make fantastic additions to sunny rooms, though there are a few key facts that you should know first. It’s best to think of an olive tree as an indoor/outdoor tree, as this type of tree does need to spend time outdoors when it’s warm. You should also be aware that indoor olive trees are not likely to bear fruit.
