Small flats have plenty of wall and almost no floor. A macramé plant hanger solves that in an afternoon: it lifts a trailing plant to eye level, costs very little, and comes down in seconds when you move out. You need three knots, one hook and about an hour. Here is the whole method, including what to do if you are not allowed to drill.

What You Will Need

• Four lengths of 4–5 mm cotton macramé cord, 3 m each. Cotton grips well; nylon and polypropylene slip under weight, and stiff jute is hard on beginners' hands.
• One ring, 3–4 cm across, in wood or brass. A sturdy curtain ring works fine.
• A small pot, 12–15 cm across, with a plastic nursery pot to sit inside it.
• Scissors, a tape measure and a clip. A clothes peg or bulldog clip holds the ring to a chair back while you work.
• One spare 60 cm length of the same cord for the finishing wrap.

Everything except the plant and pot folds into a shoebox, which matters if your kitchen table doubles as your workshop. Tape the ends of each cut cord with a turn of masking tape before you start; it stops fraying while you knot, and you can trim it off at the end.

Three Knots, and That Is All

Learn these on a scrap of cord first. Ten minutes of practising saves a lot of unpicking, and none of them are difficult once your hands know the movement.

Lark's head (the mounting knot)

Fold a cord in half to make a loop. Pass the loop through the ring from the front, then pull the two loose ends through that loop and tighten. The ring ends up trapped between two strands, with the tails hanging evenly. The cord should sit flat against the ring, not twisted over itself.

Square knot (the workhorse)

1. You are working with four strands. Take the left-hand strand over the two middle strands and under the right-hand strand.
2. Take the right-hand strand under the two middle strands and up through the loop the left strand has made. Pull both ends firmly. That is a half knot.
3. Now mirror it: right-hand strand over the middles and under the left one; left-hand strand under the middles and up through the loop. Tighten. You now have a square knot — a small, flat, symmetrical block.

Repeat steps one and two only, and the knots spiral gently downwards instead. That is a half-square-knot twist, and it makes a neat decorative band if you fancy one.

Wrap knot (the finishing gather)

Gather the strands into a bundle. Lay a short length alongside them, forming a loop with one tail pointing upwards. Wrap the working end tightly downwards over the bundle and over the loop, six or seven times, keeping each wrap flat and close to the last. Pass the end through the loop, then pull the top tail so the loop disappears under the wraps. Trim both ends close.

Cutting the Cord, Then Building the Hanger

Four 3 m cords doubled over the ring give roughly 1.4 m of working length, which finishes at about 75–85 cm from ring to base — enough to hold a 12–15 cm pot at roughly chest height. If your pot is wider, or you want a longer drop, cut 3.5 m instead. Cord is cheap; unpicking knots is not.

1. Mount all four cords on the ring with lark's head knots, sliding them together so they sit neatly side by side. You now have eight strands.
2. About 8 cm below the ring, tie a square knot using strands 1–4, then a second square knot using strands 5–8. Pull firmly — this row sets the tension for everything below it.
3. Drop down 5–6 cm and tie a second row, this time made from the middle four strands of the row above: use strands 3–6, then strands 7, 8, 1 and 2. Pull the outer strands from row one into the new row as you work. This offset is what creates the diamond net.
4. Repeat, alternating the rows, until the net is 15–18 cm deep. That is usually three or four rows. Check as you go by sitting the pot inside the net; it should be gripped around its widest point.
5. Gather all eight strands below the pot, leaving 8–10 cm of drop, and tie a wrap knot. Trim the tail short, or leave it long and comb the ends out for a fringe.

Sliding the two mounting knots slightly apart or together changes the depth of the basket, so that is your main adjustment once the plant is in.

Hanging It Without Losing Your Deposit

Check your tenancy agreement before you touch the ceiling. Most standard agreements ask for written permission before anything is fixed, and asking is usually straightforward. If the answer is no, or you would rather not risk it, these are the alternatives, roughly in order of how much I would trust them.

• A wall bracket or high wall hook. The most reliable renter-friendly option. Fix it into a wall stud, or use proper plasterboard fixings rated for the load. A hook high on a wall gives almost the same lift as a ceiling hook and is far easier to reach.
• An over-door hook. Cheap, removable and fine for a light, dry plant. Not for a heavy, freshly watered one, and doors get knocked.
• A tension rod in a window recess. Workable for a small plant if the rod grips sound, flat surfaces firmly and is rated well above the weight. Test it by hand first, and never trust one above a seat or a walkway.
• Removable adhesive hooks. Follow the maker's weight limit and removal instructions exactly, and put no more than about half the stated load on them. Take the plant down before watering. They can fail in steamy bathrooms or on papered, textured or freshly painted walls.
• A tall plant stand with a hook on top. No fixing, no ceiling, no permission. Unglamorous, and it works.

Never screw a hook into bare plasterboard. It will hold for a week, then let go, probably onto something breakable.

A 15 cm pot with damp compost and a growing plant weighs a couple of kilograms, and more straight after watering. Keep hangers away from beds, sofas, doorways and windows that open, and check the hook and the knots every month or so, tightening any that have worked loose. If you are unsure about a fixing, or about what your tenancy allows, ask your landlord, letting agent or a qualified tradesperson rather than guessing.

Watering, Drips and Everyday Care

Take the hanger down to water it. Water in the sink, let it drain properly, then hang it back — that one habit prevents most of the rings and marks a plant leaves on a floor. A plastic nursery pot inside a cover pot, with a saucer beneath, keeps damp compost away from the cord; cotton rots and stains if it stays wet for long.

For typical UK flat light, pothos, spider plants, philodendrons and tradescantia trail well and forgive an occasional missed watering. Succulents and most herbs want a bright south-facing window and will sulk in a north-facing corner. Turn the hanger a quarter turn each week so growth stays even, and hand-wash the cord in cool water with a little mild soap if it gets dusty, then reshape it and dry it flat.

Make It Yours

Once the knots are in your fingers, thread a couple of wooden beads onto the strands before the final wrap knot, or work two colours together for a striped effect. A long, combed-out tail looks good in a hallway where nothing brushes past it. The second hanger takes about forty minutes, so keep the first one plain: you will learn more from finishing it than from starting again. If you would like more small-space makes, Folly Craft has plenty to keep your hands busy without filling the flat with clutter.

Photo: congerdesign / Pixabay