Under-stair fountain with ivy trailing down the stone wall

A long-trailing plant to hang at the top and let fall down the wall. It's the realistic way to get a green wall indoors, because it doesn't depend on the plant gripping the stone. Choose a pot with a water reservoir if it hangs high: reaching it to water is what gets these plants abandoned, and a reservoir stretches watering to a fortnight.

A damp understorey plant for the edge that gets wet. These benefit most from a fountain nearby, because the constant mist gives them the ambient humidity a heated interior doesn't. Plant them in a group rather than singly, and if the water is hard, wipe the leaves every few weeks to remove the limescale spots.

A solid shelf with metal rods that slide into the wall, with no visible brackets. The rod is what decides the load: a sixty-centimetre shelf on two slim rods holds a vase, not a row of books. Over stone cladding you have to go through it into the wall behind with a long anchor, so measure the tile thickness before choosing a model.

Polished glass pebble in a medium grade, to cover the basin floor. It's what gives the water its colour: water is transparent and what you see is the floor through it, so changing the pebble changes the fountain's colour without touching anything else. Polished glass doesn't cut, but check it piece by piece as you lay it, because cheap batches throw up the odd unfinished edge.

A spray or wipes to remove dust and limescale from glossy leaves. Beside a fountain with hard water it isn't an indulgence: dried splash leaves white spots visible from the doorway on a large leaf, and rubbing dry scratches the surface. Choose a product without leaf shine, because the ones that add gloss block the stomata and over time the plant suffers for it.