Wait, back this truck up! If something like Bella palm (Chamaedorea elegans, parlor palm, right?) is not doing well, I would look at something besides light. These plants need very little light. The one I've had for about 20 years is so big, it has to go off in a corner so it doesn't block the light from all of my other plants that need to winter at that window. Many times throughout the years it has spent time (seasons) in even darker corners. Outside, it burns if the sun hits it for more than a few minutes. Not sufficient experience with the others to say much, but a west window should be good for almost any sun-lover. How far from the window are they? Is it a tiny window? Just going by the palm again, I'd start looking at the soil because even zero actual direct light should be sufficient to keep this looking nice. Seems like something else is going on with the environment. What's the situation in the pots, the roots? No humidity? No air circulation? Pics would say 1,000 words for you...

First photo contains begonias (bottom two shelves) and ivy and ferns uppermost. I believe those are begonias and trailing African violets on the table. All begonias are rhizos. Second photo's bottom two shelves are those episcias that don't take up much room. :-) Top shelf a pachira and two maidenhair ferns (on pebble trays). Table was a jade. I got sick and it got overwatered. I think I mourned its loss more than any other. In a bathroom with a frosted window streptocarpus would grow and bloom (see link). You could also try trailing African violets; I, personally, wouldn't grow rosette type since I'm lazy and it takes too much turning to keep them uniform. Episcias are a bit touchy which is why I don't grown them any more. I ran the side strips the entire length of the window and then adjusted the brackets/shelves. Kris: You could also use plexiglass which would allow more light for plants than the wood. As a matter of fact, any of the plants on my shelves would work in your bathroom. Have fun, Linda Here is a link that might be useful: Streps

I strongly suggest that you visit the Houseplant Forum. It might be time for you to purchase (or borrow from the library) a good book on the care of houseplants. Or two. :-) A very important part of the 'trying; to become a good grower is self education. There are also umpteen million websites on the care of indoor plants. Doing even a little bit of reading will help you get started in the right direction. It might also be time for you to put a halt on the plant purchases until you sort of take inventory of what you have already and learn how to take care of each of them. I think that it's imperative for you to know the correct names of each of the plants you have. That is the ONLY way for you to be able to look them up and learn what kind of care they need, on an individual basis. Just to comment briefly on a couple of things: * Herbs don't adjust well to indoor culture, especially when they have been growing outside. * Plants should never be grown in a container that cannot drain. How can you hope to water properly? Drill holes or use such containers for the ornamental outer pot. * Never place a plant near a draft or vent. * The temperatures in your home are not overly cold for a houseplant. Not even close. One simply adjusts the watering schedule to accommodate for slower growing in the winter. You have the most important thing going for you, already. Enthusiasm! A big dose of that plus some good education and you'll be the envy of your friends and family. No more anti-green thumb Katie. The attached link will take you to the Houseplant Forum where you will find plenty of terrific people with endless amounts of patience willing to help you. I suggest that you post the summary and picture of just one plant at a time, just to help you get more information on each. You should also scan the titles of old threads to see if there are any topics that are of interest to you. Here is a link that might be useful: C'mon...let's go visit the Houseplant Forum

Flyleft I have the same kind of room in my house. Low light, northern exposure and I live on the Gulf Coast! It's sunnier than crap here almost all of the time, but we wouldn't know that from this room and it's our main living area. After testing all kinds of colors I ended up going with a medium grey. Nothing else looked good in this weird light. It uses the White Base with only raw umber as the colorant. I'm definitely affected by light conditions and it was a relief when I finally painted the room from the "light switch beige" it was before. I always steered clear of grey because I thought it was depressing, imagine my surprise! I used deep tones in my kitchen (peacock/marine blue) and dining (an almost black, blue). The Gamma Grey is a nice buffer. It's a very close match to SW 7065 (Argos). Walkin's suggestion to add shimmer to the paint sounds fantastic. Autumnal paint colors, whites, and beiges don't look good in my light conditions. I do have an orange couch and have a lot of those fall colors in my art and accessories.