Growing areas can accommodate from just one to many orchids. However, an orchid plant placed in isolation, with nothing around it to stimulate growth, will not succeed. A barren windowsill can be likened to a desert, until a few adaptations are made to make the area habitable. A narrow windowsill may have to be widened by attaching a wooden shelf to give more space and increase the growing area. This area can be used for humidity trays.

Bedrooms, which are often colder at night, will be suitable for the cooler growing orchids, which need a nighttime drop in order to grow and flower well. Spare bedrooms are perhaps less suitable because such rooms are often left unheated and unvisited on a regular basis, and plants remaining here may be forgotten for days, and, with little rise in the daytime temperature, can become very cold indeed.

If the construction has glass to the ground, the orchids can be grown at floor level, and may need some shade from blinds pulled down at the side, with the roof area painted with shading material. This would only be necessary to prevent the sun shining directly upon the leaves.

Tradescantia can be trained around the edge of a humidity tray to good effect, but its speed of growth will necessitate regular pruning. It will be necessary to top up the water in the trays from time to time, always making sure that the orchids are standing above the water and not with the base of their pots in the water. (This would cause the roots to drown and the loss of its roots can be serious for an orchid.)

Alternatively, where the floor area is carpeted, the plants would be better housed on the sort of staging used in greenhouses. Here the same humidity tray system can be put into place to give the orchids the all important microclimate, with some moisture rising around them. It should also be possible to spray the foliage without worrying about surplus water.

The temperature will need to be controlled to prevent the area from over-heating during the day or else becoming too cold at night in winter. If there is no form of heating in the conservatory or sun lounge, it may only be necessary to run an extra radiator from the central heating in the house to the area, at very little extra cost to the heating bill. However, this must be kept on all night in winter to maintain a steady warmth for the plants.

Otherwise, it may be necessary to install an electric fan heater to heat the place in winter. This can double as a cooling fan in summer. As with greenhouses, the smaller the area, the greater the fluctuation of temperature in the shortest time, and in summer it will probably be desirable to leave the door open if that is the only source of fresh air.

Some orchid plants can become top heavy, particularly when they have outgrown their pots and are in need of repotting, and these are best handled singly rather than risk their falling over while being moved in the cart. A freestanding coffee-type table situated in front of a window can be used in the same way, without the need for installing a wider shelf.