I have done that with Chaemedorea palms. It was a long time ago and the palm did fine. I have also had dwarf blechnum tree ferns..again,fine.
One "method" is to keep the plants you buy in one gallons in that container for a couple or three years..then,when you see the reduced fronds,repot into a smaller Bonsai pot while trimming the roots. Never let dry out and just wait for the look to develop.

Thaks stanofh.
What species of Chamaedorea did you use? Do you still fertilise normally?
Adam

The common dwarf C.elegans.But that was the only Chamaedorea at the time easily found.I would think that C.sfreizii or the Cat palm you find at H.D would look much better with their finer fronds and natural clumping habit.And Adam,they are MUCH easier to grow than Dypsis lutscens. That palm really needs full sun to be happy-at the very least compact.
Right now Cat palms are very easy to get and would be your best bet.

One last thing..the Bella palms did well enough to flower and set orange berrys.Another nice Chamaedorea feature.

Well I settled on my palm, a double planted wedding palm (Lytocaryum weddellianum). Its in one of those trays with the lake and a rock outcrop. I *underplanted*? it with dwarf mondo and attached a miniature orchid to the rocks. Hopefully it willl look like a tropical shore. I did a similar one with an orange jessamine, bamboo and mondo which looks much nicer. I was trying to recreate a minature hong kong. Ill post pictures one day.

Adam