Indoor Air Quality Extreme

Did you know that the air in your house is likely more toxic to you than any amount of pollution you can find outside? Yep, true story. With all of the chemicals in everything from paint to furniture to cleaning products, we fill our homes with toxins and create unhealthy spaces for ourselves to live. We introduce chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene and carbon monoxide into our air with most things that we bring into our homes.

But, there is something you can do! Plants! Plants clean the air.

I learned about this in one of my classes a few weeks ago, and came home and told the chief about it. I told him that it is recommended that there be 1 plant per 100 square feet of home. So, we embarked on the houseplant journey.

We started with a few smaller plants (we bought most of the pots at HomeGoods... they are cheap and sooo cute!). Then we went to Lowes for plants. I found out that I have a soft spot for almost-dead-plants, and ended up buying a few brown, sad looking specimens for $1 each.

We went back and forth a few times, and then, on our last trip to Lowes, we found the most brilliant, gigantic, beautiful plant either of us had ever seen. We were curious as to how much this plant was, because it was about 12ft tall and gorgeous, so we both guessed around $300. Turns out it was called a White Bird of Paradise, and it was only $50. SOLD! We wheeled the plant through the store, hitting the cameras and almost did not even make it out the door.

Then we had to figure out how to get it into the car... We got it about half way in the car... We had to drive really slowly...

The next obstacle was getting the thing into a pot and into the house. We tried putting it in the pot first, but then we couldn't lift the pot. So, we took it out of the pot, moved the pot to its spot, and then took the plant to the pot, tracking dirt through the entire living room.

After all the work and laughing at each other trying to figure out how to get this massive thing into our house, I am so glad that is that it's here, it's gorgeous, and I think it must count for at least 300 square feet of clean air, right?