I am a big believer in minimalist home design and having as little furniture in the house as possible, partially because it limits the amount of surfaces that can accumulate in-home allergens.  Also, I live in a designated “Tree City” which means my town is full of very old historic trees that are great to look and live around but make for a horrible Fall and Spring allergy season when tree pollen becomes a problem.

I have used in-home air purifiers to also limit the irritants that trigger allergies.  Everyone in my home suffers from  allergies, unfortunately.

Given my family’s history with allergies, I was elated to be sent a unit and get an opportunity to test out BlueAir‘s innovative and award-winning air purifier “Sense.”  (retail: $450). Sense filters the air and has an ion particle-charging process that is said to remove 99.97% of harmful airborne pollutants from the room faster.  I tested it out in different sized rooms in my home.

I could control the level of filtration with a wave of my hand over the black motion-sensor control top. That was neat! With other systems, you may forget when it is time to change the filter, but this unit has a red alert that you can’t miss when passing by. To change, I will need to flip it on its side and remove the filter and change it every 6 months.

It’s also eco-friendly and is built with 100% recyclable materials and the makers say it uses less energy than a light bulb to run. With a family of five, our energy bill can get up there so knowing this unit won’t add too much to that cost was great!

It comes in an assortment of soft colors (white, brown, pink, blue, gray) to match any room or baby’s nursery design.  The feet is soft so it won’t damage the hardwood floors in my home. I also loved the fact that the system looked attractive and would not stand out in the room but was attractive and blended in perfectly. I’ve read on the manufacturer’s website that the wraparound grill design also helps create 90% open area to maximize airflow. Aaaah! Perfect.

 It was easy to carry from room to room because of the handles on the side. It wasn’t too heavy to lift either. My 10 and 12 year old could lift it and help me move it from room to room.

To me, each room the unit was in felt cleaner and even smelled cleaner. The kids noticed it too. You could breathe easier in the room and it was less stuffy. You could definitely tell the difference and that’s why after testing it out in different rooms in the house, we decided to leave it permanently in the children’s room.

I know it is hard to tell if a baby is suffering from a little cold or allergies, but one thing parents can do to limit allergens is to use little linen and reduce the amount of stuffed animals just sitting around. If you must use them, regularly clean them and put the stuffed animals in the freezer to kill bacteria and dust mites. The other thing they can do is have an air purifier unit like BlueAir‘s The Sense in their baby’s nursery.

The unit costs $450 which is lower than this brand’s older and previolusly models but is in the middle range of other units of this quality  that also claim to purify, clean and circulate air in a 150 sq ft room 5 times per hour. The replacement filters run about $100 and I wish that price would come down a bit because that can be a bit hefty twice a year cost. It’s a good investment if you have allergy sufferers in your home. You cannot put a price on their comfort.

You can also check out a product video here: