we had a couple big houseplants, luckily I manage to kill everythign so they never last long but what I did, I read it somewhere was to put foil down over the dirt in the pot and then I put pea gravel over that so it looked attractive. That way there was less air/dirt contact and I kept them away from air exchanges, vents etc in the house.
I dont enjoy having plants in the house and it just seemed like too big a risk for something I dont get much joy from.