How to prevent dust on furniture – 3 quick time-saving solutions

Getting rid of dust from your furniture can be exhausting and time-consuming, so, as always, prevention is the best cure.

Although removing dust in your home entirely is impossible, there are some ways to repel dust from surfaces to prevent it from sticking around, making it easier to clean up or remove with an air purifier. 

These are the three tricks professional cleaners use to prevent dust on furniture with results that you can replicate at home. 

How to prevent dust on furniture

When preventing dust, it is important to only use methods that do not make your home unsafe. Some tricks, such as using a mixture of water and fabric softener to reduce static cling, for instance, can make your home furnishings more flammable – a risk that is not worth taking for the sake of shaving off a few minutes from your cleaning routine.  

1. Wax wooden furniture with beeswax

Real wood furniture always benefits from waxing to keep it protected and restore wood furniture to its original shine. However, it can also help to repel dust, says Will Cotter, cleaning expert and COO of FreshSpace Cleaning. He suggests using a mixture of beeswax and coconut oil:

‘Beeswax provides a protective layer, making it hard for dust to settle into the wood, while coconut oil helps in the application and adds a bit of care to the wood,’ he explains. 

‘Melt 1/4 cup of grated beeswax and 3/4 cup of coconut oil together, allow it to cool slightly, and gently apply this mixture to your wooden furniture. Just follow the wood's natural grain. Let it sit for a few minutes, and then buff it with a clean, soft cloth for a neat finish. 

‘To keep it up, give your furniture this treatment every few months. If you're shopping for products, you can check out Wood Seasoning Beeswax by Howard Products, from Walmart and Nutiva Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, available at Amazon.'

2. Use an anti-static polish

If you are dealing with non-wooden furniture, such as glass or metal, then an anti-static polish is the best way to go, says Shayne Jeramos, cleaning specialist at Bright Cleaners. These products have a similar effect to fabric softener and water but without the additional flammability, and is a great cleaning tip for allergy sufferers, he explains. 

‘Dust tends to cling to surfaces due to static electricity. To counter this, use anti-static products like anti-static sprays or furniture polish. These products can help reduce the static charge on your furniture, making it less attractive to dust.’

Pledge Multi-Surface Polish | $29.99 for 3 at Walmart
This sweetly scented polish is great for picking up dust and enhancing the look of any piece of furniture. 

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3. Use an air purifier to remove dust from the air

Sometimes the best cleaning tips aren't to do with cleaning at all, but supplementing the cleaning process, says Karina Toner, cleaning expert and operations manager at Spekless Cleaning. Picking up the dust and removing it from the air before it settles is the best way to prevent dust on furniture altogether – especially on soft furnishings and upholstery which cannot be cleaned down with polish:

‘High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters are used in air purifiers to trap airborne dust particles. These filters can significantly improve indoor air quality by reducing the number of dust particles circulating in your home,’ she explains.

Karina Toner

Karina is the Operations Manager at Spekless Cleaning, a trusted maid service based in Washington D.C. The team has over five years of experience providing top-quality cleaning services for both residential and commercial clients. Karina oversees every aspect of the business, ensuring that every client gets the same top-notch service and a spotless clean every time.

FAQs

When using dust prevention tricks on furniture, it is important to note that you will still need to dust the surfaces and reapply the prevention periodically, or you will be back where you started. When doing so, you should always dust before vacuuming. 

Clean down the hard surfaces before using a vacuum with an upholstery attachment to deal with any fabric and the floor around it. This is the best approach to eliminating dust from the piece of furniture.