This Decor Item Could Be Making Your Bedroom 10x Dustier

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A comfortable, inviting bedroom is often the goal, and carefully curating the decor is one of the best ways to achieve that. From the bed linens to the art on the walls, what you add to the space can make a substantial difference in the overall vibe. There are certain furnishings and materials that give your home the perfect cozy look and feel, like rugs. While throwing a rug on the floor seems simple enough, if you don't want to constantly vacuum or are prone to allergies, there's something to consider before you do. Unfortunately, rugs can harbor a lot of dust, pollen, mold spores, and other debris. Minute particles get trapped within the textile's fibers and are difficult to remove. Bedroom rugs, especially those partially tucked under beds, require special care to control dust.

Dust — a combination of shed skin cells (including pet dander), hair, body oils, and fabric fibers — seems to build up fastest in bedrooms. Perhaps you've experienced wiping down the surfaces of your dresser and nightstands, only to spot more dust settling on them the following day. This is partly because bedrooms are calmer, stiller spaces with less airflow and foot traffic than other rooms. Dust settles on flat surfaces rather than being moved around. As mentioned, another reason is that soft bedroom furnishings hold onto dust. Washing your bedding often is easy enough, but rugs are frequently neglected because cleaning them is more complicated and time-consuming.

To understand why a rug can contribute to bedroom dust, we need to compare cleaning methods. In a bedroom with hardwood floors — and without a rug — you can wipe down surfaces, wash the bedding and other removable textiles in hot water, and sweep or vacuum the floor. In just a few steps, you should be able to remove much of the dust. You may need to reach under the bed, where dust tends to accumulate because the area is rarely disturbed, but you can usually remove it with a few sweeps of a long-handled broom or vacuum cleaner.

Compare this process to cleaning an under-the-bed rug. The fibers of the rug collect dust particles, just as bed linens do, but many rugs are too large and heavy to put in a standard household washing machine. You may be able to use the large washing machines at your local laundromat, but that's not a trip you want to make too often. Vacuuming a rug will pull some dust out of it; how much dust it removes depends on the type of rug you have. In rugs with long fiber strands, dust can work its way deep into the pile, where many vacuums can't reach it. Walking on the rug can release some of the dust into the air, but much of it will stay in the rug. Trapped gritty dust particles may even damage the rug over time. If you can't simply remove the rug from your bedroom, you have other options.

First, consider getting a rug that makes dust removal easier. Rugs with a low pile have little texture and fewer spaces for dust to settle. Vacuuming this kind of rug is easier and more effective than vacuuming a high-pile rug. There are unseen downsides to washable rugs, but if you want to cover lots of floor space, getting two matching machine-washable runners can also be a good solution. If you place them on either side of your bed, they'll resemble a larger floor rug, and you can still easily clean under the bed. For example, this 2-by-5-foot washable Plhxfr Dark Green Floral Runner Rug costs about $27.

If you already have a rug you don't want to part with, try implementing some simple dust-management practices in your bedroom. You can apply protective treatments, like Clorox Pure Clean Breeze Allergen Neutralizer Fabric and Carpet Spray, to your rugs to help reduce allergens and prevent dust from embedding in the fibers. Vacuuming your rug at least once a week can prevent dust buildup, while getting the rug professionally cleaned annually should also help keep dust at bay. Finally, learning how to get rid of dust in the air — by dusting regularly, using a vacuum with a HEPA filter, using air purifiers, and taking your shoes off at the door, among other practices — should decrease dust levels in the room and on your rugs.