apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Stick with light colors. Avoid black anything. If you can't beat it, then hide it.

Just one clarification in the post, horizontal "Surfaces" need to be vacuumed weekly, not horizontal fabrics.

thank you for this very helpful link, from reader's digest no less. maybe i should go to the doctor's or public library more often.

Put your bookcases on legs or castors so that you can vacuum under them.

I've realized what one of the main culprits in my apartment is: the windows I keep open all day and night during warm weather... all kinds of stuff is blowing in!

Good tips I will use. We moved from a carpeted apartment to a wood floor house, and I'm amazed with how fast the dust bunnies build up. However it's strangely conforting for me to see those bunnies becuase I know I will clean them up vs realizing that in the past we were unknowingly living with all that dust absorbed into the carpet!

Any tips for dusting wood floors? Right now I broom sweep for crumbs, then sweep with a damp microfiber cloth or swiffer to get the dust, but unless you sweep first it just pushes around the bigger crumbs. Anyone have that swiffer / vaccuum thing I've heard about? Sounds like a cheap solution. We just have an upright vaccuum I don't want to drag around on the floors.

Ammanda - after asking for advice from AP readers, we bought the Electrolux Ergorapido for our hardwood floors. After using it for several months, here's my analysis:

1) Its size, weight, and price are awesome. It is very easy to quickly vacuum the whole first floor of our townhouse, especially since it is cordless. The battery life of the EE is much better than that of the Swiffer Vac I had before (which died, and the battery is not replaceable), and there is much greater suction power.

2) It has small wheels that allow for really good maneuvering on the floor, and the center part snaps out to be a handheld unit, which is great as well.

3) Electrolux seems to have great difficulty manufacturing working switches. Our big vacuum is an Electrolux and the switch on it has gone wonky. Our first Ergorapido had to be returned to the store because the switch didn't work at all, and our second one (that we kept) won't switch to low (which is fine, since we only need to use it on high anyway), and the handheld unit's switch is even testier. We have a fully functioning machine (well, as fully as we need it to be), but it's not perfect.

4) Despite its claims, the EE doesn't really work on carpet. On really low carpeting, like door rugs, it does OK, but don't expect this to actually replace a full-size vacuum for doing carpeting.

Also recommended by AP readers was a Dirt Devil one, I think. You'd have to search for "stick vacuum" or something on this site to find the original (it was a "Good Questions" for Chicago).

It would never even occur to me to vacuum vertical surfaces. Weird.

Hollie---putting bookcases on legs or castors just provides another place for dust to hide! If they're flat on the floor, there's no place under them for dust to gather----

Note to modernguy. Vaccum horizontal fabrics is correct. Upholstery is a major culprit. Most other surfaces you can swiffer.