Curtains and furnishings

Try in as much as possible to have as few overstuffed sofas and chairs as well as upholstered furniture with rough textured fabrics in your home. Washable curtains made out of cotton or synthetic fabrics that can be taken down and washed are a good idea as well. If you can help it, don't get big long and heavy drapes and Venetian or other types of vertical slatted blinds because these tend to attract a lot of dust and allergens. If you do have drapes in your home, open the folds and vacuum the panels with the brush attachment. When vacuuming the drapes make sure to vacuum the part of the drape where the hem is as these areas accumulate a lot of dust inside them. Another way to decrease dust allergens is to put the curtains and drapes inside the cool dryer for about three to five minutes.

Walls: The ideal is to have painted walls and not use wallpaper. Wallpaper has a tendency to accumulate more dust. Painted walls should be wiped down regularly with a damp cloth. This is very important specifically for people that own cats because the Fed d 1 allergen that cats let off sticks onto walls.

Air con vents: There are several ways you can reduce allergens if you have air vents in your home such as by using electrostatic filters or vent guards. Another option is to cover the air vents and furnace registers with nylon or any other thin material that can be used to create a filter as these will then capture the pet allergens and will therefore prevent them from circulating around your home.