Let's talk about... dust

Because dust isn't a housekeeping fail, it's data!

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

For sure, seeing dusty surfaces everywhere can feel like an epic housekeeping fail. A sign we’re not on top of things. And yet dust is one of the most universal features of domestic life. It appears whether you live alone or with children, in a pristine new build or a creaking Victorian terrace. You can clean meticulously and it will return. You can ignore it, and it will quietly gather anyway. It reminds me of Quentin Crisp’s quip, which went something along the lines of, “After the first four years, the dust doesn’t get any worse.”

Why do I bring this up? Well, during our December Monthly Live in the Happy Insiders Club, dust came up in conversation. I’d mentioned previously (in my Substack piece about insulation) that rooms which seem to gather dust faster than others can sometimes be signalling excess air movement. Draughts. Leakage. Invisible currents pulling air (and particles) through the space.

One member then shared something that, at first, sounded completely counter-intuitive. He’d installed an air purifier in his living room — and noticed more dust, not less. Which raises a fair question. What’s the point of an air purifier that appears to make a room dustier? The answer, as it turns out, tells us a great deal about how our homes really work.

What dust actually is

Despite how it’s usually framed, dust is not primarily dirt from outside. In most homes, it’s made up of a combination of the following. Tiny flakes of human skin (we shed tens of thousands every hour). Fibres from clothing, carpets, sofas, curtains and soft furnishings (especially if they are synthetic). Pet hair and dander. Fibres from paper products — tissues, packaging, books and everyday mail. And a smaller proportion of outdoor particles — pollen, soot, fine pollution — that enter via air movement

And for the record, dust mites don’t arrive with dust; they live in it.

So dust isn’t really about cleanliness. It’s about shedding, friction, and movement. It’s what happens when materials age, bodies live, and air circulates. Which means that when dust shows up persistently in certain places, it’s rarely random.

Why some rooms are dustier than others

One of the biggest predictors of dust build-up is not how often a room is cleaned — it’s how much air is moving through it. Dust accumulates fastest where air is busy.

This might be due to obvious draughts — around windows, doors, floorboards or loft hatches — but it can also be driven by less visible forces. Pressure differences within the house create constant internal movement (warm air rising and escaping at the top, pulling cooler air in below). Poorly sealed openings generate micro-currents, while thresholds — where inside meets outside — introduce turbulence that causes particles to settle.

Really, it’s as if moving air acts like a delivery system. It carries particles, fibres and fragments through the room, then deposits them when the flow slows down. Which is why some rooms feel perpetually dusty no matter what you do — and others stay relatively calm. Persistent dust can be a sign that a room is unsettled, energetically speaking. Not dirty. Just disturbed.

So what about the air purifier that seemed to make things worse?

Most domestic air purifiers work in a fairly simple way: they pull air in from one direction, pass it through a filter, and then forcefully expel it out the other side. In doing so, they don’t just clean the air — they change how it moves.

In some spaces, especially smaller or draughtier rooms, this can lift settled dust back into the air by creating new circulation loops that didn’t previously exist. It can also push fibres out from under rugs, furniture and soft furnishings.

The purifier may well be improving air quality in a technical sense. But at the same time, it’s re-mobilising dust faster than it can capture it. In effect, it’s behaving less like a gentle filter and more like a leaf blower with a conscience! Which is why the room can look dustier, even if the air itself may be cleaner.

Now don’t get me wrong, air purifiers can be genuinely useful. They’re excellent in situations involving smoke, pollen, wildfire particulates, or specific allergies. Used correctly, in the right context, they can make a meaningful difference.

But they don’t stop dust being created. They don’t seal draughts. They don’t calm turbulent spaces. And they work best when the air they’re cleaning is relatively contained. In short, you can’t purify air that won’t stay still.

How to actually reduce dust (without fighting your home)

If dust is feedback, then the goal isn’t to wage war on it — it’s to listen to what it’s telling you. In practice, that often means:

• Reduce air movement first
  Sealing draughts, improving window performance, addressing gaps at floor level. Still air carries fewer particles. See Let’s learn about… Secondary Glazing

• Reduce dust sources
  Natural fibres shed differently (and often less aggressively) than synthetics. What your throws, cushions and rugs are made from matters more than we realise.

• Clean without re-distributing
  Damp dusting over dry. Good vacuum filtration. Less vigorous disturbance of fibres indoors.

• Use purifiers gently
  Lower speeds, consistent use, thoughtful placement. Calm filtration, not turbulence.

In conclusion, dust tells you where air is leaking. Where energy is escaping. Where a room is unsettled rather than calm. Where solutions may be treating symptoms instead of causes. When air slows, when materials are chosen thoughtfully, when spaces are sealed and soothed, there’s simply less to move around. Ergo calmer homes tend to generate less visible dust.

Which mirrors something deeper.

Just as chaotic environments keep our nervous systems on alert, turbulent rooms keep particles in play. Stillness — in bodies and in buildings — allows things to settle. Bottom line, dust could just be one of the quieter ways your house communicates with you. When we stop trying to dominate our homes, and start listening to them instead, even dust has something useful to say.

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And if you want ideas like these translated into guided, embodied change — room by room, season by season, with structure, rhythm and support — that’s what the Happy Insiders Club is for — my home therapy programme where the work becomes lived, not just understood: a gentle, guided transformation.

My website michelleogundehin.com makes it easy for you to find everything — my books, the Club, my rugs, the workbooks, my Amazon Shop! And new for January, the ability to book a Home Therapy Diagnostic Consultation.