Leave ’em in the dust — say good-bye to scuffed floorboards, dingy blinds and curtains, and the fur that Frisky left behind.

Wood Floors

When spring rolls around, floors typically reflect a season’s worth of imported dirt and slush. “What’s safe to use on wood?” one reader asked. Thanks to the polyurethane finish on most wood floors today, you can mist them with no-wax cleaning products that add polish and fill in small scratches (such as Method's O Mop Solution). “Never use these cleaners on waxed floors,” cautions Sean Flynn of New York Flooring, in Manhattan. “They only add residue that will need to be sanded away.” As for baseboards, another vexing reader problem, your vacuum cleaner’s round dust brush (such as the one included with the Hoover Constellation) will quickly remove dirt.

Blinds and Drapes

Nothing is more distressing than row upon row of dust-coated blinds. Whether the blinds are wood, plastic, or metal, simply close them and run a lamb’s-wool duster (sold at hardware stores) or a microfiber-chenille duster over the slats (like the Casabella Mini Duster); both materials are major dust magnets. Dusty drapes? Use your vacuum’s crevice tool on curtain folds and pleats, setting the suction on low to avoid harming the fabric.

Sofas and Chairs

Deploy your vacuum’s stiff, short-haired upholstery brush on and between sofa and chair cushions to remove “disgusting pet hair” and debris. Another neat cheat: Put on a standard latex rubber glove, lightly moisten the fingertips with water, and gently glide your hand over the cushions to pick up the hair.

More Tips

A vacuum cleaner’s round dust brush handily sucks soot out of window screens; the crevice tool can remove desiccated insects from window wells.

When dust settles into draperies, you can have them dry-cleaned. But for a fast spruce-up, toss them in the dryer on the air setting, then rehang immediately.

Did you know that a tough vinyl doormat, such as those made by Chilewich (www.chilewich.com), can stop up to 80 percent of grit at the front door?