apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm personally biased against shower doors, because of the difficulty of keeping the tracks clean, but otherwise, I like all the suggestions. Also love the photo of the Bliss products -- the body butter lasts forever. I have two tubes of yellow sage I bought two years ago and still use for my hands at night and my legs after I shave.

Lemon sage, sorry -- not yellow sage. A *duh* moment for me!

I prefer white towels and bed linens: easier to wash, organize, and they don't get that sad, faded look that colored linens do.

Is that a framed Post-It area for getting-ready-in-the-morning reminders?

i love the metal tray in the photo. any suggestions on where to find something similar?

Marshall's is a great place to pick up cheap bath salts and other luxury bath items for your guests to take home

I found a groovy lucite "guest napkin" tray a few years ago and I use that to keep all the sink top bobbles & bits in one area. It's a nice size.

abowers, the Macbeth collection

When I am at home, I want my bathroom to look and feel like home not a hotel, no matter how luxurious it is.

amen, seaside. what's the big attraction with hotels? i don't want 'hotel quality' sheets or shower curtains or anything, and i don't want little trays of hygiene products, elevated or not.

Madampince, if you do not want to keep glass shower door tracks clean, go frameless! I installed a frameless glass panel and door on my tub/ shower when I renovated last year, and everyone comments on how high-end it looks. I also invested in marble, floor to ceiling throughout, so it has a marble vault look. Definitely has a high end hotel vibe, and I feel so happy every time I go in there.

Madampince, if you do not want to keep glass shower door tracks clean, go frameless! I installed a frameless glass panel and door on my tub/ shower when I renovated last year, and everyone comments on how high-end it looks. I also invested in marble, floor to ceiling throughout, so it has a marble vault look. Definitely has a hotel vibe, and I feel so happy every time I go in there.

All a matter of preference, I guess. Now that I've been to a few higher-end hotels, my reaction has been that they've generally been a lot worse designed than the average Motel 6 bathroom of say 1970 (let alone today's Motel 6 bathrooms). No ventilation fans, no place to hang damp towels, counters that make you afraid you'll knock things into the toilet... Yeah, that's great when you're at a conference sharing the room with at least one other person. But in terms of the objects, white towels are terribly impractical unless you want to bleach them. White tile? Don't color your hair or use much makeup or it'll stain that tile. And I always think of shower doors as very low-end and ugly compared to a good curtain. But it's all a matter of how you do these things. Done well, in the right household, these are ok suggestions.

Most hotel ideas are not practical for the most part in homes. White towels are just going to stain...same with white tiles those they are pleasing to the eye. Shower doors come with those almost impossible to clean tracks and then you have to clean the door. I prefer the curtain and liner - and just replace the liner every couple months. Plus I can change the color scheme just with changing the curtain.

And letting all the soap and stuff sit out on the counter just takes up space and looks like clutter to me. Everything in my bathroom is where you would think it is -- the shampoo is in the bath/shower combo along with shower gels, the hand soap is on the counter along with our toothbrushes and usually a tube of toothpaste, and everything extra is either in the two small drawers, under the sink, or just located elsewhere.

White towels and linens: yes! hello, bleach!
White tiles: I have them and though they are cleanable, it's so much work :-(

Shower doors are hell on anyone over 6' tall. I loathe them.