apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Hehe! We once filled our medicine cabinet with table tennis balls... bounce bounce scatter scatter... I had a very quizzy sister-in-law that was forever looking in any and every cupboard - gotcha!!! Very Fun!!!

Funny subject. I did when I was younger when I had a few drinks at a party and wanted to freshen up I would look for lotion or perfume it was not about seeing what the host of the party had in their cabinet.

I don't have a medicine cabinet but one small closet in my bathroom. I clean it out and organize all the time in fear that someone will look, kinda like wearing nice underwear each day incase I am in an accident or have to go to the emergency room.

That's pretty clever, se7en! I must admit, I've taken a peek a couple of times while at friends' apartments, but I don't really care about that anymore. I wouldn't be surprised, however, if someone has taken a look at our medicine cabinet. Not that we have anything exciting to look at, haha.

i like to look - but not for anything but to look. see how it's organized, take note of a new lotion or potion. but i try not to judge. just glance.

I've never thought or heard of this before... but it gives a few ideas for the next time I'm bored at a party.

This is too funny, I rearranged my medicine cabinet yesterday in loo of company coming over today- just in case they decided to peek. Feminine products got moved to under the sink behind the cleaning supplies!

i've honestly never even thought about doing it. what could be that exciting?

se7en - you and my stepdad think alike!! He did the same thing with marbles. And yep, someone got busted. Too funny!

We actually filled our medicine cabinet in our guest bathroom with funny stuff, just for this purpose. We labeled everything Martha-style with cute stickers. It includes extra toothbrushes, condoms, airplane-sized alcohol, q-tips, and much much more to enhance your party experience.

I look if I'm looking for something I need... ie maybe a nail clipper, floss or lotion. And I'm never appalled or anything... everyone has weird shit sometimes.

I don't like medicine cabinets. There's just too much moisture in bathrooms. So I keep all my medicines and first aid kit in a kitchen drawer.

Why hide the feminine products? IMO, that's about the only "acceptable" reason for opening someone's medicine chest (assuming you are a female and at least one of your hosts is, too.)

I don't make a habit of it, but I have gone looking for a band-aid and found more than I wanted to know! That's the problem with having been a pharmacy technician, I know what everything is for, even if I'd rather not.

But really? Hiding the feminine products? Doesn't everybody know we women pretty much all use them? One of the great delights of high school was the complete embarrassment of boys who went rooting through our lockers (small town, we never locked) and found tampons. My friend always kept her pencils in a tampon box so that none of her male friends would borrow them.

That said, I keep my prescriptions and condoms in places I don't think any well-meaning guests would peek, so I guess I can't throw any stones.

I don't look in people's cabinets, but couldn't care less if they look in mine. I usually put something goofy in the medicine cabinet before a party. Once, the morning after a bash I noticed someone had left a wacky cigarette in the cabinet as a gift...

I agree with half the comments, I've only looked when I needed something.

When I was a kid, I read a Dear Abby letter about putting marbles in the medicine cabinet (like se7en's strategy mentioned above), and I've been too paranoid to peek in cabinets ever since!

guilty.

Isn't it pretty much expected nowadays? Putting funny stuff in there on purpose sounds fun!

This is crazy! Do you all really want to know about your host's ailments? And feminine protection -- well, that's natural, isn't it?

Can't believe no one has referenced the Seinfeld episode involving the fungal cream...

You're missing a poll option - I'm always curious, and I'd love to know what in people's cabinets, but I've never looked because I thought it was rude.

I read that Dear Abby, too! I like to see what sorts of products people use, especially if they have really good skin or hair.

There's an entire art project on this by Coke Wisdom O'Neal.

http://www.20x200.com/art/2008/09/needleneedlenee.html

It it wrong to arrange your medicine cabinet into attractive vignettes when company is expected? *sketchy look*

Where is the poll option for I have looked but always feel really guilty afterward?

i never looked into someones cabinet ever ! and will never do ! but i m always worried that company will look into mine , specially strangers if i have a party ! some pple do steal , that i know .

i don't but i feel it's to be expected people will look in your cabinet and behind your shower curtain. if someone used my perfume, pricey as it is, i would be so pissed.

My roommate had a friend cat sit while we were both out of town. I had my own bathroom that was only accessible by entering my room, which I made sure to close off. I was incensed when I returned home to find that her friend had gone in my room and had made a huge mess in my bathroom. It was clear from the evidence that they had enjoyed many of my beauty products and MY LEG RAZOR. Gross!!!! There was actually baby powder all over the floor too, which was disturbing.

When I raised this with my roommate she wondered why I was mad, since she felt free to do the same thing when she would house sit for others. It really opened my eyes to the fact that some people would think it was totally normal to dig through your medicine cabinet and help themselves.

I don't care if someone sees what I use, I just don't want someone who thinks it is ok to help themselves to it. Maybe it's because I was an only child!

Wow, luckyflowers, that sounds really, really bad...but then, I'm also an only child!

I personally can't believe people would use anything that wasn't theirs in the bathroom (although obviously depends on your relationship with the host). I mean, if you really needed a band aid, tampon, floss etc, why wouldn't you ask the host? Sure, they'd never notice if you just took it, but it's still their stuff! Would you help yourself to random bites of things in their fridge?

i once kept a (very) life-like figurine of a lizard inside the guest bathroom medicine closet and forgot all about it. not a good move. my elderly mom-in-law came visiting, opened the closet door, and nearly had a heart attack!

I've peeked in before out of curiosity. It's just that kind of thing of wondering what is behind a certain door. We don't have a medicine cabinet in our apartment but it wouldn't bother me if someone peeked. I figure people have opened the doors under the vanity thing our sink is on - they are only going to find my hair dryer, his shaver, etc.

I just noticed the trend of hiding certain feminine products. That I don't understand. People shouldn't be offended by it - and what if your guest needed one and didn't want to have to be embarrassed asking in front of a party?

I don't peek in medicine cabinets but I do peek behind shower curtains.

When I house/pet sit for people, I pretty much go through every closet/drawer in the house. Mostly so I will know where the extra rags, paper towels and cleaning products are if I need them, partially because I am nosy, and partially because there is usually all sorts of awesome stuff hidden around. (I found out one couple had an unused Sauna room). Leaving the bathroom a mess after house sitting is unacceptable. I always try to leave it as nice as it was when I got there.
However I never go through cabinets at parties. It feels rude if the people are home/haven't trusted you with their house. Unless it is a very close friend I always ask before I go rooting for tampons.

I keep a creepy little shrine in the bathroom cabinet amongst myriad clear plastic boxes organizing the usual suspects.
Oddly no one has ever mentioned it.

My bathroom cabinet is very well organized by color. I also hide prescription meds in vintage beauty product jars and tins.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/allabouteve/3956388646/sizes/l/in/set-72157621308968052/

Sometimes, friends come out of the bathroom and can't help but comment about how good it looks, and I'm like "oh, really?" and then they realize that they just admitted to peeking! :p

Well how else are you going to find the really good drugs? Or if your host has herpes?

Eve, you win at medicine cabinets, I'd be I'd be diminished if I'd not beheld it!

Only if I have an unexpected need for a tampon.

Otherwise, who cares what they keep in there? Is my curiosity worth violating another person's privacy in their own home?

Maybe being one of eight children left me with no need for privacy, but do you really expect guests to ask before taking a tampon? I would hope any guests in my house would feel free to take one without asking if they discovered an unexpected need, just like I expect them to feel free to use my toilet paper and hand soap without asking.

LOL I *always* clean the cabinet before guests come over... and ours is kind of nice, so I think I'd be almost disappointed if no one peeked! Lots of posh beauty products and pretty bottles to show off ;) Tampons are kept in a glass (opaque) covered dish next to the toilet in case anyone needs one, and extra TP is in a big covered basket, so I think we are usually pretty user-friendly. The one odd one is than Band-Aids live in a first aid kit in the kitchen junk drawer, so we get asked for those a lot (we figure, the accidents generally happen in the kitchen...).

I peek in other people's cabinets occasionally but generally only if I am a) intrigued by a very nice bathroom or b) horrified by a truly gross one. It's definitely a sneaky guilty thing to do, but it's pretty harmless. I *have* had the experience of going into a close friend's cabinet (with permission) for something and being a bit embarrassed by all the weird stuff she keeps that I had *no* idea she and her husband use! We really don't have any exciting prescriptions or personal habits so there isn't much to see. And all the good stuff is in the bedroom anyway!

Guests are always welcome to use our stuff and we figure they will, but it is nice to be asked. That said, sometimes I will snitch soap from the in-laws when visiting because they have such intriguing stuff, so I can't cast stones. I was a little irritated at a recent houseguest who kept using my face scrub though... I store it upside-down because the tube leaks, and she kept putting it back right side up. I felt like I couldn't say anything because then she would feel bad that I had noticed her taking some!