Suds Appeal

Plain or colorful, simple or elegant, large or small, soap is one of life’s little luxuries. Decorating with soap is good clean fun, filling your bathroom with fragrant accents that are lovely to look at and heavenly to smell.
 

• For style bar none, make soap part of your bathroom décor. Stack decoratively shaped soaps in a pedestal bowl or in a china cup, with potpourri scattered around the saucer. Fill a French wire basket with individually wrapped floral or herbal soaps.
   
• Turn soap into a seasonal motif. Ring in the New Year with a small crystal ice bucket filled with soap cubes, served with tongs; for Valentine’s, arrange rose-shaped soaps in a white china dish with dried rosebuds hot glued around the rim. For a summery motif, arrange shell-shaped soaps, bath pearls and rock salt in a large clamshell. Welcome fall with a woven tray of spicy soaps, mini pinecones and cinnamon sticks tied with raffia.
   
• For a presentation both beautiful and user-friendly, keep colored liquid soap in a crystal decanter placed by the sink. Select a pump top decanter for easy access. To match soap to your mood, fill vintage perfume bottles with different scents of liquid soaps or hand gels, attach a pretty label to each and line them on a shelf above the sink.
   
• For the ultimate in indulgence, give your bathroom a sink-side pamper basket. Line a basket, decorative tin or silver bowl with a linen towel or lace handkerchief and fill with a luscious assortment of shaped soaps, wrapped soaps and bottles of scented lotions. Toss in a few sprigs of dried herbs, such as lemon balm, rosemary and lavender.
   
• Soap isn’t just for guests; it’s a simple way to treat yourself every day. To make your own shower or hand gel, mix 3 teaspoons of your favorite perfume oil with a cup of unscented shower gel and store in a squeeze bottle. Try tangerine oil to get going in the morning, eucalyptus to relax after a long day or ginger to give you a quick lift. If you prefer bar soap, try an exfoliating oatmeal scrub bar, rested on a sponge or Buf-Puf®.
   
• Guests are always hesitant to use towels. To make it easy, set a bottle of scented hand gel in a basket and surround with folded guest towels. Set the basket beside the sink and place a wicker trashcan on the floor for guests to discard towels after use.