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Hi Homies! I need your creative advice.My husband and I recently moved into a new apartment which we love… except for one design detail. The bathroom counter has a permanent pink shell soap dish attached to it right between our sinks. I would put soap in it but we use liquid soap. So… there it sits. Mocking me.
I’ve tried to embrace the shell, but when the rest of your bathroom theme is NOT shells… what’s a gal to do with this permanent soap dish? –Katy
Wow, that’s a super-specific problem. I can honestly say, I’ve NEVER seen a perma-soap-shell before. I kinda like it! Although, I use liquid soap as well, so I can see why that shell thing would bug.
Here are a few of my suggestions, and we’ll let the Homies throw theirs out there as well…
- Jewelry holder — place to hold your rings and things when you wash your hands
- Potpourri dish — make your bathroom smell less like poop
- Q-tip holder — fan your q-tips out in a shell pattern
- Use it as a liquid soap coaster — just find a dispenser that fits inside the shell pattern
- Get decorative soaps — you know the kind you never use because they’re too cute! Something like these…
Okay Homies, who else has one of those weird permanent soap dishes? What do you do with yours?
I would try covering it up, honestly. Maybe a nice tissue box that has a little space left under the tissues or something? Or a jewelry box? Or put a vase over it upside-down and use the vase as a display or candle-holder. Or…. I dunno. Why would someone make something like that permanent??
A small shallow portion bowl may nest inside it, thereby covering it up and creating a better catch-all. The decorative soaps sound nice, or you could put flowers in it. ..
I would ask the landlord if I could resurface the sink area in the bathroom to take the effing thing out. In many places (including where I live), doing upgrades to the living space can be used to take off from the rent.
A small mermaid was the first thing that sprang to mind, but then I’m a bit obsessed!
Other ideas were
– A candle – practical in the case of a powercut, but also to add atmosphere and to counter smells if scented.
– Bath beads/ bath bombs, but only if they don’t disintegrate in damp conditions.
When I first read through your response, I thought “Powercut” was code name for when someone leaves a major stink bomb in your bathroom… then realized you meant actual loss of power. Pretty sure I’m going to use powercut as bathroom terminology now though!
I actually use the soap dish in my bathroom to hold things like floss, tweezers, nail clippers, and the occasional hair tie.
Yup, that’s basically what the built in soap dish in our bathroom ends up for, too.
I would take a small hammer and smash it. Remove the pieces, and then deal with covering the hole. Seems easier.
We don’t have a *permanent* soap dish in our bathroom, but the soap dish we do have is used to hold a nail brush. It’s super useful when there’s cooking, gardening, or crafting crud under your fingernails.
we have all kinds of crazy built-in tile accents in our 50’s bathroom. It was the thing to do back in the day… and no one knew that soup would be liquid in 60+ years. We have no less than 3 built in soap holders and 4 towel bars and a tp holder that are made from the same tile pattern and build into the counters/shower/walls. (Why you would put a towel bar 2 inches from the toilet so the towel drapes onto the toilet? I have no idea!) But, we have learned to embrace them. One of the towel holders I just don’t use, another one I hung a bigger towel holder 6 inches above it so it is convenient and also hidden when a towel is hung up (all the time). the build in soap holders are used to ‘hold’ other things (small clock, razors, toothbrush holders, etc.). the build in’s in the shower just don’t get used. (why would I hang a towel inside the shower?)
The towel rack in the shower is a little weird, but kind-of makes sense… kind-of. If the shower doesn’t reach it, it is nice to be able to turn off the shower and just wrap yourself up, making less water on the floor. It is nice to have a dry towel to wipe extra water off my face and not get stuff in my eyes. But realistically, my husband just would hang his dinky little wash cloth off of it.
I use S-hooks on the in-shower towel rack for hanging a loofah.
I used to live in a place with a built in towel holder in the shower, I used it like a shelf for shampoo/conditioner/body wash. It actually worked really well to balance them upside down. And to hand a washcloth between showers
On the one inside the shower, I’d actually hang the used washcloths until laundry day. Keeps them from being wadded into balls in the corners of the shower or getting under foot and also prevents them from getting all the other laundry in the hamper wet. I’ve actually thought about hanging a small towel rack in my shower for this purpose.
I always assumed the one in the shower was for hanging up your bath mat after you’re done. That way it dries out more quickly and doesn’t get mildew-y. Then when you’re ready to shower again, you just put it on the floor before you turn on the water.
For the built-in soap holder, I love the idea of using it for a nail brush.
My apartment complex is from the 50s too, but we don’t have any crazy built-in tile accents! I think my place has probably had the bathrooms redone a bit, but I love all the other weird old details elsewhere in our apartment. I’m with kcaudad – embrace it!
I’ve had towel racks in the shower even in newer places – I use it for toiletries, loofahs, and the like.
I use those towel racks in the tub for my washcloths. They’re wet while I shower anyway and then they can drip dry in the tub and I don’t have to wring them out as much as I would hanging them up on another towel rack a outside of the tub.
I vote for small mermaid or merman statue! How awesome would that be?!?
Otherwise, you could put one of those decorative balls on the shell that they are always selling at décor stores like Hobby Lobby and Michael’s. Bonus points if it looks like a pearl!!
I second the nail brush. There other thing I would use it for is to hold my little facial sponge – it’s 1.5″ and would be perfectly suited to a dish like that.
For Thanksgiving you could convert it to a tacky turkey decoration…. or if you’re craftier than I am you could convert it to a non-tacky peacock?
If you put a little potted plant on a low stand, the soap dish could become the saucer underneath that catches the water/dirt runoff.
Get a square box and turn it upside down to completely cover the soap dish. Then set your liquid soap dispenser on top of the box – problem solved!
Maybe use two bowls: one upside down to cover up the dish and the other right side up on top of it for storage. Use some sort of removable adhesive to attach the bowls to each other. Or 2 pretty flowerpots or something.
So I really want to put something ironic in there…like a butcher knife or a small bottle of poison or something. Can’t think of something that size and clever enough though. Maybe ninja throwing stars? Dunno, outta ideas 😛
Is no one going to mention the three shells from the movie Demolition Man? 😉
From the picture above, I’d guess that it’s just glued down with Liquid Nails or something. If you blast it with a blow dryer, you might be able to slowly work it up and off.
A candle holder? Maybe for one of those giant candles that will cover it so you don’t really notice it?
I have the same thing on the wall in my bathroom, but mine has toothbrush holders that are not for…modern sized toothbrushes lol. I just use the dish part for jewelry and little things that I don’t want to stick in the medicine cabinet.
Are the holes small enough to use to hang earrings on?
A job for Ikea, perhaps? If you can’t prise it off the counter remove the whole counter?? Good luck!
My first thought was to collect shells from the beach to put in it…
I would definitely look for a tiny statue of Venus (a la, the birth of Venus) to put on the seashell. 😀
Let it become a giant tentacled monster! Or a cloud! Use it to hold your jewelry while handwashing instead of soap! Cut its shape from a cylinder of craft foam to cover it completely, and then you can turn it into anything, whatever your theme is!
I’m seeing it becoming a peacock, with a few coats of paint, an artistic touch, and the addition of a body/head. The body would become a ring holder, for when you’re washing your hands. Kind of like this fella.
I actually own that peacock ring holder. It sits on my desk at my workplace.
What about a shallow bamboo tray turned upside down over the top of it? It would make a little elevated shelf that you could sit your liquid soap on top of and hide the shell all in one.
This was sort of along my line of thought as well. They also have the kleenex holders that sometimes have room in the base and could conceal as well as provide kleenex.
I have a whole beach theme in my bathroom and I’ve put a bunch of seashells in mine as a decoration. Maybe embracing the seashellness by adding more seashells?
But I do like the decorative soap idea those little ducks are adorable.