Your family and guests won't confuse their white towels if you color-code them with hanging loops.

Keep the bathroom tidy by hanging towels from the rungs of a progressive or apple-picking ladder propped against a wall.

Etching is especially appropriate for bathroom windows, as the treated sections let in light but afford privacy.

Step out of the tub in style. Pretty ribbon transforms a store-bought mat into one specially made for your bathroom.

Want to put your beach finds to practical use? Turn a pair of pretty shells into a soap dish. Clam or scallop shells are ideally shaped for holding bars of soap.

This mat was created by taping together several smaller stone mats, available at garden centers.

Nothing looks as inviting in a cool white bathroom as plush terry-cloth towels.

In Martha's East Hampton bathroom, a zinc-topped pastry table is used as a vanity; on its broad surface, a variety of toiletries stays neat and accessible. To make a useful -- and comfortable -- set, Martha pairs the table with a white-painted button chair that's just the right height.

This trimmed shower curtain looks tidy and tailored and won't trap dust and moisture.

Make space for supplies over the bathroom door so that they'll be accessible when they need to be replenished.

Keep bathroom items neat and accessible with cubbyhole shelves for large items and surgical jars for small toiletries and accessories.

Sometimes the best ideas come from the least likely sources. Few of us want our own bathrooms to resemble a public restroom in any way, but the rolling hand towel loop is an excellent invention equally useful in the home for providing an always-ready drying surface. Simply stitch two linen hand towels together at both ends to form a loop. Take a half-inch wooden dowel painted in white enamel, and screw porcelain drawer knobs (available in hardware stores) into each end. Slip the towel loop over the dowel, and hang from wall hooks.

A frameless oval mirror hung on ribbon in a bathroom is part wondrous window, part vanity glass. The 12-by-18-inch oval was made by a glazier; its wide-bevel edge is as effective as a wood frame. A lavender satin ribbon threaded through two 1/4-inch-wide holes adds a beguiling touch.

If opening your bathroom cabinet invites an avalanche of cotton balls, try a new kind of cleansing ritual: Reorganize the medicine chest. Found objects and flea-market bargains make appealing, practical keepers for toiletries. A vintage teacup makes a pretty container for cotton balls, and an eggcup doubles as a bobby-pin dispenser. Use a tin shaker as a talcum-powder sprinkler, and an old flask to hold mouthwash. Don't forget to clean containers thoroughly and carefully label all medicines.