Stop Using My Decorative Towels!!!

[luvmy3]

I don't put any towel in the bath that I don't want used, even my decorative ones.
Could you get one of those double ring holders that you place on the counter. Maybe seeing the towels hanging instead of laying on the counter will help people identify what towel they should use. I am not a fan of laying the towel on the counter, I think its gross and I wouldn't want to use one in my home let alone someone elses

 

[Nancy]

My aunt did something similar. She realized she had a ton of decorative "fingertip" towels, so she just put a big basket of them out with an empty basket for the used ones.

She eventually collected enough to cover the holidays and it was really cute to see the variety of seasonal towels.

That is a cute idea!

 

[tink_n_pooh]

I'm so glad that I'm not the minority here

I'm not a believer in not using the 'decorative' items such as towels and fancy soaps. My MIL is into fancy soaps and towels that can't be touched... she has a bar of soap sitting on the pedestal sink in the guest bath (its just a half bath off the kitchen/living room area) which has/had some sort of picture on it... no one actually uses it, we all know better but the problem is that she also has a pump hand soap (from the dollar store) sitting right behind it so all the water from washing your hands drips on the fancy soap and turns the dust to yucky mud and washes away the mysterious photo on the fancy soap. We finally got her to get rid of the fancy rose shaped soap that was so dusty it was brown instead of the original peach color (it was from SIL's bridal shower in 1991)


Oh yeah... back to the OP.... I love the idea of the disposable towels! Much more sanitary, everyone knows what they are for and you don't have to worry about your off limits decorative towels. Honestly though... a towel is a towel

 

[MushyMushy]

You'd really flip your lid on my family!

I started putting up decorative towels and my kids and husband were using them as bath towels. I don't get why they would do that because the towels had scratchy lace and things on them. I'd tell them over and over that they were just for looks and to get one of the big fluffy soft bath towels, but they'd be too lazy and go ahead and grab the pretty ones.

I gave up.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Going by those pictures, I'd probably try to lightly dry my hands on the corners of your "decorative towels." I'd be afraid that one near the sink was meant to go into the laundry bin, since it's just lying there.

Then again, I do not put out towels I don't want people to use. I do love to buy pretty, matching towels to put in our bathrooms, but do not mind if they're used. They'll wash just fine and by the time they're showing wear, I'm tired of them, anyway!

 

[CJMickeyMouse]

I am a big believer that if a towel it there, it is meant to be used. I love when you go somewhere and there are decorative towels that are dusty and/or faded..... Gee those did a great job, huh?

We have four bathrooms in this house, and in three of them the hand towel lays by the sink. Guess I should apologize to all of my guests?!??! Oh, nevermind.... they are mostly teenagers, they don't care.

Seriously, if you have a ton of traffic, change the towel out..... we have family stay here over Christmas, and if the towel is wet, they all know where the new ones are!

I guess it all depends on how "formal" you and your guests are. Personally, I just don't worry that much about what other people think.... we are very informal and easy going around here.

 

[Liberty Belle]

My mother used to pin little notes on her "show" towels:

"DO NOT USE! THESE TOWELS ARE FOR SHOW!"

I hated that! I swore when I grew up and had my own home, I'd put out only things that were meant to be used.

 

[Carly_Roach]

Another vote for using the decorative towels. If you don't want someone to use something, don't put it out there for them to use. Simple as that.

 

[JerseyJanice]

Growing up, my house was like Guido-ville. Not only did we have towels hanging that no one was allowed to use, we had plastic runners all over the wall-to-wall carpeting. That was where we were allowed to walk. If my mother caught one of us walking on her actual carpet with shoes on, we were in big trouble.

We kids (five of us) were ever hardly allowed inside the "living" room, and if we made it in there, we weren't allowed to sit on the crushed velvet furniture, which was covered in plastic. Go figure what the covers were for, since only company was allowed to sit on the couch.

 

[mjkacmom]

Growing up, my house was like Guido-ville. Not only did we have towels hanging that no one was allowed to use, we had plastic runners all over the wall-to-wall carpeting. That was where we were allowed to walk. If my mother caught one of us walking on her actual carpet with shoes on, we were in big trouble.

We kids (five of us) were ever hardly allowed inside the "living" room, and if we made it in there, we weren't allowed to sit on the crushed velvet furniture, which was covered in plastic. Go figure what the covers were for, since only company was allowed to sit on the couch.

Sounds like a lot of my friends' homes - I remember thinking those plastic runners were so cool . We're not Italian (although now my children are), but my mom's Irish mother was the same way - they never got to sit on furniture!

 

[Kath2003]

Sorry but I would use them. Towels placed in the bathroom are towels to be used. If you have display towels that you don't want people to touch, perhaps you need to put them in a display cabinet?!

 

[Inigo]

Oh my gosh, I guess I'm guilty! It would never occur to me that the towels that are hanging in a guest bath are not to be touched! I have guest towels too but after we have guests I just toss them in the washer. And I wouldn't use a towel sitting on the side of the sink, especially if it was damp from other users....as a "guest" I'd use a dry corner of the "guest towel".

I totally agree. I don't want to use the nasty damp towel lying next to the sink. I'd use the hanging guest towel since I'm a guest.

 

[AlleyKat]

Have a roll of paper towels by the sink. That is what I do.

Bingo!

Notwithstanding sanitary issues, how "dry" can a frequently used towel be, especially when placed in a "heap"?

 

[wdwfan16]

As a guest I hate to use a towel left by the sink. I will always use the one on the towel bar.

When we have guests over we expect all towels to be free game. We have decorative towels and we wash them because they get dirty without even using them.

 

[Imzadi]

Growing up, my house was like Guido-ville. Not only did we have towels hanging that no one was allowed to use, we had plastic runners all over the wall-to-wall carpeting. That was where we were allowed to walk. If my mother caught one of us walking on her actual carpet with shoes on, we were in big trouble.

We kids (five of us) were ever hardly allowed inside the "living" room, and if we made it in there, we weren't allowed to sit on the crushed velvet furniture, which was covered in plastic. Go figure what the covers were for, since only company was allowed to sit on the couch.

OMG!. . . Janice??!??

Are you my long lost sister I grew up with???

Yes, I also grew up in a home where we had plastic on the couches and plastic runners on the carpet. We even had a whole sitting room that we were NOT allowed in. The whole room was just for show.

A house shouldn't be The Price Is Right, with a showroom of furniture. I don't get the concept of having items that are meant to be used for just for show. Then, the very people you are reserving the items for show don't get to use them either.


Towels ≠ Curtains

 

[tar heel]

I thought or at least hoped this thread was a joke. The whole concept of having guest towels that guests are not supposed to use is and . I also missed this gene and am very grateful that I did.

I think having a towel lying next to the sink when there are towels on bars nearby is odd. I would go so far as to say having that towel beside the sink that looks like it doesn't belong there might ruin the effect you're going for with the fancy towels.

 

[Feralpeg]

I also have decorative towels that I would not want people to use. They have a fancy fringe on them that will not do up well. To prevent people from using them, I leave a stack of decorative paper towels next to the sink. They aren't paper towels on a roll like you use in the kitchen. They are fancy little individual paper towels that I get from Bed, Bath & Beyond. It seems to work. No one has tried to use my decorative towels.

 

[hentob]

Yes, they are washable, but once you wash them, they fade and change shapes.

...and then you buy new ones

Why make your bathroom look nice and then lay a random "junk towel" near the sink?

 

[hentob]

I was going to post those same links. We bought the Lillian Vernon ones and they are very thick and nice for disposable. Not cheap if you entertain often, but nice for a party or something like that.

Sanitary too!

 

[SpecialK]

When we entertain, I either put out paper hand towels or a bunch of fingertip towels on a hangar made for that purpose. My dad was kind of a germaphobe and hated using a towel that someone else had used when drying his hands, so I got into the habit of individual towels. But people are also free to use the towels on the bar.