Showering is first and foremost about personal hygiene, but for most of us, the act of taking a shower is about so much more than mere cleanliness alone. Taking a long, hot shower in the evening is one of the best possible ways to unwind and relax after a long day of work or travel. Likewise taking a brisk, invigorating shower in the morning is a superb way to wind yourself up and be ready for the day. If you are lucky enough to design a shower from scratch, you can choose the tile colors, shapes, and patterns, the shower seat, the built-in shelving, and of course the all-important shower head and attachments that will make your shower a personalized refuge. But even a shower stall that has already been designed and built can be modified in myriad ways, and indeed spending the time and modest amount of money involved in personalizing your shower is a great idea. Whether you own or rent your home (or even if you use a communal shower space) there are lots of ways to spruce up a shower.
In fact, there are more ways to modify and improve a shower than could possibly be covered in one article, but here are some ideas to jump start your thinking If your shower is built into a bathtub and uses a rod and curtain system, consider switching to a curved rod that gives you more free space on the shower, and make sure to change the shower curtain at least once a year. (Even a great shower curtain costs only 20 or 30 dollars!) Make sure to keep a bottle of shower cleaner handy and spray the walls down every few days. Using a sponge and squeegee in combination with shower cleaner keeps the stall clean, free of grime mildew, and looking and smelling fresh. This is especially important in showers with glass walls and doors, as once hard water stains build up, they are very hard to remove. Changing out the shower head (and even adding in a handheld attachment) is often affordable and easy, so don't think you're stuck with the hardware as-is. And lastly, even if your shower doesn't offer much storage space for those bottles of shampoo, razors, and your bar of soap, there are lots of great shower caddies that will suit your needs, providing space to store your stuff and freeing up space on the shower seat or the floor.
When considering which shower caddy will best serve your needs, don't start by browsing shower caddies; start off the process by looking at all the things you need to have readily at hand to enjoy a perfect shower. Consider the size and quantity of bottles of shampoo and conditioner, whether or not you use a slippery bar of soap, if you like to have your razor and shaving cream in the shower with you, and so forth. If you only use a few products, then a small, basic shower caddy will serve you fine. If you bring an entire salon's worth of products into the shower with you, then you might need both a floor caddy and an over-the-shower head unit. And for the record, this is a good time to thin the ranks; many people have several empty or unused items sitting around in their showers or on the rim of the bath tub. Once you have figured out the capacity your shower caddy will have to offer, it's time to consider the physical properties of your shower. Many shower caddies use suction cups for wall mounting or to add additional support and stability.
If your shower has a wall made up of textured tiles, tile with a matte finish, or tiles that are small and placed close together, a suction cup may not be able to adhere properly, thus potentially ruling out various types of shower caddy. Many shower caddies hang over the shower head, but many shower heads slope downward right from the point at which they meet the wall. If your shower head is angled down, a hanging caddy might not be viable or even safe, though a unit that uses a combination of hanging and suction cup mounting might suffice. A shower with a curtain and rod system might not work for over-the-door or over-the-wall hanging shower caddies, but in other showers, such as those with sliding doors or a swing-style door, these simple caddies can be a fool-proof option (a hook over a door is more reliable than any suction cup, after all). Once you have chosen the right shower caddy for your products and your shower itself, using the caddy is a simple undertaking, as long as you keep a few things in mind.
First and foremost, don't overload the caddy or whatever is holding it up! Even a robust shower caddy wasn't designed to support a half dozen commercial-sized bottles of shampoo and conditioner, and the shower head under which they hang certainly wasn't either. Make sure to load your caddy sensibly, and balance the weight evenly on either side of its shelves. An unbalanced caddy is more likely to swing aside and drop its contents, to fall off completely, and to put uneven strain on its mounting hook or suction cups. Make sure to clean and dry your shower caddy regularly. Even steel will rust eventually if not cleaned and dried. The build up of soap scum can lead to corrosion, too, so you need to genuinely clean the unit from time to time, scrubbing and polishing, not just spraying it with cleaning product. You are using an older browser version. Please use a supported version for the best MSN experience. Yale Locks & Hardware provides a comprehensive line of door hardware, including an extensive range of mechanical and electromechanical mortise and cylindrical locks, exit devices, door closers and cylinders.
ASSA ABLOY Unveils New Products at ASIS 6000 Series Commercial Exit Devices Yale Access Control Solutions Opening the Door to Electronics Designing for Disaster: National Building Museum Exhibit Features Tornado Solutions from ASSA ABLOY ASSA ABLOY Releases Online Product Selector for Decorative Hardware Yale Launches E-Commerce Site for Residential Locks and Hardware 5800 Series Cast Iron Closer Keeping the Storm Out: Windstorm Door Opening Solutions ADI Teams Up with Yale to Offer Digital Home Locking Solutions 3900 Series Low Energy Power Operator Windstorm Flatbar Exit Device Retrofit Surface-Mount Door Closers: Where, When and Why? Back Page, October 2011 Masterkeying By The Numbers Door Closer Replacement Made Easy With The Design Hardware 316R Series10% Off or More (136) 25% Off or More (10)OUR KITCHEN STARTER KITS SINK & UNDER SINK DINNERWARE & SERVING STORAGE SPICE RACKS & JARS PREP, GADGETS & ACCESSORIES