Oh he's so cute! He'll be a great towel critter. Congrats on the new countertop, post pics when it's all in! I probably should have picked a different animal so I didn't copy robin d's towel pig idea. But he just spoke to me because I have had a thing about pigs my whole life and collect them. I don't have them all out, don't like the clutter. But a few of my favorite ones grace bookshelves and mantles and tv consoles throughout the house. Towel pig just fit in so perfectly! But if I found a Towel Robin, I'd snatch it up in a heartbeat!

Just getting ready to unplug my computer and all it's extras so I haven't read through the responses---my apologies if my suggestion is a repeat. I used to take older towels and blankets to our two Humane Societies. The last time I took a very big black plastic yard bag filled and they apologized but couldn't accept them because they were running out of room to store the donated items. In other words, they had plenty at the time. We have a Day Care for Seniors near our home, about 2 miles as the crow flies. Adults who still have to work but have elder loved ones living with them can use this place daily or weekly. Crafts, music, reading stations, breakfast lunch and a couple snacks daily, even outings ---it's a great place! But being these are seniors and as seniors do, they have all the same accidents as a young child would have. I take my older towels, cut them in good-sized squares, do a quick zig-zag stitch along all the edges, clean up all the stray fabric with scissors, wash them, put them in a clean box and drop them off at the senior day care. The people who run the Senior day care love it! See if you don't have a Senior Center around that would gladly take the towels, cut or uncut.

Here's something to consider, some of that wood is absolutely NOT available today at a cost anyone but the wealthiest home owner could afford. And even if the wood is available, the quality is not the same. The best woods have been taken and regrowing conditions are not the same. This kind of wood will not be seen again, ever. It is so wasteful and cost ineffective to take something of value and downgrade it. Buy a modern home if you don't like woodwork! Plus, a little bit of paint goes a long way. There was a time when dark brown and ebony wood (mahogany, chestnut, walnut, hickory, etc.) and red and dark blue velvet signaled "rich" since those woods and dyes were expensive. To me, white just says, "ubiquitous, mass produced mart store." I mean there was a time when even mass production had the touch of human craftsmanship and rich materials, but we are being conditioned to accept a much cheaper look as being desirable, to continue to feed our throwaway economy. Littlebug hit the nail on the head of why I don't like the stair railing, " The staircase, once a dignified and rich structure of satiny finished wood, now looks as though it's constructed of painted plywood." Because of course, nowdays if you wanted something similar within the budget of the common person, you would have to make it out of painted plywood. This is economics, natural materials are becoming scarcer, so substitutions must be made. So to me, that is even MORE reason not to throw away something so valuable. And to not realize the value of it is sad, very sad. It's one thing to not like that style, fine, you don't have to have it or live with it. It's another thing all together to take something rare and valuable and destroy it, when there are plenty of other options out there.

@Nancy in Mich - it's pretty hot here in Israel, and though the city I live in isn't humid (Jerusalem), other cities are pretty humid. I don't leave my washer door open, since our laundry room is so small that we'd have trouble opening up the door to the room if we did that. Sorry about your husband though - not sure I know how to convince him to ignore the tags :). @dadoes - I forgot about our washers heating up the water on their own. I will say that clothing gets a LOT cleaner with a European machine. When we first came here, I was astounded by how white my whites get. When my in-laws come they're always shocked by how clean my father-in-laws dress shirts get. They're all-cotton, fairly expensive shirts, and they come out looking brand-new. I'm not sure why there's a push for washing in cold water either. Our machines are very efficient - electricity costs more here, so they have to be. Honestly I can't even imagine washing towels and sheets in cold water. It feels so unsanitary. Maybe they're pushing it because washing in cold water doesn't get your clothes as clean... which means you have to buy new clothing/bedding earlier than you'd normally need to.