We had only a few rules when we found out we were going to have a baby - no aesthetic concessions being one of them. This meant making a conscious effort to find things that were beautiful to look at, had a minimal imprint, and could be repurposed post-infancy. By this rule, the question of how to bathe your baby becomes hard to answer, especially in the first months where a bathtub is too big to contain a newborn, or if you only have a shower stall as we did. If you're lucky enough to have a beautiful large porcelain sink with a nozzle tap, the answer is simple. Our extra-deep industrial style stainless steel sink, which always seemed to have a few dirty dishes in it didn't fit the bill, nor did our tiny bathroom sink which allowed for hand washing and not much more.

From Mirai Chan by photographer Kawashima Kotori, available from amazon.com.

The selection of plastic baby tubs in the market was dismal, so we decided to bathe our baby in a no-frills gardening bucket à la Mirai Chan and found it to be the best solution. We recommend the Large Shallow Tub by Tubtrugs from their Gorilla line of all-black, recycled tubs for their utilitarian-chic appeal. For those of you who also believe that a color palette may also include shades other than black, there are 10 bright colors to choose from too. The manufacturer describes the Large Shallow style as being "designed large and low for mixing projects (like grout), parts washing, project assembly, a container garden, and car trunk organizer." To that we'd like to suggest it also read "designed large and low for bathing babies in shallow water, and flexible with no hard sides to hit their heads upon" and when they've outgrown it, "a discreet toy bin that slips under the bed when not in use".

TUBTRUGS Large Shallow Gorilla Tub, $16.99 at tubtrugs.com

See the gallery for some of Mother Material's other bath time favorites:

From Left: MUSTELA Baby Shampoo, $11, mustela-usa.com. BATH BUDDIES Natural Bath Sponge, $10, giggle.com. TOYSMITH wooden paddle boat, $4.99, retroplanet.com. SCHYLLING Classic Rubber Duck, $2.99, schylling.com. JAPONESQUE Hippo Hair Brush, $9, amazon.com. MASON PEARSON Child's Brush, $65.98, sempleandsemple.com.