Mattress advertisements will often say how you spend one-third of your life in bed, so you should have the best bed you can buy.

Well, why not a nice toilet seat? Hopefully you don't have to spend eight hours a day there, but when you do there's no reason to put up with a cheap seat on your own throne.

Toilet seats attach to the bowl section using two large screws that are typically plastic but sometimes are brass or stainless steel.

With the seat down, you remove the screw covers at the seat hinge. Some screws have a Phillips head but most have an oversized slot head. The best thing for the slot-head screws is a large coin or a key.

To remove the retaining nut you'll want to find the most limber person you know; children are ideal for this. You must reach behind and underneath the bowl and, investigating with your fingers, find the wing nut that is tucked up in the recess.

Getting the wing nut loose is not always easy as there is no way to get leverage on it, but with some effort it will come. Sometimes it's easier to hold the wing nut in place as another person backs out the screw.

After the seat is off, take a measurement from the centre of the screw holes to 1 or 2 centimeters shy of the front rim. Then measure the distance between the two holes.

After you've looked through and picked out the seat you want, measure the distance between the screws and the front of the rim and the distance between the screws. There is no play with ceramic so make sure it's the right size.

Attach the new seat in the reverse order that you removed the old one.

Streets 107 and 109 near P'sar Orussei have many bath fixture stores that sell toilet seats in the $12 to $20 range. For the widest selection of colours and styles, go to Heng Asia at 20 Mao Tse-tung Boulevard. They can also special order a wide range of seats for odd shaped toilets. Prices range from $15 to $99.

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If you have any questions about keeping your house in order, email Jet at [email protected]