Stain and damage minimizing set up ideas?

[Brezo11]

Hello everyone, I’m not sure if this is the right place but I couldn’t think where else to put this- I am a bath bomb maker with hopes to expand into soap someday. I am in between college and grad school and living with my parents to save money and save up. So far my parents have been very tolerant of my bath bomb stuff, but in the process of learning how to make them I have accidentally eaten through the finish on their kitchen table and pantry door with fragrance oils as well as gotten bath bomb dye in the carpet and on the grout between the backsplash tiles. I’m terrified of actually ruining something of theirs even worse. I swear I’m not clumsy, I just can’t possibly control every drop of every substance as I work. And it seems it’s always the dark red dye that gets everywhere, never the pale micas....

I guess my question is more of a plea for ideas of how to create a set up that minimizes damage and stains? I see lots of soap makers who set up a spare room in their houses or whatever but I can’t do that as I won’t be able to afford even renting an apartment of my own for a while. I don’t know what else to do, because I don’t want to give it up but also I can’t keep damaging my parent’s things...

 

[atiz]

I only make soap and some syndet things (shampoo, lotion, etc.), so not sure about the bath bombs. If I don't forget it, I cover the kitchen countertop with some plastic table cloths; if I do forget it, not even that.
In soapmaking, the only potentially dangerous thing is the lye-water; you can always wipe the oils down. Dyes are a different matter, and I'm not very familiar with them except for very small amounts of lake dyes I use for handwash. Covering the countertops, and always stirring slowly so that there is no splashing going on, should be enough.
How could a FO eat through a countertop? Isn't it oil? Yes, I have had kitchen utensils (scale, etc.) smelling like wildflowers for weeks because I didn't wipe them down, but there was no damage to them.

 

[Brezo11]

Apparently it is not uncommon for fragrance oils to ruin finish on wood when it’s concentrated. I googled it and even knocking over a Glade brand oil thing on wood can ruin it. I don’t know exactly what’s in it that makes it so dangerous to wood but I now keep all my fragrance oils in Tupperware and they don’t come out

 

[atiz]

Apparently it is not uncommon for fragrance oils to ruin finish on wood when it’s concentrated. I googled it and even knocking over a Glade brand oil thing on wood can ruin it. I don’t know exactly what’s in it that makes it so dangerous to wood but I now keep all my fragrance oils in Tupperware and they don’t come out

Oh sorry, I missed that the countertops are wood. Wood is a different matter, I would be much more careful with it: covering is a must, and with something thick enough. It also depends on what kind of finish the wood has -- poly? oil? etc. Nothing really should go through a well applied hard poly, but oils can be rather finicky. In any case, cover it with some thick foil. It really only takes a few extra minutes in the process.