DIY: Towel Holder

This week I only had one day off from work. Being that the weather was 70% rain and I didn’t have anything planned for the day, I decided I would attempt a DIY project. Earlier in the week, I watched a YouTube video (found HERE) featuring three different styles of DIY towel holders. All the creative ideas inspired me to recreate one of the towel holders in my bathroom. My previous hand towel holder wiggled itself off the wall about six months ago. But it was nothing special; just your typical silver round ring awkwardly placed between the sink and the toilet.  Replacing the holder has been one of those “yeah, I’ll get to it one day” projects, somewhere between DIY cactus planters and hiking the entirety of the Appalachian Trail.

I braved the drizzling rain to my local craft store for supplies. I love a DIY project that doesn’t require a ton of supplies, and this towel rack only called for a wooden dowel and a strip of leather trim.  I came home took a few measurements of the area I wanted the holder to go and headed out to the garage to get to work. 

First, I needed to cut the dowel down to 18 inches. This meant I needed to get the circular saw out. I’m always a bit intimidated by power tools and slightly scared of chopping off a finger. Fears cast aside,  I plugged in the saw and gently squeezed the button to test how much it would kick and how loud it was going to be. Brum-Brum. Phew, It wasn’t terribly scary and I didn’t drop it. Next, it was on to the real deal. I lined up the blade, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger of the saw. It sprung to life and cut through the dowel like butter. I did a little happy dance as I picked up the dowel off the ground. Then, I lightly sanded the edges of dowel to knock off any rough edges. 

The leather trim was thin enough to cut with regular house scissors. I folded it in half (hotdog fold) and clipped a chip clip along the edge to keep them even as I cut. 

Next, I took each of the leather strips and folded them in half again (hamburger fold). I’m most proud of this next step because I felt like a genius when I figured it out. I used a small binder clip to hold the edges together, BUT THEN… I used the metal loops that fold down as my guide for the placement of the holes. Mindblown! I looked up from my project like I had just made an earth-shattering discovery. Both of the leather strips had identically placed holes. 

After conquering my fear of power tools and discovering I’m a DIY genius, I headed back inside to put it all together. I taped each of the leather tabs where I thought they would look best, took a step back, and made minor adjustments. I placed the dowel in the leather loops and ensured it was level before committing to drilling them in place. After drilling the straps in the wall, I stepped back to gave it the seal of approval and patted myself on the back. 

Voila! The completed look. The addition of this new DIY towel holders looks fantastic. I still need to paint over the area where I patched the holes from the previous towel holder. But now I won’t have to worry about the hand towel following on the floor or the cat knocking it down. 

What do you think? It could be used for paper towels in the kitchen or a cute toilet paper holder; there are so many applications. Send me pictures of your final product if you decide to make this nifty towel holder.