DIY Rustic Towel Ring + Toilet Paper Holder

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While our current house was being built (about 2.5 years ago), the five of us lived in a 1000 square foot apartment for 7 months. It was an adventure, that’s for sure! It gave us a few months to think about and shop around for what we wanted to use to decorate in our new house- that was definitely a highlight.

I ended up splurging on a couple of items from Etsy… a rustic toilet paper holder and a rustic towel ring. I thought they would look perfect in our guest bathroom on the main level. I paid $50 for each (eek!). Though I did get free shipping… does that help at all? (my husband didn’t think so! 😉 )

Anyways, 2.5 years later, I am still loving the toilet paper holder and towel ring as much as I did when they first came. But it got me thinking… it really can’t be that hard to make them. I think the hardest (and most costly) part would be finding those cool pipe-like holders.

I was at this neat local overstock store a couple of weeks ago and saw a towel ring and a toilet paper holder. One was silver, one was brass, and it was a whopping $5 total for both. My mind got to thinking- what if I tried to imitate my rustic Etsy pieces?

First, I picked out two pieces of 1″ thick wood, cut them to fit the two holders, and stained them. I used Minwax Jacobean for a beautiful, darker brown. I used black spraypaint and painted the towel ring and tp holder black.

Then, I just installed the hardware that came with each item onto each piece of wood (following instructions that are normally for the wall).

I drilled starter holes, which made screwing in the screws that much easier.

I installed the actual ring and the tp holder, and I was done! I haven’t put any kind of backing on them yet, but I plan to put picture hangers to hang them on nails.