DIY Towel Holder for the Bathroom

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How do you get a DIY towel holder for the bathroom out of an old porch baluster? By accident of course.

Let’s start at the beginning.

When we lived in Illinois, the hubs and I went to a flea market and were browsing the booths when I saw these cool vintage porch balusters for $2 each.

I didn’t have a use for them at the time, I just liked the way they looked. The chippy paint and the color were just right, in my book.

I bought 2 of them and put them all over the house, hoping to find the perfect spot to use them.

I never found the perfect project so they went into the basement and eventually made their way to North Carolina with us.

Again, I moved them all over our new house to find a place for them but they eventually went into the basement.

It wasn’t until we were working on the bathroom that we found a use for 1 of them.

I put hooks up in the bathroom to hang our wet towels but they quickly pulled out of the wall, even with anchors.

The hubs wanted to slap a board on the wall to give the hooks some stability but that wasn’t going to happen. Not in my house.

I understood what he wanted to do, and the reason why, but a 2×4 wasn’t going to cut it. I had to come up with a better solution fast.

Yes…my vintage porch baluster finally had a purpose.

I was going to turn it into a rustic bathroom towel rack.

So easy to do, too.

Making a towel holder

The original paint was left alone (I mean…how can you mess with chippy paint perfection?).

As for the hooks, I just picked up a couple at the store (*similar here) and attached them to the baluster.

To do that I drilled small pilot holes in the wood before I added the screws so the wood wouldn’t split.

A couple of wood screws were used to attach it to the wall and it was done.

Much better than an old 2×4 and it adds a little character to the room. It turned into the perfect towel holder.

I knew I would find a place for it…eventually.

I know I owe you a tour of this space but it’s just not ready for a reveal. We still have a few things left to do and then I can show you the rest.

It is a tiny space though. As in…the photos had to be taken from the hallway…small.

Teeny tiny…and not a lot of natural light. It’s one of the many quirks of a small, older home.

Check out the other projects I’ve done in our small bathroom.

• DIY Faux Floating Shelves
• Updating Old Doors with New Glass Knobs