Scavenger Chic

Bathroom Makeover, 20 Upcycled Towel Holder Ideas

• By Joan
• January 18, 2023
• 2 Comments

Bathroom Makeover, 20 Upcycled Towel Holder Ideas

Last week I showed you the start of my basement bathroom makeover.  After hubby ripped the towel bar off the wall I needed a replacement.  I didn’t need a full sized towel bar, I wasn’t hanging up any bath towels, just something to hold a single hand towel.

Single towel rings normally cost at least $20, if not more.  That’s always an option, but for my hand towel holder I was thinking upcycled.  What do I have in my pile-o-junk that could be used to hold that single towel.

Before I show you what I found in my stash, I’m going to share a few I found online.  I always like options.  I hope you do too.

These beautiful glass doorknob towel holders are from Aimee at Refresh Renew.

This reclaimed wood and pipe towel rack is from Colleen at Life on Kaydeross Creek.

I don’t know who originally posted this, but I love the idea of using old tools as a towel holder.  In this case an old hand drill which naturally has a nice soft top from where your hand would go.

How cute are these faucet handles used for a towel rack.  These are from Jenny at Refresh Living.

For the horse lover, this horseshoe towel holder might fit in with your decor. 

I could not find the original poster of this photo or the next three.

Even without a horse or a western theme, I would use this stirrup as a towel holder.  It’s just a beautifully shaped piece of wood.

 

 

I don’t know if this is a door handle or a drawer handle, but either way, it makes a great towel holder.

 

These antlers were found by my nephew and given to his mom who spray painted them black.  They are now cute, original, towel hooks.

I found these antique shoe mold coat hooks at a local antique store. Maybe one shoe, one hook?

Old casters mounted on a piece of barn wood.

These railroad spikes are being used as an entry way coat rack but could easily be used for towels.

 

Now for my current upcycled and recycled towel bar/ring  options. 

The following eight ideas were all from my current pile-o-junk.   I’ll first show you the item then sort of how it would look if it was hanging on the wall with a towel.  This is also how I showed all the options to my husband who I gave the final decision to.

First up this wooden candle holder.

Now picture the candle holder with the base screwed to the wall.   I would definitely take off that large round top piece and replace it with a wooden disk much closer in size to the vertical stem.  I liked the color on this candlestick as it was very close to the color of the shelves I installed last week.

Next up, these giant rusty cotter pins.  Not quite the railroad spikes I showed you earlier, but they are also used by the railroad.

I used several of these before on another towel rack, but one or two of these attached to a piece of vintage wood would work great in here.

If you do use any rusty object for your towel holder make sure you give it several coats of polyurethane before use.

This was probably my least favorite upcycled towel holder idea.  It’s one of the ends of the old towel holder without the bar that had fallen off the wall.

While it’s definitely a viable alternative, it almost disappears beneath the white hand towel.

I don’t know quite what this brass ring was used for, my first thought was a bathroom cup holder or perhaps for curtains?  If you have any other ideas please let me know in the comments below.

It would make a nice repurposed towel holder, though I have no other brass in the room.

When my sister dismantled her piano she gave me 4 of these hooks.  I used 2 for this memo holder so I still had 2 left.

I kind of like the pretty brushed nickel /pewter look and the tale gets lost underneath the towel.

Next up this crusty belt I bought at my last flea market for the grand total of $1.

Don’t pass up a cheap belt.  You can find my belt candle holder here and belted mirror here.

Cute right?  Just put screws for hanging right thru the existing belt holes.

Another rusty thing-a-ma-jig, Probably another dump find and for some reason or other I have 2 of these in my pile-o-junk.

After a couple coats of poly, hubby tells me this would have been his second favorite choice.

This rusty piece sort of looks like a clamp but it has holes and a bracket for which you could hang it on a wall.   I really don’t know what its original use was , and considering it still has authentic moss still attached, I’m thinking this was also a dump find.

And the winner was….drumroll please…. the belt.  So simple, so easy.  You probably even have one sitting around your own house.

Join me next week as I finish my bathroom makeover.

Until next time, stay inspired.