DIY
Who's feeling crafty today?! Why not try this great tutorial for a handmade toilet paper holder? I got the idea simply from the lack of having one in our bathroom. Because we live in a rented apartment, we are pretty limited as to what we can do in terms of putting holes in the walls. So instead of going to the whole process of getting permission to drill from our landlord, I thought it might be a better idea to make a holder than doesn't have to be screwed into anything.
So lets get started!
Materials
Dowel Shape (e.g paint brush, parts of a chair, tree branch, thin curtain rod...Be creative!)
Strong glue
2 hooks (can also be made from wire)
2 ends (door knobs, draw knobs, styrofoam balls) *If you can try to use something that is small enough to fit through the toliet paper roll
Sandpaper
Varnish or paint (optional)
Tape measure or ruler
*If you don't have one handy you can eye ball it our check out vendian.org for a printable tape measure.
Step 1
Measure and cut the rod/dowel to the desired size.
If you are doing this tutorial before you've done your weekly shop and don't have a loo roll handy the size is just shy of 11cm.
You want the dowel to be at least 14cm so there is wiggle room and so that there is enough space at each end of the dowel to slide into the opening of the draw knob.
*If you live in an apartment you may not have an area suitable for sawing. So what you can do is use your kitchen chopping board. Your counters and tabletops will thank you!
Step 2
File down each end to a dull point. This is so each end of the dowel fits snug in the hole of the draw knob. *A metal file tool speeds up the process quite a bit.
Step 3
Once your satisfied with the length and fit you can sand down the rest of the dowel so its all smooth and even. Make sure you wipe the dowel with a clean damp cloth to get rid of any residue.
Step 4
Now its time to paint or varnish if you wish. When choosing a colour, try to think of the theme of you bathroom. Your making a custom piece so you can use colours that aren't available in shops. For example bright green or polka dots! I have chosen a dark varnish (Jacobean Oak). I love having bright colours and rich dark woods throughout the apartment.
*Remember when using varnishes it's important to allow for the proper drying times to achieve the best finishes (I had to wait 3 days for a 14cm dowel!)
Step 5
Once the paint/varnish if dry, glue each end of the dowel into the draw knob and let dry. Gently put the glue in one drop at a time until half of the hole is full. Then place the dowel in the hole and push so it's nice and snug. You can use some point with a pointy edge to help you. Alternatively you can drop the tip of the dowel into the glue, just make sure that you don't go down too far or things can get messy.
Step 6
Its time to assemble our creation! Depending on what you are using for your hooks there are a few different ways you can put your piece together. As you can see from the hooks I used, the knob just slots into place.
*You may need to use your wire so create a loop for the knob to sit in.
Enjoy your new bathroom accessory!
So as all of you probably know by now I love anything and everything that has to do with DIY. When we were living in our old apartment a little closer to the center of town I stumbled across this old footstool bench type of thing that someone was throwing away. It was covered in horrible dark green/blue paint and upholstered with vinyl that had plant pots all over it. Absolutely terrible, and the worst part was that when I was taking it apart I noticed that who ever used the vinyl and horrible paint was also trying to revamp it by covering an ever more horrible dark green paint and cover! Yikes! With a bit of sanding and some fabric scraps I was able to turn this frown of a stool up side down! Ideally, I'd like to share the before photos, but those are stuck in a sim card and I have recently upgraded to an iphone which as you may or may not know has its own sim card. So I need to find a way to get the photos off the old sim card so I can load them to this post! In the mean time though I will show you the brilliant after pictures!
