Dresser Drawer to Towel Rack

August 9, 2011 /

Have you ever noticed that most homes (even brand new ones) only come outfitted with one towel rack per bathroom?  And that one towel rack is only big enough for one towel.  Inevitably, at some point a fix needs to be made in most bathrooms.  Our solution came in the form of an old dresser drawer:

Yes, that is the front of an old drawer.  Do you remember this dresser?
It definitely had to go because it was no longer functional, but I wanted to at least be able to use some of it for DIY projects around the house.  My husband graciously helped me to pull off the fronts of each of the drawers, even though I think he was skeptical of my plans.  I’m pretty sure he was rolling his eyes in his head at me.
After getting the front off, I sanded the drawer down (which actually didn’t need to be done), and then measured off the distance for 4 hooks.

Then, I (yes, I used the drill on this project!) drilled the holes for the hooks.

Next, I painted the entire thing with a coat of semi-gloss black paint that I had on hand from another project.  *Just a little tip:  I’ve found that using a sponge brush on these smaller projects works really well.*

I was ready to apply a second coat of paint and hang the hardware when we realized that we needed to come up with a way to anchor this on the wall.  Since the plan was to make it into a towel rack, it needed to be hung securely in order to hold the weight of towels.

After browsing the hardware aisle at Home Depot for a long time, my husband decided on these; he highly recommends them and says they were quite easy to use (hence the name of the brand, I suppose).

Two holes were drilled which would be used for the anchors to hang it into the wall.

To cover up those holes, we used some wooden screw covers, painted black, to blend into the rest of the rack.

The little black circle is the painted wooden screw cover.

Then, I was able to put on another coat of paint.
Once the paint dried, we screwed in the hooks, and hung it on the wall.

I LOVE it!  Now, the girls each have a place to hang their towels, and when we have guests, no one has to worry about leaving a towel laying on the floor or draped over the doorknob.  There is plenty of room for everyone!

Now, to choose a paint color for this bathroom…

There is absolutely NO natural light in this bathroom, so I apologize that the pictures may not do it justice.  


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9 Comments

  • Anonymous

    August 9, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    Love this idea!! I’ve been trying to think of a solution for our towels in our bathroom. Thanks!! – Nicolle C.

  • sherri lynn

    August 9, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    Our bathrooms only have one towel rack too – so stupid! This turned out awesome! Such a good idea to use the front of the drawer – so creative! I love the color and the hardware that you picked for the towel rack. And I like how you think of everything and finish it all to make it look perfectly, like painting the end of the screw to make it blend in.

  • Kristin

    August 9, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    This is brilliant! It looks great, too. I’ll have to remember it for future reference. And you know what, I like this way better than a towel rack. It just looks a lot prettier.

  • Susan

    August 10, 2011 at 10:51 am

    Very creative way to use your old dresser to meet a specific need in the bathroom!! The pic shows everything perfectly and the towel rack looks great! I love it! Can’t wait to see all these projects in person!

  • Rachel

    August 10, 2011 at 1:57 pm

    What a great idea! Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting on my DIY wall decor. I’m your newest follower:) absolutelylovingmylife.blogspot.com

  • Diane

    August 13, 2011 at 1:18 am

    Clever lady…good idea. I am feeling inspired to make one for my bathroom! Following you, looking forward to upcoming posts. Diane