Make an Easy Over the Toilet Towel Storage Ladder

It’s the week of bathroom DIY projects!  So many of us are looking for clever and stylish ways to add storage to our bathrooms, especially if you have a small bathroom and are needing extra storage space.  This simple and rustic over the toilet towel storage ladder is the perfect thing to make right now for your bathroom.

Are you looking for a simple DIY project to do this weekend?  Look no further!

Maybe you think that this is a difficult DIY project.  Well, I am here to tell you that this over the toilet towel storage ladder is one of the easiest home decor DIY projects I have done and it cost less than 10 dollars so it is a huge money saver as well! It creates tons of over the toilet storage that is also a huge bonus.

This storage ladder is just one of many budget friendly projects I completed for my boys budget friendly bathroom makeover.  A bathroom completed for under $100 dollars!

My goal for this project:

• Create towel and toilet paper storage behind the toilet
• something that will stay out of the way and keep the space open
• Add interest to the bathroom
• Create something unique instead of using a plain jane towel rack

Here is what the space looked like before I got started:

To complete this project you will need:

• 2 – 2 by 2 inch pieces of lumber, 7- 8 ft long
• 2-3  1/4 inch by 2 inch pieces of lumber or trim 7-8 ft long
• 8- 1 inch screws
• cordless drill
• stain or paint

Now, some of these instructions can change according to your bathrooms dimensions.

I have 9 foot tall ceilings so I was able to create a taller ladder, but you can make it any height you want.  I think 7-8 feet is the perfect height.

To start, stain or paint all the pieces that you will be using for this rustic over the toilet towel storage ladder.   Don’t wait until it is assembled.  It will be much harder to paint it that way.

 Start by setting a 2 by 2 inch piece of lumber on each side of your toilet.  Right now you want to do a dry run to get some measurements.  I did not want my ladder to be super wide, so mine tapered as it went up toward the top.

Once you have your 2 vertical pieces of lumber in place, you can take a measurement for the length of the ladder rungs.  I wanted mine to overlap about an inch and a half so I added 3 inches to the length of the rungs.   I only decided to install 2 rungs, but you can add as many as you see fit.  

If you want to hang towels on the first rung you will need to install the first rung 27-28 inches from the top of the toilet bowl.  That will give you enough space for the towels to hang without resting on the toilet which kind of grosses me out.

My rungs were 22 inches apart.  The top rung was shorter than the bottom once since my ladder tapers up.

Once you decide where you want your first ladder rung to be, place the rung exactly where it will be attached and predrill 2 holes through the wood.  This will prevent the wood from splitting.

Now the holes are drilled on one side, secure the rung with screws.  Then you can make adjustments to the other side, making sure the vertical pieces and the rung are all straight and level.  Now predrill holes and secure the other side.

Repeat steps 5 and 6 for the rest of the rungs.  

Now, you can leave the ladder as is, freestanding.  I, myself, knowing that this over the toilet towel storage ladder will be used by young boys that don’t really know how to do things carefully knew that I needed to secure it to the wall.

You can locate the studs, but knowing how homes are built there may not be one where you need to secure it.  But that is okay.  It just needs to be secured in the wall, and since it is resting on the ground, it doesn’t need as much.

I simply secured the ladder by screwing though the vertical pieces into the wall with 3 inch screw.

One thing I wanted to create was a place where I could store towels and toilet paper.  I used this simple thrift store basket to keep toilet paper out of the way. This is definitely an over the toilet space saver.  

I also added an extra screw to hang my sons goggles, since he likes to wear them in the tub:)

This rustic over the toilet towel ladder was the perfect solution for our towels.  This storage ladder can be customized any way you want.  You can use thicker or thinner pieces of wood if you like.  The basic principle is the same.  

Instead of buying a towel rack from a store, try this instead.  People who use your bathroom will find it a fun addition and you will no doubt get tons of comments and compliments.  I know I have.  

Here’s a little video summing up this fun project:

 

 

Do you think you would use something like this in your bathroom?  

Make sure you PIN this over the toilet towel storage ladder for later!

 

If you like this post, check out these other amazing ones:

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