A Tisket. A Tasket. A Wall Full of Baskets

Soo...after my new found obsession with Pinterest started, I came across this wonderful idea for small bathroom storage.

Our upstairs "guest" bathroom doesn't have a lot of storage space, our sink is narrow with little cabinet space, and I'm not very in to the shelf/cabinet over the toilet idea.  So I was thrilled when I saw this picture.  I love baskets because they are a versatile way to store anything and they look good doing it. 

I was also excited because the current towel bar over the toilet was not centered, which really bothered me, so now I had an excuse to take it down.  

For the project:

Tools Needed:

• Screw Driver
• Drill
• Putty knife (if needed)
• Paint roller (if needed)
• Paint tray (if needed)
• Level
• Measuring tape
• Pencil

Materials Needed: 

• Towel Bars
• Baskets
• Something to attach baskets to bar - I used craft ribbon
• Spackling (if needed)
• Sand paper (if needed)
• Self-adhesive drywall joint tape (if needed)
• Primer and Paint (if needed)

You might find some of these steps unnecessary if you don't have to remove an existing towel bar.  So skip to Step 5 and just hang the new ones!

Step 1: 

Remove old towel bar.  Some bars just have a small hex screw underneath the part that attaches to the wall.  Just unscrew those with a hex wrench and pull off.  Others, like mine, have to be twisted and pulled until it just comes off. You might even need a crowbar if its stubborn. Be ready to patch!

This was the old towel bar after I took part of it out. I forgot to take a before picture, so this is the best image for "before." Notice how its not centered...so annoying.

Step 2:

Once the bar is removed, patch up any holes with spackling.  If the hole is bigger than a dime and looks fairly deep, you will need to patch it with the drywall joint tape before spackling. To do this, cut a piece of the joint tape that will cover and overlap the hole.  Then use the putty knife to cover with spackling.  Don't just cover the hole.  Cover around it as well.  Make sure not to leave excessive clumps of spackling.  You will be sanding it, so it doesn't need to be perfectly smooth, but clumps would be bad.

 




I got spackling that went on the wall pink and turned white once it was dry. Awesome! 








Step 3: Once the spackling is dried, sand it down to make it smooth.  You should be able to run your hand over it and not feel a seam where the spackling meets the paint.

Step 4: Once sanded and smooth, its time to prime and paint. 

Not too bad for my first time patching and painting !

Step 5: Now the fun part !  Once the paint is dry, your wall is ready to hang a towel bar.  I wanted a simple towel bar, so I went to Lowe's to see my options.  I came back with two of these babies:

I bought them at $28.50 each.  Kerry did some researching and said that the price was a fairly good deal for new ones, so I went with them. 

Just follow the instructions that came with the towel bar.  Some are different than others, but you'll basically be drilling some holes, screwing in the mounting hardware, then attaching the bar to the hardware.  Use the measuring tape and pencil to mark where the mounting hardware needs to go.  I also used the measuring tape to make sure it was centered. Make sure to use a level to ensure that the bar is level - I didn't for the first bar and it is slightly tilting up...oops!

Step 6: Once the bars are up, cut some ribbon (or whatever you are using to attach your baskets to the bar).  Loop the ribbon through the baskets (I got my baskets at K-Mart).  Then tie the ribbon around the bar.  This part was tricky since the basket was a little heavy, but it worked!  

Here's the final product ! I looove it !  Since it serves as a guest bathroom, I put some toiletries in one basket in case someone forgot something (Target dollar sections are great !)  Then in the other are wash cloths and hand towels. I left the top two empty... for now.

This was my first modification to the bathroom. It was fun to do and pretty easy!

So what are your ideas for using wall space as small space storage?

Now you can Do It Yourself Too !

~Stephanie