A tutorial for making your own wood towel rack to spruce up your bathroom.
Unless you had the opportunity to really customize a new home, moving into a builder home leaves you with a bunch of builder-y things that lack style and personality (in my opinion). Boob lights are one of them. (Why do they still make these things???)
Another one is towel racks. Swapping out your boring blah towel racks for a custom wood towel rack with hooks is a fantastic way to take your bathroom decor up a notch. And I’ll show you how to do it. This is a bit of a rustic towel rack but you can customize it any way you want to make it look more modern.
There are lots of different things you can use for towel storage in a bathroom. You can use a towel ladder, towel rings, door towel racks, bars, and hooks. A lot of what you use will depend on how much space you have in your bathroom. Luckily, you don’t need a lot of wall space to hang a towel rack (and you can make it as long or short as you need).
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I prefer the look and functionality of hooks versus a bathroom towel bar anyway. Why? Because the towels look less messy hung from a hook. Trust me, if you saw how my kids think a towel should be hung on a bar you would go straight to hooks.
Using hooks gives you plenty of room to move around in a small bathroom space. Plus, I only hang one towel per hook to allow the towel to dry out completely between uses. Even better if you are using waffle towels or Turkish towels because those dry quicker anyways!
If you want to skip the DIY – I’m highlighting some good towel racks that you can buy below.
This is a fun project and you (or your guests depending on what bathroom you are doing this for) will thank you. Let’s go!
Things You’ll Need
- Furring Strip (1x2x8 pine or any leftover wood you might have that is long and skinny)
- Tape Measure
- Hooks (I used these simple hooks)
- Table Saw or Hand Saw
- Wood Stain (I used Early American) or Paint of your choice
- Wood Screws (long enough to go through wood and drywall – I used 2.5 inch)
- Stud Finder
- Sandpaper or Orbital Sander (if wood needs sanding)
- Drill with Screwdriver Drill Bit
- Drywall Anchors (if not drilling into a stud)
- Level
DIY Wood Towel rack – Step by Step Instructions
How to make a bathroom towel rack with scrap wood and a few hooks.
Total Time: 6 hours
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Measure length of towel rack
The first step is to measure how long we want our towel rack to be. I wanted my towel rack to be all the way across the wall in the bathroom, so I measured from the shower wall to the door molding on the other end. That way you can grab your towel while you are still in the shower or tub if you want. Make a note of this measurement so we can cut our furring strip to size in the next step.
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Cut Furring Strip to Length
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Sand and Stain Wood
Time to Sand and Stain your furring strip! Mine did not need sanding so I skipped that part and went right to staining. You can stain with an old, clean rag or a brush. After the stain is dry, you will apply three coats of polyurethane for protection. With all that humidity you want to make sure your wood rack isn’t going to deteriorate on ya. Make sure all poly coats are dry before moving on to the next steps.
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Find and Mark the Studs
Using your stud finder, find and mark the studs along the wall where you want to hang your wood towel rack. For reference, I hung my towel rack 57 inches from the floor.
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Attach Furring Strip to Wall
Now it’s time to get that wood strip up on the wall. You can use construction adhesive for this, but I found it easier to attach it through the studs with wood screws. On the stud marks, drive as many screws as needed to hold up your wood. If you find you don’t have studs, you can use anchors that will (at least) hold the weight of a wet towel. You can also pop a few brad nails in there for extra security, but this is optional.
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Measure and Attach Hooks
Here’s a tip: Try to space out and line up your hooks with the screws you used to attach the wood strip to the wall. This hides them and gives your towel rack a much more finished look. I spaced my hooks out 10 inches. I bought simple black hooks from Home Depot and used the screws they came with to attach them to the wood strip.
That’s all there is to it! You should have a beautiful new wood towel rack in your bathroom. This is a total scrap wood project and you can make it work using wood you already have. Get creative! Don’t forget to hang some beautiful Turkish towels on there for a stylish look.
And If you like this project, then you will definitely like my other scrap wood DIY projects, especially this farmhouse coat rack project. It’s a very similar DIY but I used beautiful antique hooks instead of these simple black ones.
Wood Towel Racks you can Buy
If you want to skip the project, here are some wood towel racks you can buy. You can just click on any picture to get more information.
Thanks for visiting today! Xo Karen
