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  1. Home
  2. DIY

How to make a towel rail unit

Update your bathroom with this easy DIY. - by Adam Dovile
  • 09 Jul 2021

Transform a bare wall in your bathroom by installing a towel rail and decorating with a display of indoor plants.

WATCH: Adam and Daniella give an old bathroom a fresh coastal-style makeover

Once you've filled the shelves with all your bathtub essentials, add some greenery to complement the coastal theme. Go for a combo of maidenhair ferns, devil's ivy and succulents, with birds of paradise cuttings for extra wow. 

Why stop at one simple DIY? If you want to give your whole bathroom a facelift, then install custom window shelving for a stylish showpiece and give the tiles a fresh new look using a budget renovator's favourite product: paint. 

wall

Before: An outdated bathroom and empty, bland wall

Sue Ferris
bathroom rail

After: A stunning towel rail with storage

Sue Ferris

Here's how

1. Build a box 

Using PVA glue and 50mm screws, glue and screw 135 x 19mm Tasmanian oak together to build a box of double thickness. Box is 360mm high with width to suit your wall. Apply timber stain. 

2. Make the towel rail

making rail
Sue Ferris

Using offcuts to make four 100 x 90mm blocks. Drill a 35mm hole through 2 of the blocks near bottom. Glue together pairs, with drilled blocks on the inside, then glue over ends of 35mm Tasmanian oak dowel. Glue and screw unit to underside of box towards one end, with 65mm screws. 

3. Put the back on

attaching together
Sue Ferris

Cut 12mm plywood to size 20mm smaller than box. Undercoat, paint front and sides in same colour as bathroom walls, then glue and screw to back of unit so it sits evenly, using 40mm screws. 

4. Fix to the wall 

mounting

To mount unit, locate studs then hold box on wall, horizontally aligning it with your window shelving. Predrill and screw through back of unit into studs, using 65mm screws. 

rail

Use your new towel rail for storage but add some greenery for decoration

Sue Ferris
bathroom

Overall look: A newly renovated bathroom with a towel rail and window shelving

Sue Ferris

Want to see more step-by-step projects for this coastal bathroom makeover?

How to paint bathroom tiles

How to build window shelves

  • DIY
  • Decorating
  • TV
  • Bathroom Renovations
Adam Dovile
Adam Dovile
You still can’t wipe the smile from the affable chippie who won season 2 of House Rules with his wife Lisa in 2014. They then got married in May 2015, and moved from Melbourne to Sydney to join the Better Homes and Gardens team as their resident builder, it’s fair to say that Adam’s grin isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

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