The exciting world of bath hardware

We've done a bit of work in the master bathroom this past week and although it is pretty much done, I'm still not up to taking the pictures and writing a post about it.

Let's just say that the reason I haven't done a post is because we're working on a light fixture hack and I'm not sure how it's going to pan out.  I will soon, because those before and afters are pretty remarkable.  On a budget too :)

So here's a quick one about bath hardware.  Ugh.  I've never understood the massive price increases in cabinet and bath hardware in the past few years.  John blames:

1) Martha Stewart - and when I point out that Martha isn't really about home makeovers, more like homemaking

 he then blames...

2) HGTV -  and then quickly moves on to...

3)  ...his favorite punching bag - Trading Spaces.  The venom reserved for Trading Spaces (still!) is mighty,  I tell you.  But that's for another day.

Moving on...

We've done our budget friendly mini-makeover and we realize we still don't have anywhere to hang a towel.  Bummer.  We go shopping for bath hardware and are disgusted with the price and quality of what is available at your home improvement stores.  Seriously, $10 for a toilet paper holder!  And that's the cheapest one!!  Unless you want to spend $50 for your toilet paper holder, then it looks moderately less cheap, but a little too fussy for our tastes.  Sigh.

At this point I should add that I know that you can get a toilet paper holder for less than $10, I'm being dramatic, OK?

What to do?

A project in pictures...

BEFORE

The original.

It wasn't attached to the wall properly, so every time you
needed to change a roll it would get all wobbly, I think it
would've come out of the wall in the next year or so.

 I saved it the trouble and took it out myself.

Please ignore the wallpaper, that's for another day.

STEP BY STEP

First, go to the plumbing parts section.  

Buy these 5 items

-1/2" cap - 79 cents

-1/2" x 2" nipple (tee hee) - 49 cents

-1/2" 90 degree elbow - 77 cents

-1/2" x 6" nipple (tee hee) -  $1.17

-1/2" floor flange - $1.49

total cost:  $4.71  We bought black, I'm pretty sure galvanized would be cheaper and copper more expensive, so I'll leave that to you which finish to choose.

Clean them up.  I used goo gone for the stickers, then some dish soap, and then just dried them off really well after that.

Spray with clear coat.  

OK, go...

Here they are, clean, clear coated and ready to go! 

Attach the cap to the pipe.  Attach the 2" nipple (tee hee) to the flange. 

Attach the 90 degree elbow to the other end of the pipe. 

Put them all together and, WHAT!, we've got ourselves a toilet paper holder!! 

Here's what it looks like on the wall 

And, here's what it looks like with toilet paper (and no flash).

Done.  Now, I realize that this toilet paper holder looks like plumbing pieces put together, but I prefer to think of it as industrial.  Also, it doesn't threaten to come off the wall every time I change it.  Bonus.

So there you have it, how $5 and 10 minutes (with some dry time for the clear coat added in) gets you a long-term temporary convenience.

Oh, and by the way.  We bought 3 hooks to hang the towels on.  So far they are working out quite nicely :)

Cross your fingers the light fixture hack goes well, here is a before shot to whet your whistle...

See how the stripes on the wallpaper match up with
the stripes glued onto the light fixture housing?

That is some professional wallpapering friends.

Don't be scared, the room looks a little different these days...