Toilet Paper Bar

A humble favorite

Several years ago I decided to design a toilet paper bar for our bathroom. After doing some concept development, I began to understand what I was after. I wanted a modern, minimalistic design, but I didn't want it to feel basic and uninteresting. I wanted a refined aesthetic with a natural feel and a sense of movement or growth.

As usual, I sat down to do some 3d modeling, and I worked up both a model and a dimension sheet. It really only requires one irregular cut, but it's a compound angle, and I didn't want to sort it out by trial and error. Drawing up plans like this allowed me to know the cut angles from the start.

I found a lovely piece of Black Walnut to use for the body, and I glued up and turned a piece of Poplar for the bar. With this design, the end grain faces the user, so it was important that it look and feel nice. Fortunately, end grain sands beautifully, so it sanded and finished up as smooth as glass, and it looks and feels quite nice.

Even after making many other projects, this is still, perhaps, my favorite design of all. To me, it gives a sense that this square piece of wood (the main body part) has extruded from the wall at an irregular angle, as if it originated from a deeper location of the house. It's almost as if by perfect coincidence that this happened right next to the toilet where you can slide a roll of paper on it to use.

As I was hoping would be the case, the angle of the roll of paper is quite pleasant to use compared to a straight bar. It's also easier to replace the roll of paper than the closed-bar designs. On top of all that, it's even pretty darn easy to install, and it's quite secure given you screw it into a stud or secure wall anchor.

It looks better than ever now in our newly remodeled bathroom (which I'll hopefully be able to show you next week!)

I don't know what it says about me that my favorite creation is a humble toilet paper bar, but I'll stand my ground. It's a wonderful design with top-notch aesthetics and functionality, and at quite a reasonable cost, I might add.