How to Make a Double From a Single Towel Bar

A single towel bar leaves little space for bath linens.

If you've ever lived with a shortage of wall space in the bathroom, you know what a challenge it is to find room for towel storage. When adding another towel bar to the bathroom just isn't a practical solution, suspending one from an already existing bar is. Making a single towel bar into a double one is an inexpensive way to increase your towel storage without adding a freestanding shelf unit to the bathroom or putting holes in the wall. This additional bar can be easily removed if you change residences or gain additional storage.

Things You'll Need

• 1-inch diameter wooden dowel
• Tape measure
• Handsaw or power saw
• Metal wreath hangers
• 1-inch diameter plastic end caps
• Sheet-metal screws
• Spray paint
• Glue for wood-to-plastic adhesion
• Drill
• Drill bit
• Saw

Instructions

1. Measure the wooden dowel the same length as the single towel bar. Cut the dowel to this length with a handsaw or power saw.

2. Lay the dowel, the wreath hangers, the end caps and the screws on a piece of newspaper outdoors. Paint the items with the spray paint, according to the label directions. Allow the items to dry thoroughly.

3. Hang one wreath hanger at each end of the single towel bar. Position each hanger so its square end hangs over the towel bar, with the round-hooked end facing away from the wall.

4. Push the square end of the hanger toward the wall as far as it can go. Hold each hanger in place and drill a pilot hole through the top of its square end and into the top of the single towel bar.

5. Remove the wreath hangers from the towel bar. Lay them on the floor next to each other, with the rounded hooks facing up. Place glue in both of the plastic end caps. Push them onto the ends of the dowel.

6. Place one end of the dowel up against the back of the rounded hook. Drill a pilot hole through the metal of the hook, into the dowel. Repeat this process for the other end of the dowel and the other hanger.

7. Attach one end of the wooden dowel to the back of ta rounded hook by driving a screw through the hanger and into the dowel. Glue it in place. Repeat the process for the other end of the dowel.

8. Hang the square end of each hanger over the single towel bar. Align the predrilled holes. Drive screws through each of the hangers and into the single towel bar at each end.

Tips & Warnings

• Select a drill bit based on the manufacturer's instructions for the screws.

• Select a chrome wreath hanger if the single bar is chrome, and paint the dowel and end caps to match the wall color.

• Wear safety goggles while using power tools.

References

• Virginia Wind: How To Drill A Hole