Shower Safety Bar Ideas
Once you’ve remodeled your bathroom or updated the safety features of your shower, don’t toss out all of the old materials. You’ll find ways to “upcycle” items like your shower safety bar into projects for all around and outside your house, often with just a few extra additions and a couple of minutes’ time. Putting your shower safety bar, also known as a grab bar, to new use can mean extra functionality--or just fun--in your home. Does this Spark an idea?
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Glow in the Dark
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If you’re just getting started adding a shower grab bar to your bathroom or want to add a bit of extra safety to the material, using glow paint on it ensures it’ll be seen even in a power failure. Even if someone is taking a shower and all of the bathroom lights go out, he’ll be able to immediately see the shower bar because it’s coated in a waterproof paint. Specialty paints are available from hardware stores and online retailers such as MPK Co. and Glow, Inc., offering you both clear and a range of bright, neon colors to add to the shower safety bar. Colors are available to match your bathroom theme or mask the fact that your bar glows, until you actually need to see it. Glowing paint is waterproof and created to stand up to all sorts of temperature conditions, including steamy showers.
Hanging Rack
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When you just cannot fit another hanger onto the rack in your closet without it coming crashing down at your feet, your old shower safety bar can give you a little bit more room anywhere required. All you need is the two shelving brackets used to support a wall shelf (they’re sold in pairs and come in a variety of colors and shapes to match your decor) and a drill or hammer. With the shower bar as your guide, mark the spots for the two shelving brackets on a wall. An electric drill or hammer may be used to secure the shelf brackets into the wall. Once they’re secure, you simply slide the shower bar through the first bracket’s design, then through the other one, which ensures the bar fits into place without falling out. The shelf itself may be used for another project. A further option is to paint the shower rack a color that matches your wall before sliding it through the shelf holders.
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Guard Rail
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If your books, snowglobes or spice jars are always coming dangerously close to falling or rolling off their shelves or bookcases, your shower bar can stand in as a guard rail. With a little bit of super glue on the bottom of the grab bar, you can apply the bar directly to the edge of a shelf, serving as a guard rail and preventing items from sliding over the edge and falling. If the shower bar is shorter than your shelf, place it either in the middle or in front of the items that have the most potential of rolling off. If your shower bar is longer than the bookcase or shelf, a variety of plastic or metal cutting tools may be used to cut it down to size (you can keep the cut pieces for smaller shelving units); ensure edges are sanded down to avoid snagging any of your items. To match your room, consider wrapping the guard rail in colored electrical tape or wrapping paper or painting it to match the bookcase or shelf.
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- Photo Credit shower image by Dragan Trifunovic from Fotolia.com
