Ditch The Towel Rack: A Creative Way To Add Industrial Bathroom Storage

Builder-grade towel racks aren't really anything to write home about for most people, beyond preventing your towels from smelling musty and stale over time. But to their fans, the appeal lies almost entirely in that functionality. Style-focused options might feature curved lines and ever so slightly more ornate detailing, but that's far from the aesthetic preference of those who enjoy a pared-back approach to design. What's a fan of industrial decor to do? The solution might lie in embracing a very literal interpretation of this style: Using copper piping to create your own towel rack.

Copper pipes are often used in HVAC systems and for water lines, but it turns out they have an unexpected alternative application as a spot to place drying towels. This isn't a typical, wall-mounted design, however. With just three long pieces of copper pipe, four copper end caps, and eight copper tee fittings, you can assemble a four-rung towel rack that's much closer in appearance to a stylish DIY blanket ladder than the classic hooks and horizontal bars you'll find at a home improvement store. 

In addition to the copper piping, you'll need a pipe cutter, some superglue, steel wool, a tape measure, and a marker or pencil for measurements. While the mention of a pipe cutter might send a few DIY-shy folks running for the hills, rest assured that this is a simple project. If you've ever been through the difficulty of building IKEA furniture, you should be able to complete this towel rack without issue.

We're going to get the most difficult step out of the way first: Measuring and cutting the pipes. Determine how tall and wide you want your ladder to be. For a four-rung ladder, you'll need 10 pieces to create the vertical rails, each ⅕ of the length of the total desired height. Go ahead and cut four rung pieces, too, each the desired width of the ladder. Give everything a polish with steel wool, if desired, then get ready to assemble.

Putting this thing together is simple. Five pieces of pipe form each side of the ladder, each piece connected to the top and/or bottom of a tee fitting, while the two sides of the tee fitting are connected together using the rung pieces. Apply a thin layer of superglue or other appropriate adhesive to keep everything together, then finish off the legs with the four end caps. You can then prop it up against your wall, draping towels over each of the rungs to dry or for display.

Of course, there's plenty of opportunity for customization here. Modify the height or width of the ladder to your needs, add or remove rungs, or even scrap the copper idea entirely and try out galvanized steel or brass pipes. Copper will naturally patina, albeit not very quickly, so if you're looking to maintain that ultra-shiny, warm look, you'll have to commit to a regular cleaning and polishing routine. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to go about this — there's even a common bathroom essential that can make dull copper pieces shine like new.