I Created The Cutest Toilet Paper Storage Using Only A Few Dollar Tree Items

When you have a small bathroom, it can get cramped quickly, leaving you with limited toilet paper storage options. This has become a problem for me because my downstairs bathroom is extraordinarily tiny. Situated beneath the stairs in my half of a duplex, my little bathroom has enough room for the sink and toilet but hardly anything else. Luckily, with this easy DIY inspired by a YouTube video, I was able to turn Dollar tree finds into trendy toilet paper storage that doubles as decor. While I didn't need to be able to store a ton of extra rolls, I wanted to keep a few nearby for convenience. Using a Dollar Tree plastic storage tub with handles, a few sticks of hot glue, and some of the low cost retailer's nautical rope, I made a woven basket to hold spare toilet paper rolls. By adding a couple of the Crafter's Square wood dowels, I incorporated a toilet paper holder directly onto my storage solution.

Other home good stores such as Pottery Barn and At Home sell toilet paper holder baskets for $50 or more, but this project is a budget-friendly DIY to make a gorgeous toilet paper storage solution. Altogether, I spent $15.90 at Dollar Tree. I already had a hot glue gun and glue sticks at home, which helped to make this project even more affordable. While I left my dowel rods and bucket their natural color, you might also want to apply paint or stain.

This project is extremely simple and I was able to complete it fairly quickly. To start, I wrapped my plastic bucket with nautical rope, using hot glue. Rather than removing the plastic ends of the ropes, I left them in place to prevent fraying, and put my first bit of glue onto the plastic sleeve. After lining the rope up with the bottom of the bucket, I pressed it into place, making sure to hold the rope exactly where I wanted it until the hot glue dried. Attaching the first bit of nautical rope onto the plastic tub was the hardest part of this project, as I had a little trouble keeping it from slipping while the glue was still warm. However, the process became easier after the initial piece was secure.

For the first row of rope around the bucket, I used more hot glue to ensure my base layer was secure. Applying thin lines of the hot glue directly onto the rope, I worked with about an inch of the jute at a time until the first row wrapped completely around the bottom of the bucket. With the following rows, I didn't need as much glue, and I placed a dab every 2 or 3 inches down the rope instead. I found that setting the bucket upside down gave me more room to work and kept me from getting glue on my work surface.

As I worked my way around the bucket, I noticed that gaps would sometimes form between the layers of rope if it wasn't quite tight enough. Luckily, this was easily remedied by slightly pushing the newest row of rope into the previous one. When the hot glue was still a little warm, I was able to adjust it as I wanted. Each pack of Dollar Tree's nautical rope only wraps around the bucket a couple times, and when I reached the end of one, I'd simply align it with the end of the next. This made it look like a continuously wrapped piece from afar, creating the woven basket look for my budget-friendly toilet paper storage hack.

I ended up using seven packs of nautical rope. While this was enough to cover the tub itself, it wasn't enough to transform the handles as well. I like the look of the white handles with the rope bucket, but if you'd prefer an entirely woven piece, you'll need additional rope.

Finally, I wanted to set a single Dollar Tree dowel between the handles of the tub to act as the toilet paper roll holder. Because of its cylindrical shape, the dowel rolled around when I tried to pull the paper. To fix this, I simply glued the two Dollar Tree dowels together, side-by-side. This allowed the holder to rest nicely on the basket and allowed the toilet paper to unroll easily.

For my teeny tiny half bathroom, this toilet paper holder worked out really well. The flexibility of the Dollar Tree plastic tub allowed me to squeeze my storage solution into the small gap between the toilet and the wall. I highly suggest you ditch your ugly toilet paper holder for an elevated look with this hack. 

The basket can hold two toilet paper rolls in the bottom nicely, with a third slipped over the dowel to be easily dispensed. The storage has just enough room to keep a couple spare rolls near the toilet without taking up too much space in my bathroom. This adorable basket helped my small, ugly bathroom look nicer while adding some much-needed and easy-to-reach storage.

When I removed the dowel, I was able to fit about six spare TP rolls, though they were spilling over the top of the basket a bit. If you need room for more rolls and already have a toilet paper holder, you might skip the dowel for this storage solution.

Depending on your bathroom and your style, you might complete this DIY differently. Though I stopped gluing the rope just below the handles, consider covering the entire plastic bucket, including the inside, with rope. Alternatively, add knobs to the ends of your dowels for a decorative touch, or use a wider piece of wood such as a rolling pin.