Swap The Towel Rack For This Bathroom Storage Idea That Looks More High-End

Despite being functional, towel racks lack the high-end appeal that makes your bathroom feel luxurious. It's often those little design details that create the relaxing, upscale aesthetic that you want. Fortunately, there are plenty of stylish bathroom and kitchen towel storage ideas that also save space — and many of those ideas are DIYs that are much simpler than they look. One perfect example is the towel-storage shelf created by the makers from The Merrythought YouTube channel. The top is a wooden shelf, which can hold toiletries, washcloths, or decorations. Leather straps attached in a loop create the flexible towel storage space below the shelf.

For this project, you'll need wood for the shelf and leather straps for the towel loops. For tools, grab a leather punch and a drill. You'll also need screws and wall anchors. This shelf design features a small vertical board at the back and a thicker 1.5-inch wood piece for the horizontal shelf, but you can customize it to fit your space and style preferences.

You can use a single board to create a floating shelf appearance or add wooden supports below the shelf for a more traditional shelf appearance. Paint or stain applied to the wood allows you to adjust the finished look to coordinate with your bathroom decor. While the original creator doesn't give exact dimensions, the shelf looks roughly 18 inches wide. You can make it larger if you want more storage space, and add two sets of leather loops for double the towel storage.

To replicate the original, cut a thinner board that's about 2 to 3 inches across for the back vertical piece. Cut your thicker 1.5-inch board the same length to create your shelf. The width of that board depends on how deep you want your shelf — roughly 4 inches works well. Stain or paint the wood to fit your design scheme. Then, screw those two boards together, with the thinner board perpendicular to the thicker board.

Next, cut two leather straps to 42 inches long — you can adjust these dimensions depending on how long you want the loops to be and how many towels you want to store there. If you're making a wider shelf, cut four leather straps. Using the leather punch, make a hole about 1½ inches from each end of the strap. Mark the strap attachment points on the bottom of the shelf — center the holes between the front and back and leave about 8 inches between the holes. To attach the straps, align the holes to form a loop, and screw the loops to the bottom of the shelf. (If you have extra material, try these DIY leather and wood wall hooks.)

If this design doesn't fit your vibe, try different design elements. Instead of leather, use braided macrame cords, strings of beads, or nylon webbing. Or, decorate the leather straps with painted designs, stitching, or metal embellishments. You can also use leather tooling techniques to carve, stamp, or emboss designs onto your straps. Learning to do these different techniques can come in handy if you try other DIYs using leather. Once you're happy with the look, hang the shelf, roll your towels, and slide them between the loops.