Anthro Toilet Paper Holder Dupe

The gorgeous, high quality brass Kelly holder. Sadly you don’t find them in this part of the world. So I challenged myself, was there any way that I could hack it?

We may not have Anthro but what we do have (or in our case, have had) are hamsters...and hamster wheels. See where I am going with this? This is a plastic one, the best quality (relatively speaking) of the couple that I own.

And I do also have some of these old curtain rod brackets and wood glue.

With which the former can be stuck together.

Whilst waiting for the glue to dry, snip the plastic fins at the base of the spinner so that they can fit into the curtain rod ring. You could also stick the spinner down so that it doesn't move, essentially gluing the red and the white parts together. I didn't stick mine so it spins, my reasoning was that it would make the paper easier to tear off.

Also snip off a couple of the spokes. I started with one but ended up removing three. Make sure that there are no extra plastic bits sticking out otherwise it will shred the paper.

Spray everything with glossy gold.

Including the hamster wheel.

Next, place the hamster wheel over the curtain rod hole and turn it upside down. The hole should be covered by the plastic disc.

Whilst pressing the rod hole down onto the disk, fill the hole at least a third of the way with hot glue. My reasoning behind doing this is that since a toilet roll holder takes a lot of beating, sticking it down with a minimal amount of glue was not going to work for long. This way, the surface size being stuck down is increased and the join is much bigger and hopefully stronger. Wait for the glue to set.

All fine and dandy except upon testing my hack, all I could roll down were sad little bog roll shreds. Either my design or my paper was defective.

The reason why you pay good money for the real McCoy is that it has a smooth, glossy metal inside surface - like an ice-skating rink for TP. My plastic version not so much. Never mind, let's just add another bit of plastic in the form of a coffee tin lid conveniently already gold. What's that about two wrongs not making a right?! You may have to cut and spray yours.

With a cross cut into the centre and the four protruding triangles removed, we now have a perfectly slippery base for the TP to glide over. Good to go.

Except just one other problem with my design: how do you hang it without it spinning around or coming loose? Two or three screws mounted to the wooden base at the back and chemical anchor in the wall. The biggest cost and greatest effort would be in mounting it.

I think that considering the nominal cost of this hack and the fact that many toilet paper holders are plastic and don’t last forever anyway, it’s definitely worth a try.