DIY Corbel Toilet Paper Holder

8 Materials
$5
4 Hours
Easy

Hi friends! It's been a bit since I've posted, but I have a cute little project to share today. A friend recently asked me what kind of toilet paper holder I had in my bathroom, because she was looking for one for her newly renovated bathroom. We have a weird corner toilet in our bathroom though, so we just keep our toilet paper on a little vintage milking stool in a cute little flower basket. Anyway, after chatting with her for a bit, I discovered she had a corbel shelf above her toilet, so thought it would be a good idea to do a matching corbel toilet paper holder.

I already had these corbels in my wood shop and thought I could whip something up quickly, but they ended up not being deep enough to be able to hold a roll of toilet paper.

Switching gears, I grabbed a scrap piece of 1x6 and sketched out a quick corbel.

When I was happy with my corbel sketch, I clamped the board down and cut the corbel out with my jigsaw. Once that corbel was cut, I traced it onto another section of my scrap 1x6 and cut that one out with my jigsaw as well. For more jigsaw projects, check out my Instagram!

With my deeper corbels cut out, I mocked up the design to see how big to cut the piece for the back of the toilet paper holder.

For the back piece, I used a scrap 1x8 because it happened to be the same length of my corbels. I cut it to 4.75" wide with my miter saw. I used another scrap 1x6 for the top piece cut to 7".


I sanded everything smooth and then stained my pieces with Minwax Special Walnut.

When the stain was dry, I traced the inside of the toilet paper roll on the area of the corbel where I wanted to mount my toilet paper roller.

I used this toilet paper roller that I got from Walmart for $1.47.

To drill the holes for the ends of the toilet paper roller to sit, I used a 3/4" drill bit at a depth of about 1/4", then went over the same hole with a 7/8" drill bit at a slightly shorter depth of about 1/8".

To assemble all of my pieces together, I just used a little wood glue and 1.25" nails in my nail gun.

Assembled and so cute!

I could have been done at this point, but my friend's corbel shelf I was trying to match was a distressed white, so I painted the toilet paper holder Sherwin Williams Alabaster and distressed the edges.

I kind of want to make one of these cuties for my home now!

Isn't DIY so fun? Make sure to follow me on Instagram for more DIYs and ideas.

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3 of 5 questions
  • DC DC on Aug 29, 2020

    Are there any problems with getting the roll holder out once the roll is set in place inside the holder? There does not appear to be much room for fingers to make sure it is secure, or get in there if it needs to be removed.

    It is however very cute and sounds perfect for the bathroom you mention.

  • Brenda Brenda on Aug 29, 2020

    How is it attached to wsll

  • Debra Dusseau Debra Dusseau on Sep 05, 2020

    In this COVID age I wanted something to hang paper towel for the bathroom, I will revamp to accommodate a roll of paper towels. Can you suggest a rod for the holder, maybe a wooden dowel ; but what could you use to hold in place?

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  • Kiply Prescott Clair Kiply Prescott Clair on Nov 16, 2020

    VERY cool!


  • Darrel Bickel Darrel Bickel on Aug 31, 2021

    For the record if you had not put the top cover on it you could have made the pin the old fashioned way, a 3/4-in to 5/8-in wood pin with the ends turned down to about 3/8-in. The Right side had a recessed hole for it to fit into, and the left was an open slot the other end dropped into. The end must be wider than the depth of the hole to have clearance. Those last for decades if not centuries, with redecoration being their main downfall. The spring loaded pins tend to last a few years but I know our store sold out of both the chrome and white ones on a regular basis. On your style one could thread one end of the pin and feed it through a hole on the other side. Or thread both ends with two threaded caps or just threaded on one end with a cap glued on the other. Your holder is a nice design.

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