When we moved in to our house a few years ago, we knew it wasn’t really our style but there were lots of things about the house that we loved. The main attraction was, of course, the pool. However, several things confused us about the house but weren’t deal breakers. One thing was the excessive use of towel rails all around the house. I kid you not, there were places to hang not 1, not 2, but 12 (!) towels in my daughter’s bathroom. 12!!! When we moved in, I don’t think we even owned 12 towels. But as time went on and my quest to remove some of the rails continued, we realized that, while the rails still seem a bit excessive and weren’t really our taste, the previous owners were onto something. Remember that pool I mentioned?

During the summer, most of our time is spent outside, in and around the pool. And you know what happens when you swim a lot? You end up with a LOT of wet towels and bathing suits. Wet towels and bathing suits that need to be hung somewhere to dry. And in order to keep every room in our house from looking like the bathroom accessory aisle at Lowe’s, we decided to consolidate the rails and install a different solution - a drying rack.

Most drying racks are mounted on the wall in a laundry room for obvious reasons. However, our laundry room is very small and there is no wall in there where a drying wall could be functional while keeping us from getting decapitated. So that left us with the option of the Primary Bathroom.

As you can guess from what I said previously about my daughter’s bathroom, adding a drying rack to our bathroom required removing an existing towel rail. That towel rail was located above our tub (which we don’t really use) so not only did it provide adequate wall space but it was not in a walkway and would allow wet bathing suits, etc. to drip into the tub, not on the floor.

After removing the existing towel rail, I was left with 4 gaping holes in the drywall. Unfortunately because of the width of the drying rack, those holes would still be visible. A fairly simple patch job fixed the holes and left me with a new problem - painting over the patched places. Luckily the previous owners left lots of paint that they had used… but not for that bathroom. But you know what most designers have readily available? Paint decks. I found the right color, bought a sample, painted over the patched places, and…wrong color. Found the next closest match and…still wrong. So I had to create a color. It’s not 100% accurate but I would give it a solid 98% and since I decided to paint the entire wall, you honestly can’t tell at all. WINNING!

After looking at a lot of drying rack options, I decided on this one.

Here is why we chose this one:

Price. I got it on sale which made it even more affordable and we all know I switch things up a lot so not too expensive is key.
It has 7 rails to hang things. Some versions had 4 or 5 rails but remember - LOTS and LOTS of towels and bathing suits around here!
Another nice feature is that it has hardware to hang it on the back of a door if you choose to do so. This wasn’t an option for me but I know it would be nice for some people.

Things I didn’t love love about this particular option:

It’s not super high quality. When I opened the box, there were 2 screws that had come out of the flimsy particle board backing.
The screws that anchor the piece into the wall are located just behind where the moving portion attaches to the frame so screwing it into the wall was a bit tricky.

The beadboard backing on the rack is cute but I wanted something a little more exciting. After finding that the screws were already out or backing out when I first opened the box, I considered removing the back panel and wallpapering the entire wall, however I didn’t have enough wallpaper for the wall. (Remember - I had holes to cover and paint to match.) I decided to cover the beadboard with a peel and stick wallpaper I already had (if I had seen this version of it before I bought the other a couple years ago, I probably would have bought this instead). If I wasn’t so lazy, I should have just taken the back panel off, put the wallpaper on the panel, and reattached it. But let’s not bring logic into this situation. Instead, I wallpapered it while attached. Not my smartest choice but whatever. Why start making great choices now?! This proved a bit difficult as the portion that moves doesn’t allow for a lot of room to work. The wallpaper was also about .75” narrower than the backing. While the unfinished portion is hidden by the frame, it did make it difficult to keep the paper straight. Honestly, I have done several wallpaper projects and this was the most difficult, albeit the smallest. Luckily the size of the project didn’t make me lose my mind.

After attaching the wallpaper, I decided the paper was a little too 2-dimensional so I added some of the wall color and pops of pink. Now it looks a little bit more like a piece of art when not in use!

Now for the more challenging part - hanging the drying rack. I wanted the rack to be level with the height of the trim of the window and door. I also wanted the rack to be as centered as possible on the tub. The best option for making the drying rack fully functional was to attach to a stud which made centering it perfectly not possible. However, it got pretty close.

Steps to attach the drying rack:

Mark your studs.
1. NOTE - Typically, studs are 16” on center (meaning that it is 16” from the center of 1 stud to the center of the next stud). HOWEVER, if you live in an older home, the studs are very often not 16”. DO NOT ASSUME STUDS ARE EVERY 16 INCHES OR YOU WILL END UP WITH LOTS OF HOLES IN YOUR WALLS! Always use a stud finder. This one gets good reviews, is reasonably priced, and indicates if there is electricity or water detected. Trust me, you do not want to accidentally drill through a water line or electrical wire.
2. When hanging something heavy on the wall, you always want to hang it on a stud at least on one side. Drywall anchors and toggle bolts are effective but not as effective as a stud.
3. Remember, this is holding wet fabric which will result in an even heavier load. While I wanted it to be perfectly centered, the weight of the piece itself plus the weight of the load it would be carrying made me want to hang it on a stud more than having it perfectly centered. So yes, find the center of the piece and try to have it centered on the wall where you want it. But when possible, try to ensure that one of the screws is in a stud, even if it means something isn’t perfectly centered.
Find the height you want to attach it.
1. In this case, I wanted the top of the rack to be level with the top of the window trim. I used a level to ensure that the two were the same height.
2. Next, I measured the distance from the top of the rack to the pre-drilled holes. I then made a mark on my stud line at the location where the screws would go.
3. I then used my level to make sure my marks were level.
Drill a pilot hole.
1. When drilling into a stud, drill a pilot hole on that mark you made.
2. When using a drywall anchor, drill a hole into the drywall. You will need a larger drill bit for this. Hopefully, the instructions will provide you with the accurate size bit to use. In this case, there were essentially no instructions. If no numbers are provided, hold up your drywall anchor to your drill bits. The bit should be the same diameter as the anchor. If in doubt, use a smaller bit. You can always make the hole larger but you can’t make it smaller.
Insert drywall anchor (if necessary)
1. Unfortunately, drywall anchors that are provided with these types of items are often very flimsy. When hammering into the drywall, be gentle to prevent the anchor from bending/warping.
2. Hammer anchor into the wall until the anchor is nearly flush with the drywall.
3. NOTE - if you find that you often are provided with extra drywall anchors with these types of projects, save them. Not every time but once in a while. Even when I was being extremely gentle, both drywall anchors that were provided quickly warped and I need one from my stash of random bits and pieces to complete the project. Does the warping mean that the hole is too small? Typically, yes. However, I would rather the hole be too small and the anchor have a hard time going in than the hole be too large and have to go to plan B.
Attach to wall.
1. In this particular case, this was somewhat tricky due to the fact that the pre-drilled holes to attach the piece to the wall were a) wallpapered over (easy fix), and b) located behind the frame of the movable portion of the rack. This meant I had to open the rack to screw it into the wall.
2. Here’s a trick - lightly mark where the holes are on the top of the rack, near the front where you can see it. Remember, this is a large, awkward piece that has a covered back making it nearly impossible to see what’s going on behind it.
3. In this instance, the drywall anchor was actually beneficial. I was able to find the location of the anchor by moving the screw around and turn it a couple times so that the anchor was somewhat gripping the screw, allowing me to find the other hole (the one into the stud) and screw into the stud. I was then able to finish screwing into the drywall anchor and the rack was mounted!

Here are a couple more random tips:

Place some sort of backing on the corners of the back of the frame. For this particular rack, the heads of the screws that attach the beadboard to the frame are not recessed and therefore stick out and would mark up the walls (remember, I know myself and know that this is going to come down at some point and REALLY don’t want to repair the wall again). I used small felt pads that you would put on the bottom of furniture to prevent the furniture from scratching the floors. This added a tiny bit of depth to the piece, essentially eliminating the risk of the smaller screws scratching the wall. I also know that because of the nature of the rack, it will run the risk of the bottom of the frame digging into the drywall when it is opened and has heavy items hanging from it. The felt pads will keep the piece and the wall from getting messed up.
Have someone help you. Did I have someone around to help? Yes. Was that person more than capable of helping? Yes. Did I have them help? No. Why? Because I am stubborn. The awkwardness of standing on the edge of the tub, holding up the piece, and trying to attach it to the wall all while the front of it is open and in your face was, well, awkward. It was doable but it would have been faster and easier if I had just asked someone to hold it up for me.

So there you have it! A finished project! Woohoo! On a scale of 1-10 (10 being pro-level), this was a 3. Could easily be done with basic tools and minimal time. I, being me, made it more difficult. Did I NEED to put wallpaper on there? No. Did I NEED to hang it in an awkward place? No. Did I NEED to hang it by myself? No. But am I glad I did all of those things? YES! It is super functional for our family and actually looks nice when not in use. Win win!