Great Ideas: Toilet Paper Holder


When I was a young teen I was visiting a friends house and was in the middle of using the restroom when I discovered there was no toilet paper. I had to shout across her house, her older brothers laughing at my predicament. The awkwardness that is the teen years coupled with that moment of embarrassment has seared the experience into my brain and made it so that I want my guests to never find themselves in similar trouble. But unless you happen to have a cabinet right next to the toilet, the storage solutions kind of suck. Baskets get wet, kids and pets make messes, and I have not managed to crochet a toilet roll cover that is retro cute and not just ugly.

This is a tall vase I found at TJ Maxx, and while toilet rolls will never be pretty, this vase manages to offer a skosh of elegance to a very inelegant object. The glass keeps it off the floor and away from any wetness, and tucked in behind the toilet it can even blend in until the moment it becomes necessary.

With unlimited money I’d have a cabinet installed. But $19.99 is a pretty great price to prevent lifelong embarrassment.