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Towel hooks or towel bar?

16 years ago

We are finishing up our remodel and the contractor wants me to pick out some towel bars. I was thinking, since the H just stuffs the wadded up towel on the bar so it never dries out, we might have better luck with just hooks! I think he can handle hooks. Anyone do this? Do they dry out OK?(I am sure I am overthinking this matter!!)

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Comments (9)

ocdmom
16 years ago
Since I only have space for a 24" towel bar, I would like to put 3 hooks in that space instead. DH thinks it won't dry but a 24" towel is too short for 2 towels, which by the way, would scrunch up and not dry out. I think towel hooks look better esp. if you don't fold the towels neatly after each use and utilizes the space more efficiently. Before our remodel I had 3 hooks the the kids and 2 towel bars for DH. Hooks are easier to use and IMO look neater.

No, you are not overthinking this. These little details make a huge difference. Good luck.
ladycfp
16 years ago
Prior to remodel we used hooks since we had no free wall space for a towel bar. It worked OK but the wall under dh's hooks (we mounted 2 for each of us to allow the towel to spread out a little) had a small but noticeable patch of mold under where his towel hung. He showered morning and night and I guess his towel would not totally dry, hence the mold. So my vote would be NO.

If you have room for a towel bar, and have a nearby outlet, why not go for a heated rack? You can get a small Warmrails at Bed Bath & Beyond or Amazon for under $100 and they have 7 ft. cords. We have one on the wall outside the shower (hardwired) and a freestanding one next to my tub plugged in. I love, love, love them, no mold or mildew and would not be without them. And I have barely used them yet!
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Stephanie's is actually a stand - I have one, can only put fingertip towels on it since it's so short. But works for DD, I'm thinking a towel ring or hook on the back wall b/t mirrors when she gets taller. Why don't you buy an inexpensive stand and try it to see how you like it before you commit? Hooks are easier, but rings look neater (if people bother to fold the towels before slipping them through the rings) and I think are more secure - the towels don't fall off them like they do the hooks. Hooks or rings, a position on the side wall near each sink may be more convenient, not just for kids, depending on how far apart the sinks are/how far from the walls they are. You could always place the hook for the "in-use" bath towel higher and closer to the shower and still fit a hook or ring closer to the sink and lower (just check the length of your handtowels, remember they're not doubled on a hook like they are on a ring, so hook would be higher than ring in the same location). I don't know if you really need to frame out for hooks or rings like you do for bars - unless you think your kids would really pull on them.
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Why didn't they just put the tp holder on the vanity? Who wants to reach way ahead for tp anyways? Ok, so first of all when you say apartment is this a rental or do you own it? If you own it, I would get rid of the towel bar and tp holder. The tile looks like a standard white and if you have to break a few tiles to get rid of them you should be able to replace them pretty easily. Then you can put tp holder on the vanity. Then you could put a towel rack or hooks (my preference) on the drywall above the tile. Above that you could put a shallow depth medicine cab or other shelving unit. Again, if you own it you could sink the cab in between the studs by cutting out the drywall. If it's a rental, you are kind of stuck with whats there. I would use the towel bar for big towels and just ignore the ceramic tp holder and put another one on the vanity. I'd look for shallow depth shelves or cabs to go above the tile behind the door. You can get a neat little thing at places like HD that slide onto the door hinge that will stop the door before it hits the shelves. I would just do open shelves and then have rows of nice baskets to put your ugly stuff in - just mount the shelves high enough that you aren't going to be able to look into the baskets. If you use the ceramic towel rack, then you could get rid of the over the door towel hooks and buy an over the door canvas shoe holder and use that to store things like hairbrushes, razors, shaving cream etc. The one we have is white so it would fit right in with your colour scheme (which I really like BTW). Do you have any room behind the door? or is the door frame almost flush with that wall? Our bathroom is almost identical to yours but we have about 10 inches behind the door. We had a cabinet built for that area and it is amazing how much it holds. Like you we are stuck with the trash between either the vanity and toilet or the tub and toilet. Hope this helps.
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Is there any reason not to use robe hooks instead? Many of them look better to me, but they also need to hang onto the towels. The white rubber tip is ingenious, but I'm thinking about how they look when empty (these would be for guests, they could also use them to hang up their clothes when showering.) I have also thought of sewing the loops on the towels, but it seems like that would make them hang even more compressed, and less likely to dry. But in our climate, if you stay so long your towel smells moldy, it is probably time to go home! (But I have lived places where that seems to happen almost immediately, so your mileage may vary) Are some shapes better than others for keeping the towels on? At my in-laws, they fall off before you even turn around, so it's something I'm sensitive to.
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I replaced a similar towel tower with bars attached to my hollow core doors. They've been fine for several years. I'd looked for a replacement pole but could not find the same type with decent reviews.
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cindy_socal
16 years ago
We're putting in hooks. Bars take a lot of wall space, which I don't have. Just make sure the hooks you choose will hold the towels (sturdy & a curve at the end). A friend sews a small ribbon loop on all her towels (middle of long side) so they are easy to hang.
jperiod
16 years ago
We're in AZ, so everything dries within 24 hrs or less. We always had bars and folded the towel long-ways in half and then over the bar. It was always dry by the next morning in this doubled manner. When we redid the old bathroom, I opted for a bar again for myself (because I also have a washcloth) and a hook for DH because he's not a very neat folder. His towel was still always dry by the next morning. I could see the mold potential, but if you get one of the big hooks that holds the towel out a little from the wall, I don't see how it would differ from the depth of a bar from the wall.

In our new house, we're currently sharing one bar on limited wall space and I fully plan to switch DH to a hook again when we remodel.

We also didn't have a hand towel bar when we moved in, so I just put up a removable plastic hook for the meantime. It's worked out very well (as DH ALWAYS removed the towel from the bar and didn't put it back) and I plan to hang both bathrooms' hand towels on hooks permanently as well!
jellyben
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks all! We are going with the hooks-I like the way they look and it is something the H can handle!
sheltieche
16 years ago
Am finishing up my remodel. Got towel warmer from Warmrails- Regent soft wired, placed above toilet. Looks excellent and towels are dry and warm every morning after evening bath.
Just placed my order for Ginger hand towel bar/ looks like semi- ring and rest of accessories will come from their Surface collection.
Towels always end up on the floor in my family if we use hooks
bonnieg011
16 years ago
I also used the Ginger Surface semi-rings for hand towels. Got my double hooks at Bed Bath and Beyond for robes and towels (behind door).
fixitup
15 years ago
I like the idea of hooks in the bathroom. When we redid our bathroom at home I used large hooks in order to keep the wet towel from ever resting against the wall.

Here is a link that might be useful: Large Bathroom Hook
heimert
15 years ago
Hooks keep the towel damp near the top where the towel is on the hook--it's wadded up there. (maybe not in AZ)

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