Are your walls plaster or drywall? Where is the wall behind? Consider cutting a small opening there to look at the back side of the paper holder. This will enable you to determine if the paper holder is attached to the face of your bathroom wall, or is mud-set into the wall. If it is mud embedded you will see a knob inside the wall. If it surface attached, remove the adjacent grouting or calk then carefully pry it loose. If it is mud embedded you most likely will damage some tile getting it out - but dig away as much grout as possible attempting to loosen the holder and work it free. Hope this helps - my only related experience has been a towel bar in an 1920's vintage home.

Familiar question! My preference is to have it on a side wall next to the toilet, if there is a wall to put it on. I like it best in line with or just forward of my knee and about waist high when sitting. I find that makes it easiest to reach for the TP without learning or twisting (something I cannot do because of herniated disks). HOWEVER, we just redid the guest bathroom and I must have been asleep at the wheel when the architect specified the vanity size. The toilet is on a long wall between the vanity and the tub. There is about 21" between the vanity and the toilet and a little more to the tub. My options for the TP holder are (1) on the back wall behind the toilet, (2) on the side of the vanity and (3) opposite the toilet - about 3 foot span - on the wall where the towel bars are going. None of these are good options for someone who can't twist and reach and especially not for a child who, I think, might fall off the toilet just trying to reach! Had I been alert, I would have made the vanity longer than the 36" it is and mounted the holder on the side of the vanity, closer to the toilet. This is still not ideal because the vanity is only 21" deep and the toilet comes out beyond that so there would still be twisting to reach. I am reluctant to use a free-standing holder because the ones I have seen in peoples' homes look cheap and often seem to rust. Any ideas?

Read guidelines 5,6, and 20 of this link http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/bath.design.rules.htm#.V5DQCDsrK9I I would do some exact measurement to make sure you have enough space for that double vanity in order to meet building code. Plus making sure you have a full 36" or more available in toilet space vs the 30" minimum for code makes a huge difference in comfort level. The goal in a small space is not to make it feel as cramped and small as it is so I would definitely trend towards the smaller single vanity choice. Even though a double can be desirable, once people really think about it, most find that the amount of times where they would need to use the sink at the same time is relatively few and then when cramming them too close together they find they are too close to be able to use them practically anyway (most of us need elbow room). If storage is the main consideration, you can do a larger single or come up with alternative storage spaces, of which there are many options. But with that said, this is your bathroom so do what you like, but make sure you measure to ensure that your plan does in fact meet code. I don't recommend a toilet wall in a small bathroom as it would fragment and further close down an already small space and I'd be concerned about egress when the bathroom is only 4 ft wide to begin with. You want it to feel like a bathroom and not a couple of closets stuck together.

I remember in my first house, I made a recessed closed niche all along the vanity between the faucet and the mirror. I found it really useful, I just wish I could find a better option than sliding doors to access the inside. I don't know, if 30 years later there would be a better option ... maybe you can make that recessed space higher than the faucet and have a pressure button latch that is hidden at the back of the door (sorry, I am missing some english vocabulary, hopefully you understand what I mean).