DIY Towel Rack with Wood Pallets

We’ll show you how to make this charming farmhouse styled DIY towel rack using some leftover wood pallets for your next project.

Making a Rustic Farmhouse Towel Rack

One of the main reasons we love doing so many DIY projects are the cost savings. We completed our cozy and contemporary main bathroom renovation on our own and although it took us time and a bit of our sanity ;), the savings were enormous! This DIY towel rack using scrap wood was one of many projects we did for the bathroom. The wood was salvaged from the quartz vanity top crate packaging; which means no added cost and less waste. I’d call that a win-win!

I would have loved to use our beachcomber’s driftwood towel rack we made from a few years ago but the size wouldn’t work in this bathroom plus I wanted to use a dark finish for the hooks. There are so many farmhouse style hooks to choose from to fit just about anyone’s style preferences.

Here’s just a few projects we’ve done using scrap wood:

• DIY scrap wood beach-themed farmhouse sign
• Silly DIY bathroom sign
• DIY nightstand with driftwood legs
• DIY Tic-Tac-Toe board game
• Farmhouse DIY memo board
• And we can’t forget about all our DIY driftwood projects!

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Materials Needed to Make this DIY Towel Rack:

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• Wood pallets (x2 pieces cut to measure 5 ¾” long and x2 cut to measure 28” long or adjust the size to suit your project)
• Farmhouse styled metal hooks
• Palm sander and sandpaper
• Wood glue, clear drying
• Nail gun with 1” long nails
• Hardware for attaching to wall (x4 black screws with matching bolts)
• Drill press or hand drill with appropriate sized drill bits
• Decoart Americana Decor Color Stain in white
• Paintbrush and cloth

How To Make a Farmhouse Styled Towel Rack with leftover wood pallets:

Assembling the towel rack:

This particular towel rack measures 5 3/4” high by 28” long but you can adjust the length to fit your project needs.

Cut the wood pallets to the lengths indicated under materials section. Or determine the length you need for your project. Since all pallets are not equal, it’s best to measure and calculate the dimensions that’ll work best for your project. For example, the shorter pallet pieces that will overlap the towel rack ends, is based on the width of the pallets. So be sure to measure the width of each pallet and double that to determine the length you need for the short end pieces.

Using an palm sander, smooth all edges and surfaces. Wipe away the loose sawdust.

Glue the long wood pallet pieces together. Apply a bead of glue along the lengthwise edge and with a wooden spatula spread the glue evenly throughout.

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Press the wood pallets together along the lengthwise edge.

Add glue to the backside of the smaller wood pallet pieces and press on top of the long joined pieces at either ends.

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Using a nail gun, nail the smaller wood pallet pieces in place, making sure the nails are shorter than the thickness of the two pallets together.

Put the piece aside until the glue dries fully, approx. 24 hours.

Once dry, use a sander to smooth rough edges and wipe away the sawdust.

Painting the towel rack

Gather all the materials to paint: white color stain, paintbrush and a dry, clean cloth. With it’s water resistant properties, this color stain is ideal for a bathroom project like this one.

Using a medium sized flat brush, apply paint to the surface of the towel rack. Wipe away the excess paint using a clean cloth. Reapply another coat of paint or leave it as is to achieve the desired amount of coverage.

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Put the piece aside until the paint dries fully.

Finishing the towel rack

Mark the placement of the hooks with a pencil. Measure the position for all 3 hooks making sure they are evenly spaced apart.

Pre-drill the holes using a small sized drill bit at all marked positions. Attach the hooks to the marked positions making sure the screws are not longer than the thickness of the pallet. Apply a bit of wood glue for added strength.

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To attach the towel rack to the wall, mark the placement for the screws on either end of the towel rack. Pre-drill the holes for the screws. We used these nut and bolt styled hardware and secured them to the wall using anchors.

I love that this towel rack was made using scrap wood we would have otherwise thrown away. For just the cost of the metal hooks and hardware, I have a rustic farmhouse style towel rack my family can use.

More Pallet Projects:

You can quickly make a super easy pallet couch without any tools. Check out the post for the full tutorial!

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