How to Repurpose a Faucet into a Towel Holder – Super Easy!

In this post I’ll be taking an old unused outdoor faucet fixture and sharing how to repurpose a faucet into a towel holder.

One of the first projects we started on when moving into our new home back in 2015 was the bathroom remodel.

Once it was almost finished it was time for the hardware to be installed and instead of buying a brand-new faucet from a big-box hardware store we decided to make our own using parts from both a skeleton key door plate and an outdoor brass faucet fixture.

I wanted to make a hand towel rack with repurposed materials, so I figured out a way to repurpose a faucet into a tower holder. We really like the end result, what do you think?

Finding the Pieces

Originally I was going to use a 2″x4″, a skeleton key door plate, and a hinge bolt.

While I was in the garage cutting the 2″x4″ to the right length I saw this old brass exterior faucet with one of those nice old flowery-looking 6-hole handles:

I knew right then and there this faucet handle would replace the hinge bolt which I wasn’t so keen on anyway. Those old exterior faucet handles always reminded me somewhat of a flower so I knew it would look great, maybe even elegant, once we got the final coats of paint on this project to repurpose a faucet into a towel holder.

Prepping the Parts

I didn’t know how the faucet handle came apart from the rest of the mechanism, but after some twisting and turning with a couple pipe wrenches, the faucet handle and key plate fit together as one beautiful piece.

All the pieces were cleaned, sanded, and painted.

I distressed the handle and plate a little with 220 grit sandpaper  and attached the towel rack to the board.

The Finished Project

You can see that the combination of the old skeleton key plate and the faucet handle parts gives you a good distance away from the wood block, so you have plenty of space for hanging even the thickest of bath sheet towels.

Even though we painted the wood block with a single color and the faucet handle and skeleton key plate with another single color, I can definitely see the potential for using multiple colors on both the wood mounting block and even mix & matching the colors on the skeleton key plate and the faucet handle itself. Like for a kid’s room maybe using the three different primary colors on each part and doing a blue, yellow, and red combo for a fun pop of color!

I’m glad for treasures like the key plate and faucet handle when I’m working on DIY projects like doing this one to repurpose a faucet into a towel holder.

Be sure to check out this other hand towel holder made from an upcycled faucet. 

It’s a lovely pairing, don’t you think? We can see a number of places around our new home to use this repurpose a faucet into a towel holder project.

Maybe we’ll make some more of these to use over our refinished entry table so people can hang their coats as they come in the front door. The neat thing about this style of decorating is that you can mix & match the types of faucet handles and door handle key plates, and also change up the colors, and it’ll still look really pretty and country chic.

Have you taken some mismatched home hardware items and created something useful with them? Please share them in the comments below. I’d love to see your creations!

For an upcoming project, we’re thinking about using Meg’s idea from Green With Decor of her repurposed wooden spool towel holder and really up our “country chic” decor in the bathroom with that addition.