Short disclaimer and props for safety glasses… I haven’t posted for a while. Among crazy mothering (it’s a verb at our house) I was cutting wood without glasses and got a shard of wood in the eye– ouch! I am feeling better now, so it’s off to the races!
Hands up if you love when your in-laws visit. My cyber hand is totally raised. My in-laws are fantastic. One of the things I love is that they are productively busy, busy people and they love projects almost as much as I do! They are masters at finding what needs to be done and getting it done. When they came to help me with baby girl last fall they showed up with a stapler, automatic pencil sharpener and a pack of rubberbands because they had noticed the last time they were in town my stapler was broken, I used a manual sharpener, and I was almost out of rubberbands. Love is in the details, people. During the week I wasn’t the least bit surprised that my mother-in-law was up until 11:00 at night organizing my spice cupboards and purging the cabinet above the sink from unused cook books. The day before she left the house was spic and span with piles of pre-made meals in my freezer (not my doing) and while she awaited her ride home she enlisted the help of my three year old to sharpen all the pencils in the drawer. Pinacle of productivity.
Well, last week they were in town. My blessed father-in-law came from a meeting with toggles in his pocket and announced he was going to fix the toilet paper holder. I commented, “oh yeah, it’s been broken for a while, I haven’t gotten around to it”. Well, 10 minutes later it was off the list. Thank you John! Follow the tutorial below.
Materials list:
- toggles
- screw driver
- allen wrench
This tutorial will work for any gaping hole in your wall. One of the reasons the toilet paper holder was low on my list was because I planned on patching the wall and that is a different beast. Why oh why did I not consider a simple toggle?! If you don’t know what a toggle is, or how to use it, check out this quick video. You buy them at any hardware store:
Lots of times the holders in our bathroom, or elsewhere, are installed with aesthetics in mind, so they go into drywall, not a stud. Usually with a big drywall screw so if it ever falls out you are left with a big hole:
Let these pictures tell the story of installing and repairing the gaping hole without patching:
Don’t be afraid of those little things that are broken in your house. There is usually a simple solution to keeping your home functioning and in good repair. And many don’t include power tools at all! Go fix stuff.
W:hoo! I”m honored to have done a simple little project that is worthy of your blog!!!
all your projects are blog worthy :), i learn from the best!
We, of course, loved this!!! So fun to see John on the internet! – famous, no doubt. You are amazing! Love ya, Naomi
Wow! I missed this earlier. Love your helper/model. Really, I do. He’s my dad. 🙂
I love him too!
Dear Mrs. Hardware,
The toilet paper holder in my guest bathroom has been an ongoing nuisance for many years. I’ve tried patching and drywall anchors but always end up with an unsatisfactory result and embarrassment when guests arrive. After reading this post, I headed to my local home improvement store, bought a pack of toggles, and I’m proud to report that the guest toilet paper holder is now the strongest in the house. Thank you, IAmHardware.com, for helping me check this overdue task off my list. Please thank your handy father-in-law too.
Yeah, so happy! This note made my day!