Paper napkins come in all kinds of decorative styles and patterns, making them an easy way to add personality and colour to the dining table. The same idea can work in the bathroom too, where pretty prints and colourful designs can bring a little style to an otherwise utilitarian space, and here’s one particularly clever way to use them that you might not have considered.
Brands such as Who Gives A Crap and Bumboo have long wrapped toilet rolls in statement papers, turning an everyday bathroom essential into something decorative. Their instantly recognisable prints have become a familiar sight in some of the most thoughtfully styled bathrooms, but those design-led rolls can come at a premium. For as little as £1.50, a pack of paper napkins can create a similar look using the rolls you already have.
It’s a trick that’s been popping up on Instagram with accounts like @caroldemauro offering inspiration. Begin by placing a napkin face down, lay a spare toilet roll on its side in the centre, then wrap the paper around it and tuck the excess neatly inside the cardboard tube. In seconds, an ordinary roll of loo paper looks more like something you might find waiting in a boutique hotel bathroom.
In these practical spaces with limited storage, the everyday necessities can be difficult to disguise. Toilet rolls, cotton pads and toiletries all need to live somewhere. This makes the trick particularly useful in a downstairs loo or guest bathroom where storage is limited. Rather than trying to hide spare rolls, it turns them into part of the room instead.
Choose a napkin with a pretty floral print, stripe or decorative border for maximum effect. This is one of those small details you’d expect to see in hotels, where neatly stacked towels, folded toilet paper and considered toiletries make even the most functional elements look stylish.
It’s also a clever way to use up those odd napkins left over from a set. Unless you buy the same design every time, there are often one or two stragglers that end up squeezed into a drawer and forgotten about. Here, they get an easy second life – with no glue, tape or scissors required.
Stack two or three wrapped rolls on a shelf and you’ve turned something you’d usually think to stash away into a small decorative display. Before hiding your spare loo rolls in a cupboard, it might be worth giving them the decorative treatment instead.
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