Improvised Toothbrush Holder

So I know lots of people like to keep their toothbrush hidden away in the safety of a medicine cabinet or such. But not me. I like to keep my toothbrush on the counter -- within easy reach. I mean, you never know when you're going to have a toothbrushing emergency!

I must brush my teeth right this second!! I don't have time to be opening up all kinds of DOORS just to gain access to my toothbrush!!!

Or maybe I'm just lazy. Truth is, it is just how I grew up -- with our toothbrushes out in the open, hanging in one of those ever-so-lovely metal holders attached to the wall (think circa 1970's). Something like this:

And you can argue with me all you want that it isn't very ~pretty~ to see a toothbrush sitting out in plain sight (THE HORROR!) or that it is unsanitary (even BIGGER Horror!). But franky, our master bath isn't Grand Central Station and, well... we follow a strict closed-seat-flush rule in our house. So... I want my toothbrush on the counter, gosh darnit!

But have you tried to buy a toothbrush holder lately?? Clearly the toothbrush holder makers have not actually purchased a toothbrush anytime in the last couple of decades. And the toothbrush makers apparently don't actualy talk to the holder makers, because... they don't fit each other!!  Most "modern-day" toothbrushes are fat at either the top or the bottom or BOTH.

 

And yet, it seems every toothbrush holder out there has these cute little, tiny, petite holes. And even if the holes are big enough, half of them look like they would topple over every time you breathe on them, let alone when you are grappling for your toothbrush in a foggy morning haze. Um, yeah. Not gonna work.

I need something with a wide opening - like a cup - that won't topple over on me if I look at it funny. Well.... on a trip to Target, I spotted something! The style/shape/color are just what I'm looking for!! EUREKA!!

But wait... No. It's just a paper cup dispenser. And you can't actually store anything in it -- except paper cups.

:(

But then I started thinking... hey, can I make this work somehow? So, I took a closer look at the inside "mechanism" and noted how it worked. There was a flat disc on which you would place your cups (face down) and then a big giant spring under the disc that you would push down and compress as you inserted your pile of cups into the dispenser. It was clear that I could not remove the disc from the outer cup - it was just too big to fit through the opening. Hmmmm... but what if I could remove the spring?

So once I got the dispenser home, I attacked it. I pushed the disc down enough so that I could turn it sideways a little bit in order to gain access to the spring. And after a little finagle-ing (is that a word?) I managed to get the end of the spring out the top. Then I just pulled the rest of it out and the disc simply fell to the bottom -- TADAAAA! 

After the spring was removed - disc meant as base for paper cups is now floating around in there

Disc now fallen to bottom of holder

I now had myself a perfectly shaped, sturdy "cup" that wouldn't topple over and could easily hold my toothbrush (or whatever else I chose to put in there). Wahoo!

And I liked how it turned out so much that I bought a second one for my makeup brushes (which I do keep in the medicine cabinet :)