Two obstacles to wallpapering my bathroom walls are the towel rack and toilet paper holder. Both appear to be glued to the walls, not just slid onto concealed metal attachments. I can probably get them off without damaging them by working a razor blade around the edges. But what adhesive would I use to reattach them?
I'm also concerned with simply gluing them to wallpaper rather than directly to the underlying sheet rock. Maybe I'm overly concerned because the four-towel set and toilet paper don't weigh very much and probably can't overpower the wallpaper adhesive and separate the wallpaper from the sheet rock.
I'd be strongly disinclined to glue them to the paper. Unless they're ceramic, I'd recommend mounting them using a more traditional method - either toggle bolts, or screws directly into the studs, if that's are convenient. If they're securely attached, you might consider leaving them as is and papering around them.
Screws with plastic expansion shields is typical and has to be way better than gluing them to the wall. If they are really glued, I'd replace them with new ones.
That's what I would love to do. And I can do that with the toilet paper holder. But papering around the towel rack is a particular problem because I can't remove the bar between the two ends. Here's the photo:
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I know new bars are cheap enough, but I really like this one, mainly because it has a square bar. (The actual color is white, contrary to how it appears in the photo.)
Maybe that really is how they attached, and someone did a really nice caulking job around the edges. But poking the edges with a pointy knife doesn't "indent" whatever it is. It's hard like a grout, not soft like even an aged caulk would be.
It appears to be the kind of towel rack that would be installed in a tiled bathroom, attached to a tile or cement wall using "mud". You can probably shear them off by hitting with a hammer on one side. I expect they might be destroyed in the process, and you would need to grind or chip off the remaining cement.
If there is something at one end that can be compressed, you may be able to remove the bar. Did you try pressing the bar to either side?
There is only about 1/8" play side-to-side; definitely no spring to allow removing the bar.
Thanks for raising a good point that I hadn't considered about the shower. This is just a guest bathroom, which will get very little use, especially the shower. When I went to the wallpaper store, I showed a picture to the sales gal, and took along a towel and a picture of the shower curtain for a color match, so she knew the intended use and should have warned me of a potential problem if she were honest.
I just called the store to double check. As long as the shower/tub area is tiled right to the ceiling (no wallpaper in that area) and there is an exhaust fan, which there is, she didn't see any problems.
Having read the responses thus far, these are my thoughts...
Your towel bar appears to be mortared in. The hard "caulk" is grout. Towel bars like yours - those I am familiar with - have sort of a protruding plug on the wall side that is smaller than the base you see and about 1/4" thick. The plug is mortared to the wall and then tile is applied around the perimeter, any void or joint then being filled with grout. Since you don't have tile, I'm guessing they cut a recess in the drywall for the plug, mortared it into that and then grouted.
There is no reason you can't have wallpaper in a bathroom. Obviously, you don't put it in a shower. I also wouldn't use paper wallpaper; paper or (better) cloth backed vinyl, yes.
I don't see any reason why you couldn't hang wall covering without removing anything, including the bar. Yes, you will most likely have to make a horizontal cut; NP, won't show when stuck down again.
If I wanted to remove the ceramic ends, I would first cut out the grout. There are special tools for doing so but a hack saw will work...cut all around until the ceramic is encountered, then wiggle/pry/pull. Gently. It may or may not come out easily.
Another way is to cut out the drywall around them. You would have to patch the DW but you should be able to clean up the fixture easily once you can get to the back.
I've used a couple of things to stick stuff onto walls where I couldn't use a fastener. I stuck up a safelight to a painted concrete wall with white glue. It was there for 13 years and when I moved my studio I took it with me. It was not easy to remove from the wall.
I used silicone to afix a towel bar to a wall in my Honolulu condo. It was (is) a wooden, accordian type thing with several pegs and ornately carved from sissoo wood. There was no good place to put fasteners plus the wall was concrete so I used the silicone. On top of vinyl wallpaper. It was on the wall for 16 years, took it with me when we left. In both cases - towel holder and safelight - I had to use something to support them while the adhesive dried; IIRC, I just used masking tape.
Yes, even though the bar of the towel bar can't be removed, I think what people do is paper half-way up or more between the brackets, and then paper half-way down from above, so there's a seam or overlap in the paper. With planning, the pattern won't be messed up, though if you strive for overlap, some paper will be wasted. But no more planning is required than between vertical pieces.
Another thing you could do is use some wood molding or something to mark off an area around the towell bar, and even possibly the toilet paper holder. If I had taste, I could give you more details, but the molding might the same one might use to run around the room where the top of wainscotting would be, Or if you're looking for modern, it might not even be wood. Or anything else. If 45^ angles are a problem rather than an opportunity, I'm sure a picture frame store could make what would fit there, with you providing the material and dimensions.
Finally, you could hang the toilet paper from the towel bar and then you'd have only one problem.
After reading Mickey and dadiOH's very informative comments, I decided to just leave the bar there. The horizontal slit at bar level will be hidden by the towels and basically invisible anyway because of the nature of the pattern, which doesn't seem to have a definite vertical repeat.
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I'll arrange for a vertical joint to be between the bar's ends.
I found a replacement bar in Home Depot, so I cut the old bar and removed it. Contrary to my expectations, there were no spring devices at the ends to keep it in the end pieces. Originally, all three pieces were fastened to the wall at once as an assembly.
The replacement bar has springs at both ends. The only problem is that the replacement is 3/4" square, while the original was 7/8". So the replacement has a little play in the twist direction. I have to figure a way of increasing the end thickness by 1/8" inch. Maybe some toothpicks to keep it centered, then a bead of caulk on all four sides. Any other suggestions?
I'm only going to have about 3/16" in from each end to play with. I don't know where I would find foam tape, but you've triggered some other options that might work. Rubber bands, for example, then still the caulk just for appearance.
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