Easy DIY Budget Fall Home Decor Project: Harvest Paper Towel Holder

Aug 26

3 min read

Updated: Aug 31

Budget DIY fall paper towel holder concept showing an Avon-inspired $20 version compared with a $5–$10 homemade alternative, with suggested Dollar Tree supplies including a wooden base, pumpkin cutout, dowel, glue, paint, and sealer, plus a plunger handle workaround.

I'm loving Avon's new 2026 fall home decor and also loving that's it's much more affordable than most other places. But this one piece in particular, a harvest paper towel holder, caught my eye and I immediately thought, I could make that for less! It's only $20.00 as of this writing, but you can make it for half that, easily within the $5-$10 range.

Read on to see exactly how.

Dollar Tree's craft section almost always carries wooden pieces for crafting like the round circle base. They even have seasonal shapes like pumpkins. I'm almost sure I've seen something almost exactly like the one used for this paper towel holder at Dollar Tree before. You could even do this project with a completely different shaped wood cutout and make a year round piece or a Christmas themed piece or whatever your creativity leads you to.

I don't remember seeing dowel rods at my local Dollar Tree, but some might have them. If not, one of their cheap plungers is basically a dowel rod with a black rubber suction cup you can easily remove. Avon gives the overall measurements for their finished towel holder as 6" W x 5 ½" D x 9 ¾" H and says it holds a standard roll of paper towels, so you'll want your dowel rod to be around 9 inches. You may have to do one simple cut, but that's the hardest thing about this whole project. I'd also grab a roll of paper towels off the shelf and place it on the base you choose to make sure it's going to be big enough.

Supplies

Wooden base cutout at least 5.5" in diameter
Decorative front cutout at least 5.5" wide
Dowel rod about 3/4" or more in diameter and about 9" in height
Wood glue
Acrylic paints, brushes and Mod Podge or other sealer

💰 What Would This DIY Cost?

Using the usual $1.25–$1.50-ish Dollar Tree price range for the basic craft items I’d look for, here's my rough planning estimate:

Item	Estimated cost
Wooden base	$1.25–$1.50
Decorative wooden cutout	$1.25–$1.50
Dowel rod	$1.25–$1.50
Wood glue	$1.25–$1.50
Acrylic paint	$1.25–$1.50
Mod Podge or other sealer	$1.25–$1.50
Estimated total	$7.50–$9.00

And that's the “starting from scratch” estimate. If you already have paint, glue, brushes, or sealer in your craft stash, your actual out-of-pocket cost could be considerably less.

Prices and availability vary by store and location, and I'm estimating rather than claiming a tested final cost. I haven't actually built this project myself—this is what I'd plan to spend if I were making one.

How To

Attach each piece together with wood glue and allow to dry thoroughly before doing the painting. That way you're not counting on glue sticking to paint and the whole thing falling apart the first time you try to use it. You could get extra and screw the dowel rod in from the bottom of the base, but that's too much work for me.

Paint the base, dowel and decorative element to your own taste using the acrylic paints also available at Dollar Tree. That's where I get most of mine for crafting as well as actual painting and I've always been pleased with them. Their color choices are often limited, so you might have to pick up a few somewhere else.

I'd also strongly suggest sealing the finished piece with Mod Podge or a clear acrylic sealer since kitchen splashes and accidents do happen. I've seen Mod Podge at my local Dollar Tree.

If you don't have a local Dollar Tree, try Five Below which also surprised me with some nice quality craft supplies. I don't have an affiliate relationship with either Dollar tree or Five Below. Those are just two of my go to bargain hunting places.

Of course if you don't feel like fucking with it you can get the already done for you piece from my online Avon shop and I will make a small commission to help feed me and the kitty cats. You can see it and full details here: Harvest Pumpkin Wooden Paper Towel Holder. Note: I'm not nuts about them calling it "wooden" because it is actually MDF, but I don't know that "wooden" is being dishonest, just wouldn't have been my personal word choice. Happy fall decorating! Nice things. Real budgets. That's how we do budget bougie!