You've seen it in those Instagrammable boutique hotels — the toilet roll fanned into a crisp little accordion, as if the housekeeping team had nothing better to do. It turns out the "toilet paper pleat" is a real, repeatable fold, and while it's fiddly, it's also oddly satisfying to master.

Grab a roll, give yourself a calm ten minutes, and don't stress about the first attempt. Like any pleat, it gets cleaner with practice — and once you've nailed it, your bathroom gains an instant touch of needless-but-delightful luxury.

If you were in a hotel which had a toilet paper pleat design in the bathroom, then you are definitely in a really fancy establishment. This toilet paper fold is a bit difficult to make and requires patience to complete – management would be asking a lot from the cleaning staff if they expected them to fold a pleated toilet roll in every bathroom.

However, in the comfort of your own home, with lots of time at hand, you could make these fancy toilet paper rolls. It might take a few tries to make a perfect pleat, but you’ll get it.

Instructions for Toilet Paper Pleat

Step 1.

Pull the toilet paper down quite a bit (about 3 “squares” length of TP).

Plan to pleat (accordion-fold, or fan-fold) the toilet paper. Plan to make at least 10 folds or more. Each fold should be about half an inch wide.

The first fold should be a mountain fold (fold back).

This is then followed by alternating valley fold and mountain folds until you have made over 10 folds.

As you fold the toilet paper, compress the folds into a stack.

The last fold should be a valley fold so that the raw edge of the toilet paper is facing up.

Step 2.

When done, fold the stack of toilet paper in half. The raw edges (the first mountain fold made in step 1) should come together.

In transition.

Step 3.

Fold the raw edges together so the right half and the left half of the pleated stack are connected. See example in next photos.

Step 4.

Gently layer the stack of pleats down to get an inverted fan.

In transition.

Step 5.

Fluff and arrange the pleats so they are evenly distributed.

Toilet paper origami pleat is done. Nice!