Hello Lovely people! Today on the blog I wanted to do a DIY feature of this wonderful pallet blanket ladder that I built recently. It is so simple, and the best thing about it is that if you have a majority of the supplies laying around it’s practically free! You heard me! That makes it almost impossible to say no to building one.
Everyone loves a cute ladder to hang their blankets on but NO ONE wants to spend a fortune to buy one. I think it’s crazy how much some places sell them for! It blows my mind!
On another note, I know that not everyone has all of these tools just laying around but they sure do make the process significantly easier and if you are a frequent DIYer it may not be a bad idea to invest in some! But I made sure to note which ones are optional, just in case. Luckily, my husband happens to work in construction so we are never short any tools!
Alright, enough of that… Let’s get started!
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Here is a list of everything that you will need:
Lumber: (The pieces I used were 1.5×3″)
2 – 72” long
5 – 18” long
Medium Grit Sandpaper
20 – 1 5/8” Exterior Screws
Drill
Stain in your choice of color (Here is what I used)
Gloves
Foam brush (you can buy a bag of these at the dollar store!)
Lint-free rag
Paint Brush (to apply Polyurethane)
Polyurethane
Optional:
Miter Saw
Sander
Clamps
Step 1:
If you plan on using pallet wood like I did, you will have to separate the wood out to find pieces that are workable for your ladder. Separating a pallet isn’t as easy as you would think and you may end up with a few broken boards. Once you find usable pieces you need to make the following cuts:
For the legs you will need: 2 – 72” Long
For the steps you will need: 5 – 18” Long
If you are buying wood to use, the employees are usually awesome about helping to cut the pieces how you need them. This can save so much time and money if you don’t have a saw at home or just don’t want to deal with the hassle.
Don’t forget to make your angle cut on the bottom of each leg! I went with a 15 degree cut. I decided where I wanted it to lean on the wall and made my cut based off of that.
Step 2:
Sand all of the wood down with medium grit sandpaper to get rid of rough edges. Last thing you want is for your blankets to get ruined by a wood snag!
Step 3:
Decide the direction you want the steps to lay and spread out where you want the rungs to be and mark out drill holes.
I started my bottom rung 16” from the ground and spaced each of the additional rungs 12″ apart which left the top rung about 7“ from the top.
Since the ladder is angled I measured up from each side of the board where I planned on putting my screws, that way the step was nice and even when it was leaning against the wall. Measure out 2 holes on each side of all 5 steps for your screws, for a total of 20 screws.
Step 4:
The clamp is optional. BUT I will say that I did mine without a clamp and I probably could have done it in half the time if I had the clamp to help hold everything together. The fact that I used pallet wood made it a lot harder because the wood is tougher to work with. The clamp will help to hold the boards together so that you don’t have to worry about the wood moving while you are trying to put the screws in.
Either way, line the boards up and start drilling! Once again since I used pallet wood and it was more likely to split I decided to pre-drill the holes (I recommend doing this anyways). Once that is done, it is time to put your screws in and wallah!! You have yourself a ladder!
Step 5:
Last step is to stain! This step requires the most patience and time because you have to wait for the stain to dry before applying the clear coat. Patience is not my strong suit, lol.
The stain I chose to use (pictured below) was Minwax Provincial 211 and I loved how it turned out! I put my one coat of stain on using my foam brush. After I covered the whole ladder successfully I used my lint-free rag to wipe off any excess and let it dry for a few hours.
Once it was dry to the touch, I used my paint brush to apply the One Coat Minwax Polyurethane top coat to preserve the ladder and stain.
The finished product looks just like you bought it from the store! The thing I love about these ladders is that you can customize them how you want it. You can use different sized wood, different shaped wood, different measurements, and you can even add hardware that adds a rustic or industrial touch to it!
Blanket ladders are great decor pieces because they can be dressed up or down for each of the seasons. Try stringing some Christmas lights on them for Winter or placing some pumpkins on the steps for fall. It is going to be a signature piece in your house no matter what time of year it is!
I hope you enjoyed my DIY feature of the week. Make sure to subscribe below so that you don’t miss out on my future DIY Endeavors! If you are interested in seeing how I made the home sign featured in the picture below, that post can be found here!
If you decide to try this out make sure to comment below, I would love to hear from you! You can also pin this to try later!
That’s all for this week, until next time friends!!
