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When it came time for this month’s At Home DIY Project Challenge I initially had no idea what type of project I wanted to create. The theme this month is “build it cheaper than you can buy it” and I wanted to make something I could immediately put to use in our house. That’s when I remembered that I had been wanting a blanket ladder to display my quilts. I had just never found the time to make one myself and was even tempted to buy one at times. But I just couldn’t justify the cost as they seemed to range in price from $50-$200! And I knew that I could source wood from my parent’s barn that would not cost me a thing! So that is what I did! Now I know I am not the first one to make a blanket ladder but I wanted to share my take on this project and the way I created it. This project is super simple and cost will all depend on what materials you may already have and what type of wood you choose.

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To start with I did a Google search of all the types of blanket ladders you can buy and found this one from Birch Lane that I liked. It is simple and rustic and just the look I was going for. Below is the inspiration photo for my blanket ladder.

How to DIY a Blanket Ladder

Step 1:

If using scrap wood you will want to use a chop saw to cut all the wood to the correct length. If you don’t have a chop saw and if you are buying new wood you can have this cut for you at the home improvement store.

Step 2:

Sand all the rough edges where your cuts were made. Since the wood, I used were scrap pieces and I wanted a more uniform look I decided to stain the wood. I used Auburn Mahogany Gel Stain that I watered down. I find the gel stain too thick for some projects so I take about a Tablespoon of gel stain and add about a 1/4 cup (I am guessing, I don’t measure exactly) and add that to the gel stain in a plastic cup and mix together. I like to use a foam brush to apply stain to my projects.

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Step 3:

Once the stain or paint (if you decide on paint) has dried it is time for assembly! Justin helped me with the assembly of this project. It was helpful having two of us to hold the rungs in place while the other drilled and screwed. The placement of your rungs is up to you, I started near the top (3″ down) and then had a rung placed every 12″.

You will need to find the center or your side rails and then find the center of each end of the rung. We marked this with a pencil and then used the 1/8″ drill bit to pre-drill all the holes. This way the wood wouldn’t split while drilling in the screw.

Also before drilling in the screw, you will want to use the countersink bit on the outside of rails. This is another helpful way to keep your wood from splitting.

We only ended up installing four rungs since I wanted this to be functional and realized I didn’t want my blankets to drag on the floor. I do have two extra rungs that were cut so in the future we could always add more if needed.

And now I have the blanket ladder I have always been wanting! And my quilts are now displayed instead of being shoved in the back of a closet!

You will definitely want to check out all the other DIY Furniture Knock-off projects from all my friends from the DIY at Home Blog Hop below!

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