Ladder Blanket Rack

Fall...my favorite season!  With Fall comes so many fun things: blankets, hot chocolate, soup, sweaters, jackets, boots, Fall decor, Halloween parties, pumpkin patches, Thanksgiving, family gatherings, and so much more.  Since I love blankets I wanted a fun way to display them.  I had been looking for an old ladder to hang them on, but I either did not like what I found or what I liked was too much for me to spend.  So I improvised.  See story below.  

At the same time that I was trying to decide what to do with my ladder situation Ryan's sweet grandma gave me a housewarming gift.  Well guess what it was.  It was one of those ladders that you can put on your porch and decorate for the different seasons.  She got me the decorations for Halloween.  The only hard part is that it was all raw wood.  I had to completely paint and embellish it from scratch.  Now don't get me wrong.  I LOVE to do crafts, but at this time in my life I was barely getting a shower in let alone crafting.  So I finished the decorations, but there was no time to make the ladder any prettier if I wanted to use it for Halloween.

This is the ladder she got me along with these decorations.

So fast forward to after Halloween.  The decorations came down and here I was with a ladder that I could use for the blankets!  Note: Still at this point I have not thought of the ladder as something I could use for the blankets.  I know, I know.  I am slow.  

I knew I wanted to stain the ladder.  That is when I found the stain that I used for the growth chart (see here).  So I bought the stain and still the ladder sat there unfinished and unused.  Finally, I had the idea that I could use this ladder for the blankets while it is not being used for Halloween on my porch.  So I told myself to put the ladder with the blankets on it up in my living room and VERY soon I would be staining it so it will not only look better, but match my living room.  Well that was almost a year ago.  I finally stained it a couple weeks ago.  I like it so much better and I have no idea why I didn't take a short amount of time to make it look the way I wanted it to.

Before

Really it didn't take that much time.  It was so quick and drying time was the longest part.

I honestly used the same supplies that I used for the growth chart (here) and had it done in no time.  This time I sanded it first.  Please do not skip that step.  I learned my lesson.  The stain actually went on so well that I had to sand down the bottom part to get it to look the way I wanted it to.

Before I sanded the bottom

After I got the finish that I wanted then I applied Polyurethane.  I applied 3 coats for durability since it will be outside some of the time.  Again, I used the same Polyurethane that I used with the growth chart.  This project was free because I had everything already.  I love it so much more now that it is stained.  It actually looks finished now.

What things have you re-purposed around your house for minimal or no cost at all?

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