You guys! I’ve been seeing these blanket ladders everywhere on Instragram, and I just knew I had to have one! But then my search almost stopped me from wanting one. I mean, I was shocked to see how much these can run for! I was finding these ladders for prices like $101 at Target all the way up to $263 at Pottary Barn.😳 I was shocked!
That’s when I knew, this was going to be my next project. I even decided to make extra for Christmas presents because they’re so nice to have.
And guess what was so great about making these?!? I only used TWO pieces of wood to build them! Now that’s a project anyone can handle!
This is a perfect beginners projects as long as you can measure and chop some wood up! And this is a perfect time of year to be building this! Who doesn’t want a blanket readily available on these cold winter nights!? Or if you’re one of those who aren’t always cold like me (Ugh!, I’m such an Arizona wuss!), then these could make super cute ways to display all your cute décor too!
So let’s get started already, as it’s January and it’s cold! Even Arizona has dropped below 50 degrees so I know it must be cold in other places. We need those blankets hanging there waiting for us!
(This post does contain affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through any of the links provided I will make a percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you. So thank you so much in advance if you do help support myself and my blog!)
Here’s what you’ll need:
- 2- 2 x 3 x 8’s
- Chop Saw
- Nail Gun
- Tape Measure
- Pencil
- *Sander. Optional, but I would highly recommend it.
- Wood stain of your choice. I used Briarsmoke by Varathane.
- *Polyurethane. Also optional, but will give your ladder a nice sealed look and help protect it.
Okay, now that you have everything, here’s how to build it.
*Optional Step* Turn your chop saw to 10 degrees, and cut off one end of your wood as close to the bottom as possible on both pieces of wood. This gives you that nice angle so that your wood will sit flat on the floor, but if changing the degrees on your saw intimidates you, you don’t have to do this. I remember the first time I heard change the degree of my saw on a project and I was freaked out about doing this so no big deal if this is your first project ever and you don’t want to mess with all that. You can still make a great blanket ladder without doing this.
- Grab your two pieces of wood. Measure and mark each piece at the 5 foot mark (60 inches) on the opposite end of your 10 degree cuts if you chose to do that step. If you did make the angled cuts, it doesn’t matter if you measure 5′ up from the shorter side or the longer side, but make sure you measure from the same side on both pieces of wood.
- Once you’ve done that, make your cuts. You now have the legs of your ladder! You can set those aside for now, because we’re now going to make the rungs.
- Grab the two scrap pieces of wood that you cut off from your legs and measure and mark 17 inches up on both pieces of wood. Make those cuts.
- Then, taking your two pieces of scrap wood again, you will do the same thing and measure and mark your two pieces of wood at 17 inches. Make those cuts. You now have your 4 ladder rungs! Set them all on top of each other to make sure they’re perfectly even. If they’re not, you’ll want to make cuts to get them all the same size. If they’re all perfectly even, you’re a pro! Way to go!
- Now that you have all your ladder pieces we need to put it together. Take your two leg pieces and lay them down next to each other making sure your ground area is nice and clean and flat. Mark your legs at 3″, 17-1/2″, 32″, & 46-1/2″. Make your marks on the insides of each leg, so one leg all the marks will be on the right side and the other will be on the left. Those marks will be where the top of your rungs will be.
- Now line up your legs and rungs all together so that it looks like a ladder. Make sure everything is straight and even, which should be easy since you made those marks. Now either hold it together using grips or have someone help you to hold the rungs into place, and then nail gun them in place. I pushed the leg as tight as possible to the rung and nail gunned the leg 3-6 times to ensure the rung was in there nice and sturdy. Continue this step for each rung until you have your ladder.
- Now comes the sanding down. Take an electric sander and sand down any rough areas, marked wood, or most importantly, if your rung sticks out at all from the leg, sand that down to make it line up evenly with your leg. See the picture above for an example of why I recommend the sander. That rung needed to be sanded down so it was even with the leg!
- If you would like to stain your ladder, then stain it or paint it the color of your choosing. We chose Briarsmoke by Valspar for our own ladder. The dark one is stained in Dark Walnut by Minwax, and the lightest finished one is stained in Weathered Oak by Minwax.
That’s it! You’re finished and now have your very own super cute blanket ladder! I would love to see your finished products!! So please come find me on Instagram and make sure to tag me @thedecormama. I can’t wait to see your version!
Thank you so much for visiting, and I can’t wait to see you back here for my next DIY project as I have so many ideas swirling around in my head! The hardest part now is deciding which one should be my next project.
See you back here real soon!
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