We have done a lot of wood projects this summer and the scrap pile is getting bigger. I am going to show you how to turn your left over wood scraps into painted daisy art that you can use indoor or outdoors. Grab your paint and brushes – lets get started!
You will need:
- lumber or fence boards
- sandpaper
- small and medium art paintbrushes
- craft paint-yellow, white, beige, black
- polyurethane (clear varnish)
- large brush (that you might throw out)
- hammer
- needle nose pliers (optional)
- picture hanging kit
The wood in the photo above is scraps of pressure treated fence or deck boards. The size doesn’t matter-just work with what you have. Mine were approx. 5 1/2 inches x 14 inches (14cms x 36cms). They don’t need to all be the exact same.
Have a quick look at the ends of the boards to see if you have any jagged edges. If yes a quick swipe with your sand paper should remove the frayed bits. No splinters!
If you don’t have treated fence boards you can use bare lumber but put a bit of stain on to make it darker.
This board was not a fence board but rather a this piece of wood I was going to make another tray out of. It’s 9 1/4 inches wide and 35 inches long (or 24 cms x 89 cms). I had already put my favorite Jacobeen Miniwax on it. So it was ready to be used for something else but instead I put daisy on it for a much bigger version of the fence boards.
Start with white and paint the shape of the daisy. On this one I painted the centre white also.
For this board I didn’t paint the centre till later. I double loaded my paint brush with white on the left and dipped a bit of the beige paint on the right side. I went along the edge of the petal to add some depth.
The centre part of the daisy was painted yellow. It doesn’t have to be perfect no one will look at it this close up. The brush strokes look great from a few feet away. If you turn it into a Welcome sign at your entry way or a backyard garden sign, it’s going to look great!
Using the end of the paint brush add dots around the edge of the circle. Some of the boards I didn’t put any highlight dots. The next photo shows I used brown and black dots to make it really stand out. Every board turned out differently.
After the craft glue has time to be thoroughly dry, I painted on a clear coat of satin polyurethane. If this is going to be used outside it should have this protection on the front and back and edges. The fence board scraps will be weather resistant but the craft paint might crack in the rain. So this protection over the front and sides is worth the effort.
Oh and I hate cleaning polyurethane out of paint brushes so I just use the cheap brushes so I can toss them out. I have been known to wrap it in a baggy or cling wrap with an elastic band if I am going to need it again in the same day. I also store it that way in the freezer if I will need it again in a few days. If the paintbrush dries it’s hard not usable again.
If you get it on your hands. Make your way to the kitchen-without touching anything. Find a bottle of cooking oil (vegetable or olive have both worked for me). Put it on your hands and massage the oil in and watch the varnish come off your skin. Add hand soap and rinse off. Hands are clean and silky soft! Cool trick!
I made enough to give some away as gifts or put on the office craft table for sale. Since these were scraps and I had all of the supplies in my craft and diy corner…this would be a great item to make some money to sell….gotta support my craft addiction ssomehow!
To hang it or lean it…..mmmm.
I used these inexpensive picture hangers and just hammered them into the back. The nails are the tiniest nails I’ve ever seen so I hit my fingers with the hammer about 5 times trying to get this nail tapped into the wood. I suggest getting some needle nose plyers to hold the nail while you get it started. Save your poor fingers!
Around the patio we have a very old privacy fence. It has some ugly seams and badly matched up corners. Putting this as a plaque on the fence is a rather awesome solution!
This was super easy to make and looks great! Painting is so therapeutic. I highly recommend it!
Thanks for reading to the end folks! I hope you have a chance to pin this to Pinterest or share it with your favorite social media.
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How to Make a Rustic Wooden Star
Have you seen these lovely rustic wooden stars and wondered, how hard can that be to make? Well let me tell you it’s ridiculous how easy it is to make this wood star.
Did I mention the wood cost is around $2.50? Say what….?!?!
You will need:
- 1×2 Board $2.50
- twine
- scissors
- stain or paint
- rag
- varnish
- paint brush
Cut the 1×2 lumber into 5 pieces 18 inches long. No wasted wood. Awesome!
I used my FAVORITE wood stain Miniwax Jacobean – it has a dark walnut look to it that I just love! You could use paint instead. Dip a rag into the stain and rub it into the wood. Follow the instructions on the tin to leave it for the right amount of time to dry.
After allowing the stain to dry, I put on a coat of polyurethane. This adds a clear coat of protection if you plan to use it outdoors. If you intend to use it indoors like on a mantel you could skip it.
Gather your finished pieces, scissors and twine….
Place one piece on an angle to the left. Lean the second piece on top,angled to the right.
Add the third piece to the bottom right corner angled up.
Next add the forth piece across….
And lastly add the fifth piece of wood. If it doesn’t look exactly the way you meant it to, shift the corners a bit.
Tie twine around each end. You could also use industrial strength glue like E6000 with the twine, or skip the twine and use nails. I like the rustic look of twine.
For extra reinforcement I tied more twine on the middle parts of the star. This extra twine made it very sturdy. Next use the scissors to snip the scraggly bits of twine close to the star.
I adore hydrangeas so I popped a few out of another arrangement and put it in on the star to test it out. Lovely, these are my favourite flowers.
One nice thing about the twine is you can tuck your flowers into it and pull them out if you want to change flowers for the next season.
I picked up a bunch of purple flowers at Michael’s and took 3 flowers from the bunch and a few little wispy bits off to use for this one. This turned out to be the one I stuck on my living room wall.
This is a dollarstore ($4) autumn decoration I just tied on for fall.
This is so easy! The only thing that takes any time is waiting for your paint or stain to dry. The lumber cost is $2.50. The only thing cheaper than that is the wreath I made for my neigbour out of twigs!
Thanks for reading to the end! I hope you’ll pin this on Pinterest or where every you network with friends.
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Make a Dark Stained Rustic Wood Tray – Easy DIY!
Shortly after making this rustic wood tray I had it placed out on the table with my bowl of clementines and we had company over. My friend Tina’s eyes lit up and said that looks like a Charcuterie Board! I had no idea what she was talking about.
Apparently, these boards are French named partly because harcuterie is the French word for smoked, dry-cured or cooked meats. So during a cocktail party or anytime your entertaining you put out a sampler of all sorts of meats on a wooden board. Cheese and crusty bread or crackers, dips and olives could also be intermingled on your board.
They can be the size of a large wooden cutting board.
reluctantentertainer.com
Or as big as the table top!
moncheribridals.com
The above photo is wedding spread!
Now this is not a blog about entertaining and making beautiful food. I’m a crafter and DIY-er so I’m going to be telling you about how I made my ridiculously easy to make serving tray.
You will need:
- 1 board 2x10x8 (this is long enough to make 3!)
- 2 handles ($3 each)
- sand paper
- stain
- rag
- clear varnish or polyurethane
- paint brush
The board above is 2x10x8 cut into three pieces-so you can 2 away as gifts-That makes the lumber approximately $4.50 per tray!!!! That is amazing. When you look at these in the stores and online they can cost $50 to 100.
Cut the board into the lengths you prefer. The one I show in the photo was 31 inches long, the second one I made was 30 and the last one was 35 inches. I would recommend that you measure the side table you are going to put this on. Are you planning to make this to be a centre piece in the middle of the dining room table? Then 35 inches is great! But, if its a dresser that is 30 inches wide you don’t want to make it wider than 30 inches.
If you prefer your wood smooth, then you could sand it. If you like it very rustic then you could bang it up a bit with some random tools. I skip the sanding step usually unless there are frayed slivers on the ends of the boards.
With your stain and rag apply the color to your wood.
I used my favourite Miniwax color Jacobean 2750. I made the other pieces of board other colors (grey and ebony) but my favorite is always Jacobean.
Since I don’t plan to put any food directly on my tray I used my usual clear coat over the wood to protect from wear and tear. This means I could even leave it outside in a rain storm and it would be fine.
If you do want to place food right on top of the tray there are many food safe options. They are not as durable (don’t leave it outside in a rain storm). Food safe options: Pure tung oil, raw linseed oil, mineral oil, walnut oil, beeswax, carnauba wax, shellac. One website suggested a mixture of mineral oil and beeswax. Here is the recipe…. https://www.finewoodworking.com/2006/08/01/food-safe-finishes
I picked up 3 of the cheapest handles the hardware store had. Each is $3-5 dollars making the cost of the project $11-15 each-assuming you already have the stain and varnish in your DIY stash of essentials. If you find some handles in the craft or specialty shops or even vintage handles by all means use them. They will be on top of the tray so it could be quite the conversation piece.
I chose this one because it screws in from the top. This is actually a good point. If you put on handles with screws that go in on the bottom you may need to counter sink the screw so they don’t scratch your table top. Or you could put 2 slim pieces of wood under the wood to lift it.
If like me, you chose handles that screw in from the top this isn’t a problem. Put the handles on the board and see where you would like them to be permanently. I put mine 3 inches from the ends (this board is 30 inches long).
Voila it was that easy…its a simple board with handles.
This would look great on a side table with a few nicknacks between uses. If you do want to use this to lay out meat and cheese, olives and antipasto you could put down paper doilies, little bowls and plates or wrap the board with cling wrap. I would do this even if you use a food safe finish for faster clean up.
If you find this too long or the wood too thick cut the boards shorter to suit you and your space.
This goes to show that if you see something so awesomely simple, see if you can make it yourself for a fraction of the price.
I hope you give it a try!
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Make a Fall Table Cloth – From Bandanas
Signs of fall are everywhere. The flowers are scraggly and need to be pulled. Its all very sad to see the colour disappear. So my solution is to buy some bright mums and sew a bandana table cloth for the picnic table (or kitchen table).
I was able to find an amazing collection of bandanas at “a Buck or Two”-its a sort of dollar store where things can cost several dollars. You can also buy bandanas (or search for hankerchief or handkerchief) online. I bought way too many so there will be several more projects to come!
I wanted an autumn theme so I chose greens, beiges, maroon, blue and brown. It might be a good idea to lay out the squares and take a photo if you want a specific layout. As you stack them up they can get a bit shuffled.
They come folded and they are cotton so they really should be washed and dried before sewing to prevent shrinkage and bleeding colours.
You will need:
- 9 bandanas
- sewing machine
- pins
- scissors
Get out the iron! Iron all the bandanas. Or find a kid who likes to iron….tee hee….
Start by pinning the first two bandanas, right sides together. Bandanas seem to have a slightly longer side. Mine were 20×21. Make sure they are all facing the same direction so are the same width. They are often not sewn straight or square. Fortunately, this project is very forgiving.
Hey who ironed this beige one!? Slacker!
Sew along the edge.
Iron the seems flat.
I started by pinning the top sets of 2. (1/2)
Next, I sewed the 3rd square onto the bottom of the pair (2/3).
As you can see, now I have three strips of three bandanas.
Start by pinning the left line to the middle line. Match the centre seem/corners. Sew the strips together.
Finally, line up the middle corners of the last line of squares to pin it to the last line of squares. Sew them in place to complete the tablecloth. Finish by ironing it.
Now your done! If you are detailed oriented you could fold over the edge of the tablecloth and sew a hem. But as you can tell I’m not that sort of gal and the bandanas are all finished so there is no edges to fray. If your squares didn’t line up hemming it could correct a jagged edge. Happily mine matched up this time!
Isn’t this little bird adorable. I got it at Canadian Tire! Never overlook your local hardware store’s garden centre. You never know what you’ll find.
Thank you for reading to the end! Please pin this on Pinterest and follow me on your favorite social media!
Below are a few more of my projects you might want to look at.
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How to Make a Decorative Sphere – From Embroidery Hoops
I’ve been wanting to make decorative spheres for a few months. After much pinning and pondering I’ve decided to go for it!
This has to be the easiest way and most clever idea for doing just that! All you need is 2 embroidery hoops per sphere.
You will need:
- 2 embroidery hoops (the same size) per sphere
- paint or stain
- paint brush or rag
- (optional) varnish or polyeurothene
That’s it! If you use spray paint you can get that list even shorter.
You can buy embroidery hoops at the craft store, Walmart maybe even the dollar store. They vary in price depending on size. Expect to pay around $2.50 each-purchase 2. I wanted to make three sizes so when I saw Michaels had 3 packs for 5.98. I thought that is a better value. When you buy these wooden hoops they will come with one smooth hoop inside of another one with tightening clamp screw.
The first step is to get 2 embroidery hoops the same size and take them apart so there is 4 hoops.
Next I got a cloth rag and my favorite stain. Miniwax Jacobean #2750. If you can’t get this kind you can get a similar effect with a Dark Walnut….It would look great if it was spray painted black or white too….Whatever matches your décor.
Dip the rag in the pot of stain and rub it on the wooden hoop.
Allow the stain to dry. Adding a clear coat of varnish is optional. It would give a bit of a sheen and make it more durable if you put it outside. I have seen some posts where folks put these on their porch in a planter. In the great outdoors, I imagine they will age quickly and only last a few seasons of sun and rain. Putting a clear coat will help it to last longer.
I plan to make something similar out of wire for outdoors and I’ll let you know if its a success.
Now lets put it all together!
Gather your 4 hoops and get ready to be impressed!
Insert one of the smooth hoops into the other smooth hoop.
Next, slide a third hoop with the screw tightener over top of the other 2 hoops. Tighten the screw a few twists.
Lastly, put the 4th hoop with the tightener on the outside of all of the other hoops but this one place crosswise.
I prefer to put both of the tighteners close together so that when its on display they will both be on the bottom. It might show a little but it helps the sphere to not roll away.
Here it is on display.
Thanks for stopping by to check out this post. I have a lot more rustic wood projects drying on my workbench. Subscribe to my email list so you don’t miss out when they are ready share!
Use Flowers in Mason Jars for Fall Decor
It’s early September and the summer is over. Even if the weather is still hot in your area like it is in mine-the garden is showing that its winding up for this year. Even when everything looks overgrown and scraggly you can count on your Black-eyed Susan’s for their bright cheery flash of yellow.
Have you got a porch, deck or entranceway that could use dash of colour? I recommend snipping some Black-eyed Susan’s and grabbing some mason jars. I’ll show you what I mean.
After a week away we came home to the garden that looks like this. It’s supposed to look like an English Garden. Ha ha hahaha! Sorry if you fell off your chair laughing hard while looking at my “English Garden”.
It’s gotten overgrown with weeds and plants choking out other plants. But because of those cheery yellow flowers, I don’t despair with this jungle garden!
I know, I’m a terrible gardener aren’t I? Well there are only so many hours in the day…maybe next year…
You will need:
- Mason Jars (or any other jars -empty jam and pasta sauce jars- you might have)
- Garden Snips
- Flowers
- Water
I have had this collection of mason jars for a while in a cupboard….. that I think they belong to my mom. Over time she has shared a lot of pickles and chutneys that she preserved and I have been a naughty daughter and not returned her lovely jars.
So I went to my overgrown garden with some garden snips (sharp scissors will do) and clipped a bit of the Black-eyed Susan’s.
When company is coming this is a nice way for the kids to help roll out the red carpet-or rather the yellow carpet. Get them arranging some jars, add water and add flowers.
These could last for 2 weeks and if the Black-eyed Susan’s are still doing well you could cut more flowers and top these jars up with fresh cuttings.
It’s sad to see the summer close and flowers get scraggly-we need to face it, it’s the end of the season. 🙁
Using mason jars as vases is a great way to keep their cheerfulness and move that colour to other areas-indoors and outdoors.
Here is another Autumn Project!
Here are more Mason Jar Projects!
Make a Wood Crate Plant Stand – Super Easy!
Have you seen these bare wood crates around at the craft stores, hardware store and even Walmart? I sure have and I love em!
I had one lying around without a purpose so I decided to make it into a plant stand for my lovely new fern. Simply paint or stain it, tip it on its end and add some wheels and you have got a super easy and cheap end table, night stand for the bedroom or like me a plant stand on wheels.
What you will need:
- large crate
- paint or wood stain
- 4 caster wheels
- screws (description below)
- screw driver or drill
These crates come in more than one size. I used one from Home Depot which was their bigger $12 crate. You could also choose 2 smaller ones, turn them on their sides and attach them.
Purchase 4 swivel caster wheels. When you visit this area of your hardware store you may be shocked to see how many different kinds of and sizes there are of caster wheels.
The screws used are really short. If you want to use a longer screw you may need to glue some strips of wood on the inside. You don’t want to use a longer screw and have the end poking through. I used short screws and they are holding just fine.
Paint or stain the wooden crate and allow to dry. I just used an acrylic black paint. Check your paint shelf and see what you have to use up. Spray paint would work, craft paint, stain to match other projects in the room…. Just make sure you are thorough because painting all the sides of the slats is a bit of work.
Place the castor wheels on the crate and decide their location.
Drill the screws into the wood.
Admire your castor wheels. This is so easy, now I want to add wheels to everything.
Add a fern on top of the crate and some summer math books for the kids below. Voila!
Yesterday was the first day of school for my girls. They were so excited…even my sleepiest kiddo was in the shower before I was out of bed. Way to go B! They worked on their summer homework books really well since June. Hopefully they didn’t forget as much during the 2 month summer break. I bribed them-mind you and put rules on their screen time. Lol. But they did it!
Hopefully you get a chance to make a super easy crate plant stand or side table.
Have a super day!
Make a Ladder Plant Stand – Easy DIY – Only $20 for Lumber
How to make an amazing plant stand on a small budget.
Help! I’m becoming a crazy plant person! My collection of plants has been growing in the last 6 months and then the plants are growing bigger…so its getting a little overwhelming…they are on the kitchen counters, bookcases and dangling from window hooks. The back of the house by the deck gets the sunshine so they are all in the same area.
After spotting the ladder-style plant shelves made out of antique ladder…..I thought the ladder shelf would be the right solution for this nutty plant buying lady.
This photo from https://abeautifulmess.com/2013/02/nesting-ladder-display-makeover.html is what got me thinking about it. I love that they painted it mustard yellow!
Rather than go in search for a old ladder I went right to the lumber store to make my own. Just a few weeks back I made a blanket ladder and its virtually the same thing-add a hinge at the top and some cross boards across.
You can change your plant stand size to be taller or shorter and add another shelf if you prefer. My plant stand is 60 inches tall and at the widest shelf, 32 inches wide. As you can see it has 3 shelves.
You will need:
- 1 – 1x9x8 Board (this might be 1x10x8 but actually is 9 inches wide)
- 4 – 2x2x8 Boards
- 2 Hinges
- Sand Paper
- Tape Measure
- Pencil
- Square
- Drill/Screwdriver
- Mitre Saw (or get them to cut the pieces at the store)
- Stain (Miniwax Jacobean)
- Varnish (Clear Coat)
- Rag and Paintbrush
- Rubber Gloves
Cut Lumber
Cut the 2 x 2 boards:
- 4 pieces 60 inches (177 cms) long
- 8 pieces 11 inches (28 cms) long
Next cut the 1 x 9 x 8 (or 1x10x8). This board was cut into 3 different lengths.
- Top – 15.5 (40 cm)Middle – 25 (64 cm)Bottom – 32 (82 cm)
Sand any rough areas after the wood is cut. If you like the distressed look you could rough the boards up by hitting it with your hammer. Scratching with the side of a screw etc. I like the rough look with this dark wood stain but I don’t want slivers. So I just sanded the ends.
A sensible person might have put the stain on now before putting it all together. However, I wasn’t feeling sensible and wanted to see if this would turn out how I imagined it. So I put it all together first and stained it at the end.
Lay out the pieces in place. Pre-drill where the screws will go. Using the 2 1/2 inch screws to attach the rungs into the sides. I put the first cross board right at the top. The next one was 15 inches below the first. The next one was 15 inches below and so on.
Now the 2 ladders are done. Lets move onto the hinges.
I chose these hinges because they are long and skinny rather than wide and short like the hinges on a cupboard.
Lay the ladders head to head on a very flat surface. Set the hinges on top and screw them into the wood.
Now I could set it up and make sure I was happy with it before going to the finishing steps.
Yup, I’m Very Happy!!!! 🙂
Stain and Protect the Wood
Almost done! Next we stain the wood. I used Miniwax “Jacobean” for a dark wood finish. I love this stain!
Wearing gloves, dip your rag into the stain.
Rub the stain onto the wood. Now is when you will wish that you did this step earlier before the ladder was put together. There is lots of corners to do if its already put together so it adds time and work. Look at it from every angle so you don’t miss any sides.
The final step is to put a clear coat. Since water could be spilling on the boards putting a clear coat of polyurethane is recommended. If you plan to put the shelf outdoors for a few months of the year you may want to put on a few coats.
I stained and allowed it to dry overnight. The next day I put on the clear coat and allow to dry over night.
It’s hard to be patient for the drying time when the rest came together so super fast!
Now the happy moment has arrived to bring it inside and add the plants.
TA DA! Having all my plants together is going to make it so much easier to remember to water them all!
This project is so simple and easy to make and inexpensive. If you have a toddler at home you may want to keep an eye on them around a project like this. The shelves are just resting on the ladder rungs. To make it more secure you could put an L shaped bracket under each shelf. Its a ladder shape but no climbing on it kids!
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Make a Ribbon Mobile – Windsock
The other day I came across a ribbon party mobile on a porch and I loved! It was bright colors and looked so easy! So off I went to get supplies for my own.
New word of the day: Windsock
If you put these outside it might be called a windsock, so you can tell when its windy. Like they have at the airport to tell wind direction and speed. I did not know this word until I went looking on Pinterest to see how others had made them and that is what they called it. Isn’t that a fun fact!
This could survive the summer outdoors because it is made out of a metal wreath-as opposed to the smaller ones that people do with an embroidery hoop. However, the embroidery hoop would be good for an indoor mobile and it’s smaller so you would need less ribbon.
This is my version of it!
You will need:
- wire wreath (Dollar Tree $1.25)
- spray paint (optional)
- ribbon (variety of widths and textures) you need a lot!
- iron (if your ribbons have creases)
- scissors
- tape measure
- binder clip
- fishing line
Start out by spray painting the wire wreath. This is optional but I did originally leave mine black and it was nagging at me that I should have painted it white or pink to blend in. It doesn’t take much paint a quick spray on one side. Wait an hour and flip it over and paint the other side.
Bric a Brac and Haberdashery!
Here are 2 more definitions to make this a super educational tutorial:
Bric a Brac: Noun
-
miscellaneous objects and ornaments of little value.
- synonyms: ornaments, knickknacks, trinkets, baubles, bits and pieces, bits and bobs, odds and ends
- small items used in sewing, such as buttons, zippers, and thread; notions.
- a shop or a department within a larger store that sells items used in sewing.
More to the point – Ribbon
You will need a lot of ribbon! It would be great if you have a craft outlet store or a source for cheep ribbon with a lot of yards on the spool. You should plan to spend at least $25 on this. Wider ribbon will fill up the space quickly but the skinny ribbon is nice intermingled. It’s a great way to use up old scraps too. Lace, ribbon, ric rac, sequin strips, cheap lengths of beads. Variety is the key!
Start by cutting the ribbon into lengths between 20 and 24 inches or 50 cm to 60 cm. I like the ribbons to be staggered in lengths. Do not use ribbon with wire in it.
Slide the ribbon through the wire wreath.
Pull the ribbon through the loop to form a gentle knot.
Spread the ribbon around the wreath and then add another color. If it’s too short to tie the gentle knot you can put a single strand on the wreath by just knotting it.
Ribbons, Ribbons, Ribbons!
At this point I ran out of my new ribbon and it looks really sparse. So I head down to my sewing area and dig out all my old ribbons and lace and cut up any gray, silver, white, cream and any shade of pink in any width of ribbon.
If some of your ribbons have been folded you will want to iron them. Some of my best photos have ribbon with bends and folds and it really bugged me. So off they came and I ironed them flat. Make sure the iron is set to gentle.
A friend gave me this bottle of beads. The strand of beads is really long so there is plenty to add several lengths on this project. I also had a spool of sequined ribbon and that adds a nice bit of sparkle.
It’s actually quite beautiful now. When I lift it up there is very little wire showing.
Time to Hang it up!
Now you will need to string it up. I could have used ribbon but there is literally none. It’s all used up on this mobile. So use fishing line…its very inexpensive and clear. I used a binder loop as the connection and it will help with movement if you are using it outdoors in the breeze.
Knot it on the wreath in three places and then pull the three strands together and upwards. Tie it in a knot twice leaving 1/2 an inch (1 cm) between the knots to hook the binder clip. Then use the S hook to hang it from a tree branch.
If you hang it on a very low branch you will find your children in it. You’ve been warned…LOL
The photo above is the mobile I did before I spray painted it. You can see some of the black wire. It’s up to you – if you want to skip the spray painting step. In the end I took the ribbons off and spray painted it pink and then started again.
This would be really fun hanging over an outdoor tea party!
I choose my projects based on things I actually want to have around my house and I’m excited to make. This project is both! It turned out lovely and my daughter is happy to have it as an addition to her pink room.
Happy crafting – til next time!
Here are two ribbon and lace mobiles that I found in a store in a neighbouring town.
The one above is using a kitchen pot holder rack.
The one above is using a big white willow wreath. They had such a nice impact that I immediately pulled my phone out to take a photo. Add some twinkle lights and it would be absolutely wonderful!
How to Build a Blanket Ladder – Easy Project!
Blanket Ladder DIY
This project is one of the cheapest projects you could make. If you have the stain, varnish and screws left over from a previous project the great news is the lumber should be less than $10.
You will need:
- Lumber 3 – 8 foot 2×2 (3 x $2.50 each = $7.50)
- Power Drill, drill bit and screw driver bit
- Pencil
- Stain
- Sand paper
- Clear Coat Varnish
- 10 – 2 1/2 Wood Screws
Cut 2 pieces to 6 feet long. Cut 5 pieces to 18 inches long. (This is the size I made)
OR
Cut 2 pieces to 5 feet long. Cut 4 pieces to 18 inches long. (Good if you have a small room)
Do you see that blue sky? 30 mins later the sky had dark clouds and I was hustling everything back into my garage to avoid a major thunderstorm.
Lay out the wood and decide on your set up. I chose to put the first ladder rung 3 inches from the top. Then each one is set to be 12 inches below the next one. This left about 6 inches from the bottom of the ladder.
I predrilled the holes to help the wood not split. That would ruin the wood-trust me I’m famous for doing this and having to head back to the store for a fresh piece of wood. Doh!
I started to drill each screw into the wood to make the next step of adding the rungs easier.
Use a square to ensure the rungs go on straight.
Do you want to have it super smooth finish or rough and distressed…decisions decisions…?
Smooth…then its time to go over it with sand paper or a hand sander.
Distressed…last chance to scratch it up a bit. Rub it with the side of a screw or key. You can even wack it with hammer.
Even if you like it distressed you can almost skip all the sanding but do tidy up the ends with a quick rub using sand paper.
Now for the STINKY wood stain!
Next step is staining it. Choose a stain that will go with your décor. I really like a dark walnut finish but this blanket ladder is going into a room with a lot of black. So I used an ebony stain by Miniwax. If you are indoors open a window. If you can do it outdoors that is even better.
Watch the seams for areas where you have missed stained the first time. I used a craft paint brush to touch up the gaps and unintentional light patches.
After allowing it to dry, put a thin coat of clear protector over top. Keep in mind, clear coats come in a mat finish or glossy. I prefer glossy for the sake of smoother dusting my wood furniture but the mat finish looks really nice too. I chose to use a SPRAY clear coat.
This looks so nice next to the greenery. Maybe I should use it as a trellis instead!
This could double as a magazine rack too. I didn’t have any magazines around so I used the kids summer school work books. Tee hee…. :o)
This is such an easy project! Are you teaching your teenager some DIY skills?
What if a teenager used this ladder to set out their school clothes for the week…
Add a blanket and what a nice housewarming gift this would make!
Crafts Using Burlap and Buttons – Easy Project that Looks Great!
