10 Ways to Decorate a Wooden Blanket Ladder

Decorate and repurpose a vintage ladder or wooden blanket ladder with these DIY ladder decor ideas for your home. A blanket ladder can display more than quilts and throw blankets! 

Build your own blanket ladder for these decorative ladder ideas with our tutorials: pallet wood blanket ladder  |  easy $5 blanket ladder  |  vintage style orchard ladder.

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Use Vertical Space in Your Home Decor

When decorating your home, having some variety in your wall decor can be what sets your style apart and makes your home feel designed, rather than just simply decorated.

See our ideas for creative and affordable large wall decor.

Thinking vertical, especially when decorating tall walls, helps give visual interest to your walls. We love vertical decorating elements like

• large-scale wall art
• large mirrors
• tall lamps
• interesting bookshelves or wall shelves
• tall or hanging plants
• decorative wooden or blanket ladders

(We even made a mini ladder for the kitchen counter 😉

Related Reading: How to Decorate Tall Walls

A blanket ladder can be for more than just blankets though, so we rounded up 10 beautiful ways to decorate a wooden ladder, vintage or fresh built.

Please note that all of these ladders and ideas are for decorative use only — not for climbing. If you need a boost, build a sturdy ladder chair, easy bar stool step ladder, or antique small step ladder. 

Looking for more ways to store blankets? Read 5 Easy Ways to Store Extra Blankets.

DIY Ladder Décor Ideas for Your Home

Are blanket ladders still in style?

Yes! Blanket ladders are so functional and easy to DIY, so it’s no wonder that this new take on the old quilt rack is back in style and here to stay.

Use these decorative ladder ideas to store blankets or add decor to any room, with a ladder that is rustic, farmhouse, or industrial in style.

What to put on a decorative ladder

These decorative ladder ideas can be as rustic or modern farmhouse as you want them to be to match your decor style. Build a ladder or use an old wooden ladder from an antique store (or, if you’re like me, salvaged from a neighbor who was taking it to the dump!)

Just The Old Ladder

You don’t have to add anything to a ladder for it to be a great addition to your home decor!

This home office, featured in Better Homes and Gardens (with our decor tips here) inspired the design for our DIY wooden orchard ladder.

The rustic wood finish, angled design and extra height makes it a great standalone ladder for decor.

Dried Flowers on a Vintage Ladder

Flowers are always in style! When they’re not fresh in season, dried flowers can be just as beautiful in this vintage ladder idea from French Country Cottage.

Add a Wreath or Lantern

This blanket ladder decor by Nested Sanctuary has been on my favorites list for ages.

A couple throw blankets at the bottom, a wreath, candles and lanterns, picture frame, and hanging basket with a plant — practically perfect!

Add Vintage Decor

At Gratefully Vintage, Kellie hung her vintage wooden ladder on the wall to make a ladder shelf for vintage plates, bud vases, and frames.

A wall-mounted ladder makes a great low-profile shelf that fills the whole wall, especially for a narrow wall decor idea. This would be great in a kids room for all their collections.

Add Photos for a Living Room Display

A bit of twine and some photos make the perfect addition to a blanket ladder! via Daisy Maebelle

Add Baskets for Functional Storage

Baskets on a ladder can be great for storage but also for chic farmhouse decor, like lemons and vintage rolling pins and fun tea towels. Use wire to hang mason jars for utensil storage or to add decorative greenery, too.

A basket on each rung adds even more storage! Use baskets with hooks or attach wall mount baskets using S hooks or twine to make your own decorative ladder bookcase.

Buy this ladder with baskets here, or find similar hanging baskets here or wall mount wire baskets here to add to your existing ladder. 

More hanging ladder baskets: 

Go Horizontal (and to the Ceiling)

Who says a blanket ladder has to be stood up against the wall vertically?

Hang the ladder horizontally with a couple of shelf brackets or decorative corbels like this quilt ladder display from All People Quilt.

Or hang a ladder overhead for a creative floating display shelf like this ladder with baskets in this country kitchen.

Use A Ladder on the Porch

Going vertical on the front porch gives your entry so much curb appeal! Primitive and Proper added a cute welcome chalkboard sign.   

For green thumbs, build a ladder plant stand to hold all of your plants, too!

 

Scarf & Shoe Storage Ladder

When we built our pallet blanket ladder, we also put it to use in our master bedroom/closet area — holding high heels! Form meets function.

If you’d like to use a wooden ladder to store shoes that don’t have a heel, add knobs or hooks to the ladder rungs.

To organize scarves, drape the scarves over the ladder rung or wrap and tie them.

See more shoe storage ideas here. 

Blankets – and Lots of ‘Em

Of course, blanket ladders are great at holding blankets, and few fluffy blankets, colorful throws, or handmade quilts make great decor, too.

Build a blanket ladder for only $5 in materials with Amy’s tutorial and plans:

Or go even taller — look how many blankets HerToolbelt can fit on her tall 6-ft blanket ladder!

See more blanket storage ideas here. 

A cozy guest room always needs more blankets, and a blanket ladder is a great way to make them accessible to guests! Sustain My Craft Habit channeled beach vibes by using a DIY driftwood blanket ladder.

Bathroom Towel Storage

A blanket ladder makes for great bathroom towel hanging, too! A wood ladder holds full size towels near the bathtub or hand towels when you don’t have a towel ring. Learn to build a rustic towel ladder from 12 Oaks.

Get more bathroom storage ideas. 

Add Lights

String lights are one of our favorite tricks for adding ambiance anywhere! Christmas lights or fairy lights wrapped around a wood ladder make a great nightlight for a kid’s room or a ladder Christmas tree.

See our favorite string light options here.

Hang Christmas Stockings

This is one of my favorite ideas for easy Christmas decor — a stocking ladder! If you don’t have a fireplace or mantel for stockings, use a wooden ladder with hooks or knobs or just tied twine like Gluesticks Blog did.

A wooden ladder makes a great advent calendar idea, too, like Our Crafty Mom used.

or Hertoolbelt built this Christmas ladder decoration as an advent calendar:

See more of our favorite advent calendars here.

Get a blanket ladder here:

Shop our picks for great blanket ladders for your home, so you can have your own DIY ladder decor!

How to secure a decorative ladder to the wall

There are several ways to secure a decorative ladder to the wall if you have small children, live in an earthquake-prone area, or just want to make sure your ladder decor is safe.

The first step is making sure that your blanket ladder has a good “seat” on both the floor on the wall. If you can trim the bottom and top edges of the ladder to make contact with the floor and the wall, it will be more sturdy.

Cut the bottom of the wooden ladder legs at a 5-degree angle (parallel to the floor) and the top of the ladder legs at an 85-degree angle (perpendicular-ish to the floor, against the wall) for a decorative ladder that leans just a little but sits nicely against the wall.

For a more secure decorative ladder, here are some options:

For an angled ladder:

• Use rug gripper, carpet tape, or a picture hanging strip where the legs meet the floor and/or the wall to keep the blanket ladder from slipping.
• Attach an adhesive hook or a cup hook to the back of the ladder. Attach an eye ring to the wall where you want the ladder (use a wall anchor if needed). Then, loop the hook onto the eye ring.

For a wall ladder shelf:

• Attach L brackets to the ladder, then to the wall, either in a stud or using wall anchors.
• Hang 2 corbels to support the ladder (see the quilt ladder above).
• Mount the ladder like a wall shelf, with corbels below to support it. (See the closet example here.)

To hang a ladder from the ceiling:

• Install heavy duty ceiling hooks in the joists of the ceiling. Attach eye hooks to the ladder. Use a chain and closed hooks or S hooks to attach the ladder hooks to the ceiling hooks.

More easy home decor ideas:

• How to Decorate Around a TV (and Cords)
• 6 Steps to Decorate with Color in Confidence
• Functional Wall Decor Ideas for Shelves and Organizers
• 25 Ways to Decorate a Console Table

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