Barn Loft Ladder Chandelier

by Issaac @ Practicing ImPerfection

I had been searching for something unique to hang my pots and pans from in my kitchen. I eventually found an old wooden ladder on craigslist that I thought would be perfect.

The seller said the ladder belonged to his grandfather and it had been cut down to a shorter size to be used as a barn loft ladder. I had mentioned before we met what I had planned to do with it. He was pretty intrigued that I was using it to hang my pots and pans from.

My next challenge would be to find an old rusty chain to hang my ladder with. I ended up creating a post on Facebook asking if anyone had an old chain they were willing to part with.

Fortunately, someone answered pretty quickly. A gentleman said he had an old, rusty tow chain. We worked out a price and met at a nearby public location.

I didn't realize that the chain had a coat of orange paint before I bought it. I cut the chain to size then boiled it in water and vinegar in an old pan on my grill to loosen the paint. I scrubbed and scraped for hours until most of the orange paint was gone.

After scrubbing down the ladder, I attached some heavy duty eye bolts to it. Unfortunately, I found that it would hang too low above my peninsula/bar so I decided to hang it above my kitchen table to use it as a chandelier.

I measured out the space above my table, then attached eye bolts to the ceiling to hang the chains from. I then attached the chains to the ladder.

It looked pretty neat hanging from the ceiling but it needed a little something more. I thought about hanging the mason jar lights I had previously installed but decided they would hang way too low.

So I decided to paint some mason jars to hang from it. I mixed up some craft paint to match the cabinets and put on a few coats.

I had been searching for a way to hang my painted mason jars from the ladder and had found a tutorial on creating a handle from wire. I was about to cut up some old, metal hangers to use for the handles when a friend text a picture of some handles made just for mason jars. She said they were on sale for just a few dollars at a nearby store.

A few days later, I picked up those handles and some mug hooks. The handles screwed right on to the jars, nice and easy. I screwed in the hooks, hung up my mason jars, and dropped in some tea lights. My ladder chandelier was nearly complete.

I picked up some pips from a flea markets and stapled them to the sides to complete the look.

I love my new chandelier!

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2 of 13 comments

ClassicCumbria-TimeSavingTips on Oct 31, 2019

Very nice love the look ...well done to you in giveing old wooden ladders the wow factor..unique. You made them that for sure .Thanks for shareing

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Ginger on Mar 05, 2020

I have one but I use my old ladder as a pot rack and whatever else I decide to put on it I have lights, old things like flour shifter , old bottle opener, vinery , of course my pots ...lol my utensils or whatever I can find that's old that will hang on it ...it's beautiful I wish I could share a pic with u all but just moved don't have it up yet.. good job

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