Two Upcycled Projects From One Old Ladder

Sypsie Designs
by Sypsie Designs
$5
2 Hours
Medium
We picked up this old wood ladder that had been left as trash a while ago, and finally got the inspiration for what to do with it! It started out as one project, but quickly turned into two. Here's how we upcycled it!
First things first was disassembling the ladder, which took some patience and safety equipment. We took each and every piece apart, and cut off the top step.
After throwing the top step aside to work on our first project idea, we looked over and realized that it could also be used as something I've been looking for recently- a cookbook & iPad stand! All we needed was to cut one of the leg "stumps" at an angle and add some screws with the original hardware.
We spray poly'd the heck out of it since it was going to sit on our kitchen counter, and called this one done!
Next up we went back to all of the pieces we just disassembled, and started putting them back together to use as an over the toilet bathroom organizer. We left as much of the original "characteristics" including the finish as possible. We used the original steps as shelf braces, and only had to purchase one piece of wood to make the shelves.
It was all assembled with screws and wood glue, and we're loving how much extra storage it gives us in our rental bathroom. Since we can't add anything permanent in there, the countertops were starting to look a bit full. Now we're able to put everything up and away easily.
And that was it! We ended up being able to put together two projects out of something that would've just been thrown away, all for around $5 (the cost of the wood for the shelves!)
For detailed instructions on each project visit our blog here:


Cookbook stand: http://sypsie.com/2014/06/04/old-ladder-to-cookbook-stand/


Bathroom organizer: http://sypsie.com/2014/06/08/diy-over-the-toilet-shelves/
Sypsie Designs
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Bjflamingos Bjflamingos on Apr 17, 2017

    I have this same ladder- it's about 60 years old. Need to remove all the rungs to re purpose the wood. How did you remove the round metal end pieces and the metal rods? TIA Love your idea

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  • Robin Pickford Robin Pickford on Jun 22, 2014
    you can also make towel racks and blanket racks with them that is what I an searching for wooden ladders for
  • Sypsie Designs Sypsie Designs on Jun 23, 2014
    Thanks so much for all of the kind words! We love sharing different projects like these and really appreciate it : )
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