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DIY 2×4 Wood Ladder for Decoration

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Do you love the look of those trendy blanket ladders, but you don’t love the prices? Make one yourself with 2×4′ wood boards! Keep reading to learn how you can make a DIY 2×4 Wood Ladder for use in your home decor! You won’t believe how easy it is and you can make one for less than $15! Make sure to check out our other Home Decor Diys while you’re here!


Supplies needed for this project :

three 2x4 wood boards laid out ready to be used for a ladder project

Step one : Cut one of your wood boards

You will need to cut one of your 2×4’s into five pieces. Using a measuring tape, mark off every 19.2 inches of a 2x4x8′ wood board. Then use a speed square to draw a straight line across the board at each of the five marks. This will render five pieces from your board, which you will use as your steps.

A close up of a speed square on a 2x4 wood board with a pencil mark made on the board

You can see here all of our pieces cut from one of our 2×4’s. Those short pieces will eventually become the steps of this diy 2×4 wood ladder!

a couple of 2x4 boards sitting next to some cut pieces of a third board with a circular saw nearby

Step two : Attach the “steps”

Depending how far down you want to start your ladder steps will determine how far apart each step is, so this measurement will vary. Just make sure that you place your top and bottom step first, leaving 6-8 inches on either end. Then find the center of the top and bottom steps and place your middle step there. Last, place your last two steps in the center of each wide gap on either side of the middle step.

2x4 wood boards being made into a wooden blanket ladder

Since measurements will vary widely for this step, that is the easiest way to do it that will result in an equal measurement between each step.

an unfinished diy 2x4 ladder nailed together ready for sanding and painting

Another note that is important, we angled our steps as you can see here, but you can place them straight if you prefer. We used lumber screws to attach the steps to our ladder.


Step 3 &4 : Sand and paint your ladder

Once your ladder is made, sand the rough edges and any places that are splintered or uneven. I combined this step with the painting, because I don’t have an illustration to go along with the sanding. I think that is pretty self explanatory though. My recommendation is to use an orbital sander for this process. Now, let’s paint!

L'Briska with My Eclectic Treasures standing in front of a wood ladder with some paint, a paint brush and a spray bottle in her hand

After your ladder is sanded, dust it off, because you don’t want any dust in your paint finish. Before I start painting, I like to use a spray bottle and moisten the wood surface with a little bit of water. This helps the paint go on easier to the rough wood surface.

someone using a spray bottle to apply water to a wood ladder

You can use any water based paint, and I prefer chalk paint, because I love the matte finish that it leaves. Use a thick brush, because the unfinished wood will soak up the paint quickly, so you will need to use quite a bit of paint to get adequate coverage. If you prefer a more rustic look, you could also just do a white wash like I’m doing here.

L'Briska with My Eclectic Treasures painting a wooden ladder

Step four : Decorate with your new ladder!

Isn’t it gorgeous?! And this was less than $15 to make! Try to get a blanket ladder that cheap anywhere! It’s not happening!

a white wooden ladder leaning up against a tree outside

a finished diy 2x4 ladder leaning on a porch rail

a diy 2x4 ladder being used in home decorating with a blanket and wreath on it

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make this DIY 2×4 Wood Ladder and that it inspires you to make one for your farmhouse decor! We’d love to see your finished ladders in our Facebook Community DIY Group and to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Please join our email family below so we can keep in touch!


Want to Save this DIY 2×4 Wood Ladder project for later? Pin it!

DIY 2x4 Wood Ladder pin for Pinterest with four pictures from the blog entry

Here are more wood projects that you might like :

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