I'm hoping to get up to camp this weekend to get the one out of the woods that my hubby used for his tree stand for a bit. Then the ladder is going in our living room against the wall and it's going to hold three old quilts that I inherited that my Great Great Grandmothers made! YEAH!

Here is what I have done. Nothing spectacular, just easy.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:155564}}

Heres mine(-:
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I really like the quilt idea...that is something I could do. I have a couple old quilts my great grandmother made.(-:

Kirkus, I love what youÂve done with your ladders! I especially like the trellis look you achieved in your second photo. ItÂs gorgeous! This will be a fun thread IÂm sure!

I found this old step ladder in the family barn up the road and it was in near perfect condition but my DH said to go ahead and do with what I want as itÂs been up in the loft for 40 years or more and he has no use for it. DidnÂt have to tell me twice, Lol! Here it is, painted and dolled up with little birdhouses and some pots of this & that:
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Cindee and Agnes, your ladder displays are awesome, love both of them. Sooooo pretty!!!

Nice Ladder! You can still use it for it's original purpose too in such great shape.
Don't you have to anchor the ladder? Fist one I tried, went almost to the neighbors house here.

Agnes, I love your bright cheery yellow ladder and decor on it. I did something similar but smaller ladder that was given to me. Yours is so much better tho, much more colorful!!!
Karen
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WOW!!!
They all look great...beautiful colors.
Here is one of mine from last year. (still have to set it up for this year)

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Jean
~who is WAY behind on her gardens~

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:155568}}

I love those ladders!!! I'm still looking for a step ladder. i have painted an apple picking ladder but you can't set anything on the rungs:-)

I'd like to find an old wooden ladder for my garden, but haven't found one YET :) HOWEVER..(lol)...I had been searching for one to make a ceiling pot rack out of,for my new kitchen,and this weekend I found these two,for $4...WOW!! And they're the perfect size. Haven't decided which one will be the pot rack,and then I can use the other one for something else,probably also inside,as a quilt rack like Sweets :) I have a few nice ones I never sold or gave away.

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Well Folks, I've just added an old ladder to my list of "Must Haves". Jean, I love your first ladder and everything you displayed with it, epecially the old boot! I've been wanting to do up an old boot, but hesitated because smallish items tend to get "swallowed" as my garden grows. Displaying it on an old, rustic ladder is perfect!! Kathy

I love all the ladders wow glad I looked again at this post(-: Jean.....is that a boot on bottom of ladder covered in hens/chicks? that is so cool.

Thank you Kathy and Cindee. Yes, the boot is covered with hen and chicks....I also put an old boot with hen and chicks on my Dad's grave site each year. This year I filled an old galvenized pail with flowers and put on his grave site. If you had known my Dad, you would know that he would get a kick out of the old boot and pail. :)

I'm really enjoying the pics of everyone's ladders...

Jean

Wonderful ladders ladies. Love how all of you displayed the birdhouses and plants on them. Luvs

I'm loving your ladders! I love how each one has its own personality. Thank you for inspiring me once again! I'll post a picture when I get my step ladder done. I'm thinking of making an arbor with the long, wooden extension ladder I received. Kirk

I love everyone's ladders... I have not done anything with mine this year.. the leggs are starting to rot pretty bad but this should be a link to the first year I painted it.

Here is a link that might be useful: purple ladder

heres over my breakfastbar...with Christmas lights on it.

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the other 4' of that section is hanging behind the bathroom door for towels...I don't think I have a picture handy of that.
and this is a ladder arch at the entrance to the patio covered with moonvine.

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ha! I'd forgotten about this picture....our yearly ritual 'the first day of school' picture. this was August '06.
this is the picture I was looking for...

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OK Painterchic98...You have just inspired me as what to do with my extension ladder. Just need to convince DH (might not be hard to do once he sees yours) I think yours looks awesome over your breakfast bar & we have one too & it will fit in perfectly with the rest of the decor we have with our other bar area & family room! All these ladders have been an inspiration, but for right now, I just needed ideas for the extension ladder that I have.

You are all so talented!!! I just love all of the ladders!
I have a great one totally covered with years of painting projects but I haven't put it out, but now I am inspired!
Someone suggested tapping in 4' rebar to stablize garden bikes & it worked great for me, it would probably work great for ladders too. Didn't someone have an idea for saving the feet from rotting too?

Easystitches, I too drilled holes in the bottoms of my ladders and inserted rebar...the ladders are up off the ground. Painterchic, how many extension ladders did you use to make your arbor...two? That's exactly what I want to make!!!! I think I'm going to place birdhouses on my step ladder since I collect birdhouses. Can't decide whether to paint it or not...by viewing all of your photos, they look great both ways! Thanks for the inspiration, everyone! I just knew this was going to be a craetive thread from very creative people! Kirk

Everyones ladders look so great. So many great ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: our ladder

I think it was 3 sections. we had a couple of old extension ladders and my fil gave us another...he kept insisting it was still good. those things are so big and clumsy.. you'd have to be built lke a mountain man to actually use one for it's intended purpose.
I just asked dh, he said the 1st one was just one big ladder and the second one was 3 sections.(we've made 2, so far) none of the pieces were the same... nothing was uniform. the legs are sunk in concrete and we'd talked about coating the base with tar, I don't think that happened though.
I took a few wip pics when he built the 2nd arch.....

Here is a link that might be useful: building a ladder arch

Thanks!!! You have inspired me! You'll be seeing my arbor posted in the future inspired by you and you hubby! I LOVE THE IDEA! With Thanks!!! Kirk

your very welcome. looking forward to the pics....

WOOOH WHOOO!! I found an old ladder today at a yard sale! It's rickity, paint spattered, weathered, splintery and PERFECT!!! Now I just have to find the perfect spot for it in my garden, and accessorize of course! I'll post a pic when its in place. Kathy

One more painted and decorated ladder. I paint spattered this one last year for a POM. Enjoy!! Jlily

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Ohhhhh I am just loving all these ladders, inside and out. Guess I could take one out of the shed and set it up. I'll have to look around and see what I can put on it.

Ok now I thought I had posted mine here and didn't. So, here it is! Mine is covered with clematis right now. I had painted it white but it's gotten distressed all by itself! I've had it now 3 years. I have fishing line that I strung to an eye on the trim of the house to serve as an extension part of the trellis.
Enjoy.
Love, Jules

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:155569}}

Beautiful flowers, Desert, but where is the ladder? (Just kidding, I see it peeking out from under those beautiful blooms!)
Nancy

NancyJean,
Well, the photo I was going to use was taken in the winter and didn't have anything on it! My hopes are to give ideas for an end product (the potential). I'm almost certain I saw someones ladder trellis on garden junk and had to have one too. My SIL gave me a gift certificate to one of our local antique stores (Antique Asylum). It's there that I found my ladder. My husband thought I was crazy but he has grown accustomed to my artwork in the yard. People always comment on how they love my garden. The young girls of my friends come over and hang out by the pond or over in the terrace at the patio table and just chat away--they appreciate my decorum.
Love, Jules

Purplemoon!! Your colors are perfect for your setting, the green houses and lavendar flowers are set off wonderfully. I love the yellow too and spattered and all of them. But don't sell yourself short. Magpie

Thanks, Magpie. JLily's splattered blue ladder has always been a favorite one for me. I had planned to splatter my purple one, but didn't get around to it for some dumb reason. But like Kirk said, each ladder seems to have it's own personality, and I love them all.

Great thread with all the neat ladder photos and links.
Karen

I cleaned a new house while back and the painter had left one behind I'm gonna have to call up my builder and see if he still has it in the garage.You guys are giving me sooo many brain storms.lol

won't say which ladder i like the best. but the splattered one reminds me of when i painted.

I've got one, havent any photos yet. But I cut wooden shelves to sit completely across, measured them about 6 inches longer than each stretch. Painted the whole thing green. Put a garden angel on the top and used it for a Christmas tree one year. Its a great A frame tree skeleton, wrapped it in lights and put small wrapped presents on each shelf. It made a truely unique tree.

What a great idea for a outdoor tree in the garden at Christmas time. You could wrap empty boxes in a foil wrap to stand up against the "elements." Would wrapping it in ropes of greenery be overkill? Oooohhh...I hope I can find one, now. (I've seen big ones before, but let them go because I only wanted a small one. Kicking myself, now!) I hope someone bumps this closer to the holidays.

Mine is different. It is not wood it is a pool ladder and I used found wire shelves to make a plant holder. I am ashamed to say it is scruffy there in my secret garden cause I am cleaning out my 10x20 storage shed...all that can be used in my garden is out there and so we can not mow it...lol. Well, break over. Back to work.

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The idea was in a Lowes Creative Ideas magazine several years ago, featured a small ladder, but I branched out (all puns intended) to a bigger ladder!

What great ideas here....I need to get my ladder back out and do something with it, but not sure where to put it, so it's still in the shed. Thanks for sharing, everyone!

I took out our old rickety latter the other day. And after 2 unsuccessful trips to Walmart for pots, I went to the grocery store and bought 4 disposable loaf pans. Reason for disposable is that I could easily put holes in the bottom and that they were pliable and cheap! I brought them home and they do fit except the next to top where I was able to bend it in. Next I spray painted them with that new textured spray paint that looks like stone. That stuff is great!

I am so excited how it looks. It fills up a space where I was looking for heigt. Need to paint it next week when I am on vacation.

I love this site with all your ideas. Thank you as my mom was quite impressed with what I did.

Sister Sunnie, Isn't that Lowes magazine the best. Especially the price!! I really look foward to sitting with some quiet time when it comes.
Nancy

I was totally thrilled to find a 6 ft. wooden ladder at a gs this past weekend for $1. It was in great shape too! DH thinks I'm nuts because he burned all the ones his dad had after he passed away. I'm hoping that my morning glory's take to it like the clematis' did in one of the previous posts.

We have 3 old ladders retrieved from a neighbors junk pile - thinking we'd use them as - ladders. Duh...they were too rickety. I'm sure glad we procrastinated on throwing them out. How sad I would have been to have done so then find this post. All of the ideas here are great. Now to decide which use each will be put to. Thanks everyone.

LOOVVEE that Lowes magazine, some of the ideas are great. It helps to see the finished project and the material list is very helpful too. I go back through them several times a year.

Oh BOY! What wonderful ideas! LOVE LOVE the arbor! Will be on the lookout for some at yard sales! Thanks for sharing everyone!

All of the ladders are wonderful!! My granddaughter likes to tell the story of when we picked up that ladder at a yard sale. I was driving a little Hyundai and had to put the seats down to fit it in. We had the ladder between us and pretty packed but we still managed to stop to buy at more yard sales. That is something she will always remember!!LOL Jlily

how do I find all the pictures on these? I am new at this, Thanks