Winter means time to cuddle up on the couch with your favorite show and your coziest blanket! We love soft, cuddly throw blankets in our homes, but we pretty much hate when they end up on the floor or messily tossed on the couch. This DIY copper ladder is literally the cutest way to hang up your cozy blankets this season, and better yet, it’s under $100, super easy to make and super cute!
Supplies:
-(6) 20″ pieces of 3/4″ copper pipe
-(14) 8″ pieces of 3/4″ copper pipe
–(12) 3/4″ copper pressure tees
-(4) 3/4″ copper tube caps
First, connect your copper tees to the 20″ pieces of copper. These will act as the “steps” of your ladder. You can reinforce with super glue or epoxy if your joints aren’t nice and tight. No one wants their ladder falling apart. Most of our joints were super tight, so this wasn’t necessary on all joints.
Insert your 8″ pieces and connect them all together to make your ladder shape. You will use seven 8″ pieces on each side of the ladder.
Finally, attach your caps to the ends of your ladder’s legs. Reinforce with super glue or epoxy. Tip—we tried hot glue, but since it is a flexible glue, it didn’t hold as well. So we suggest super glue.
Once everything is nice and tight, stand it up against the wall and hang your favorite blankets! If you’d like, you could even secure it to the wall with hooks. It’s very sturdy, but if you’re afraid your kids or pets (or you! ha!) will knock it over, feel free to hook it to the wall.
Overall, we absolutely love how it turned out! Next to the fireplace is the perfect place to cuddle up with a blanket and a book when it’s cold outside. Copper is such a fun material to work with and the possibilities of building with it are truly endless. By the way, do you guys have any good book recommendations? I need some suggestions! –Mallory & Savannah
Credits // Author and Photography: Mallory Nikolaus and Savannah Kokaliares. Photos edited with Celeste from The Fresh Collection.
42 Comments
Loved this post! I usually drape by throw blankets over the couch, and they end up behind the couch. This is a much better solution and so cute too!
Okay, I am going to save this immediately because I can so imagine decorating my new home with this! Amazing project, thank you for sharing!
http://www.makeandmess.com/
Love the copper
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is great, so is anything by George Saunders esp Civilwarland in Bad Decline. Those two suggestions couldn’t be more different btw. 🙂
When I saw the first picture, I thought it was going to involve welding or something… it’s awesome that it doesnt! This actually sounds doable for me, and would be a quick project! As for books – right now I’m reading Yes Please by Amy Poehler (isn’t everyone?) but I just finished reading The House Girl by Tara Conklin and it was great!
I’d love to know where those chairs are from!
I would love a DIY for your pillows, or where they’re from!!
Great idea! sounds very easy!
I’ve had an old ladder that i got at the Brimfield Antiques fair and had planned on using it for towels. But I’m kind of dust & dirt phobic so I’ve never actually used it, even though I love the idea of that look. Thanks so much for this CLEAN alternative! And I LOVE the modern look!
Cute! I love the copper!
Love this! Always thought storage ladders were such a good idea. So simple and effortless.
The first photo is so pretty too 🙂
Simple and functional – thanks for sharing! As for books, I recommend “The Opposite of Loneliness” by Marina Keegan. It’s a collection of essays and stories by a promising young author who died far too young. Her talent was seriously way beyond her years.
Love the look of copper & thinking about how it will look with a patina over time! I would recommend pretty clear rubber chair endcaps to help grip the wall and save the floor from scratches if you have hardwood. You could even put a small strip of pretty washi tape before slipping on the clear endcap to show through for that added piece of flare. Thanks for the tutorial ladies!
I would also love to know about the pillows! Gorgeous!
When I saw the title of this post, I thought…yeah right. But this is such a great idea! This would look so great in my apartment!
The most inspiring book I read recently is Grandma Gatewood’s Walk! It changed my life to want to walk more. I love your copper ladder… and anything copper really.
That ladder looks fantastic! I am also obsessing over those chairs. Where did you get them?
I have been looking for some cool innovative storage ideas for my newly rented apartment. DIYs look amazing but are often expensive. But I think this one is still going to be a good idea. Not to forget how easy this is. Just get the stuff, join everything and it’s ready. Lovely.
Thanks for sharing.
Love the different material used to build this. I recently made a wood ladder for our living but the metal really mixes it up!
I love this! I recently made a wood blanket ladder for our living room but the copper is really unique.
So nice, I love this DIY! x
http://jessicawoods.fr
Pinning this! So awesome
http://www.kelseymarie.co
Nice Ladder! Like the chair in the first picture as well
Very pretty, thank you ladies ! Just FYI, I recently found out that you can get rid of the weird red ink on copper pipes using mail polish remover.
I am OBSESSED with this DIY! I have a $50 home depot gift card that I’m going to be spending soon to make this!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Ooooh! I saw one of these on a recent home dec blog post and wondered where they’d got it from. Now you’ve given us a diy version – thankyou!
Wow, this is great! I wanted to have some decor ladder for so long!!
xx
ani from ani hearts
♥
Oooh! I was recently thinking about doing this with another style of piping, but I really like the copper now.
As for a book recommendation: The Dog Stars. Peter Heller is an amazing story teller.
Just finished The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. It’s so much fun. Love the ladder – thanks!
So fun, I have to try this in my future new flat!
DEFINITELY a KEEPER!! franki
I LOVE this! Such an easy DIY.
Love the project. What a nice way to display throws. I have a couple basic questions. Where do you find copper pipe and copper fittings? Did you have to cut it into those pieces or are those sizes readily available. If you have to cut it, what kind of saw do you need to buy?
I totally want to make this now! Wish I had better hardware skills. 🙂
Oh my god, I love this so so much! This is definitely on my to-decorate list.
I would also love to know where you got those cute chairs!
Question: did you have to cut the copper pipe to size, or was it already cut that way? Unfortunately I made an unsuccessful Home Depot run because it only came in 2, 5, or 10 ft and the employee said they couldn’t cut the pipe or it would damage it 🙁
Has anyone else attempted and run into this problem? Just wondering what I should do since I have zero power tools and live in a small apartment.
Perfect for my small flat and given me the answer to how to resolve another problem too :~) If it works I’ll let you know all about it.
Books, I’m in England so don’t know how easy it might be, but anything/everything by Kate Mosse. Hope for the flowers. Can’t remember the author but 20 years after 1st reading it, it’s a part of me.
I would like to use this to keep my fabrics accessible. Won’t the copper stain the fabric, or throws, particularly once it starts oxidizing? I looked up how to keep copper from oxidizing, and one suggestion is to spray it with polyurethane.
Has your ladder stained the throws?
Simple yet classy. It really looks good there behind the chair.
Just wondering if you were able to buy the pipe in the sizes needed, or if you got longer pieces and cut them down? And if you cut them, using what? Thanks!!
this is amazing, i just wonder about rust, did anyone have any issues ?