Two Ladder Shelves: $20 + a Little Motivation (Somehow!) and we got it done!
I am still a DIY rookie, yet once I saw an example of this project on Pinterest I knew I wanted to make it. I kept my eyes open at every yard sale I drove passed, looking up and down for wooden ladders that had seen better days. This project had all the makings of being truly wonderful
but unfortunately, I found myself stuck. Hopelessly.
Katherine and I were working on this together while she was home from Smith College this Summer, but we lost motivation when we couldn’t find gold paint for the shelves. The gold paint we tried was hideous and then we had a glitch with getting everything level and then…. Katherine left and I almost went kaput, even with this DIY project I adored!
Sure, I was incorporating upcycling and repurposing with something practical that provided a solution in my home that was even green for goodness sakes but I was also unwilling, for whatever reason, to continue. To move forward. To go from not worth a darn to “oh mi gawsh I am in love with this!”
I evn took the larger ladder on an early morning photo shoot. Not very glamorous looking “in process” photo is it?
What pushed me over the edge to getting this poor, sad all alone shelf done?
First of all, my backyard studio was filled to the brim with projects. I managed to get my hutch done yet it was still outside. I could only stand working in the Bakersfield heat factory early early how early is early in the morning or after the sun went down.
I had books stacked everywhere not only for reading and sharing but for my art and I was so sick of not being able to find favorites that one day I just pushed myself through. I finished priming the shelves after Cameron had leveled everything. I painted them a gorgeous lavendarish purple I created by mixing some of my recycled Kern County Waste Management light-not-white-almost-a very-light-grey paint with the purple we also used on the ladder.
I had just finished painting the smaller bookshelf using a favorite technique of using lace as a stencil – this time, a lace tablecloth I bought at an estate sale for $3. What I love about using lace tablecloths as stencils is I can use them over and over again AND I can wrap anything up in the fabric plus it just looks so ethereal.
The bookshelf behind it was finished the next day and the origami dress you see is made from a page of Emily Dickinson's handwriting.
You can see this lace effect on the smaller ladder shelf - I'm still working on what I want to actually put on the shelves. It will probably take time to figure that out, too.
Finally I schlepped my lovely ladders inside my house along with the hutch and one of the bookshelves. You can see it next to the smaller ladder.
I couldn’t be happier with the results.
How much did this cost, dollar wise?
Ladder - $5 from a yard sale. “How much do you want for the ladder?” I asked. Man said, “How much do you want to pay?” I said, “I have five dollars in my pocket” and he said SOLD! Lace was $3 but is a shared material so I will call it a dollar. Paint was the biggest expense simply because we wanted a specific purple for it, checking in at 11.95. The wood for the shelves was scrap wood. Oh, and the primer paint (this wood was so dry before we coated it three times!) was also from waste management, so it was free.
Basically, we got two very unique shelves for under $20. I’ll take two cool, one-of-a-kind, goes with my living room perfectly shelves any time.
Julie Jordan Scott is a writer, performance poet, Mommy and
mixed-media artist. Her word-love themed art will be for sale at First
Friday each month in Downtown Bakersfield. Check out the links below to
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