Bunkbed Ladder to Bookshelf Treasure !

 Before

After:

 I had decided about 6 years ago that my daughter was getting to big for the bunk bed that she had in her room. Her older sister needed her own room and own space so there was no use for the bunk bed any longer. I tore it down and decided that I would keep the wood pieces in case I ever wanted to build something new. I mostly use things like this for gardening, but for some reason I just never got around to doing anything with the ladder piece.

I have been on a new creative kick recently upcycling everything in my home, from clothes to furniture and more. I came across the ladder and decided it was time to make use of it. I needed a new bookshelf and had planned on making a couple of wall mounted shelves for my books, however inspiration took over and my old ladder is now the bookshelf mounted to the wall in the bedroom (thank goodness too!! My walls are so bare!). 

This project didn't cost me a dime!!! I already had everything I needed on hand. This is how I made this piece.

1. I sanded down the wood just enough to get that roughened up look. I hate trying to strip varnish so I didn't bother with it this time.

2. Next I got out the off white paint that was left over from other projects and went to town painting over the scuffed up ladder. I used a cheap .97 cent paint brush that has ruff bristles. Now anyone who has ever used paint to paint walls or virtually anything, knows that the first coat of paint ALWAYS has streaks in it. I liked the streaks and left them. This step would save me hours of sanding through to get the weathered look I was going for. 

3. Let it dry. Since it is one coat of paint it won't take too long.(20 minutes maybe depending on how heavy handed you are with the one coat of paint)

4. Sand over again. Take off any heavy white painted areas and scuff up the paint.

5. Using step 2 use the wood stain. For this piece I used what was on hand : Red Mahogany . Remember to follow the exact same steps in number 2 as you do this step. Allow for the stain to dry. This step takes a bit longer but seeing as though there is only the one coat of stain it shouldn't be too long ( maybe 3-4 hours) 

6. Sand over again. This time you are just trying to get the layered scuffy look. The end result looks as though the wood has been weathered and worn.

Now, I wanted my bookshelf to be mounted to my wall so I used extra long nails and nailed through the front of the ladder frame so that the nail tips came through the back. when I put it up to the wall all I had to do was hammer lightly on the nail heads and it drove the shelf right onto the wall!!

That was all it took!! 

The amount of time I spent on this project was about four hours total. I started three other projects while I was waiting for the coats of paint and stain to dry.

Thanks for reading my blog and I hope your all having a great day upcycling!!!

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