Using an old wooden ladder as a flower ladder brings country charm to any room in the house. This decorative variant will definitely be an eye-catcher on the terrace and in the garden. If you want to build this beautiful flower stand yourself and get the most out of the old wooden ladder, paint the areas that need a bit of improvement and add some new decorative items.
Open the wooden ladder and measure the length and width of the rungs. If the sprouts are too narrow to fit a flower pot orTo hold plant pots, you need to extend it. Place a wide wooden plank on each rail. Secure the wooden extensions to the ladder with screws. For stability, use four screws on each rung, two per side.
Using a fine sandpaper, sand the wood to smooth the texture of the wooden ladder. Then paint the ladder in any color that complements the decor on the patio or, if it is to be placed outside, matches the colors of the house or garden. Sanding is important because it allows you to remove any remaining old paint and creates a sufficiently rough surface to which the new paint can adhere perfectly. Otherwise the new paint would begin to peel off after a short time.
Old wooden ladder painted white
Place the plants on the shelves formed from the former steps. Narrow rungs that aren't wide enough to hold pots and boxes can also be used for long planters, as seen above, if you don't feel like boarding them. You can use anti-slip stickers to keep the bottoms of the pots in place. If possible, choose those that add a decorative element. For example, a floral theme would fit well.
Decorate flower ladder – idea with pebbles
Are you one of those people who like to pour too much water into the pots and flood everything when the saucers fill up? Such coasters are the perfect solution if you build a flower stand yourself. The shallow vessels can be made of metal or plastic and are filled with pebbles after you place them on the ladder. Now you no longer have to worry about overwatering. You can now place the flower pots on the gravel with or without plates. This is not only practical, but also looks very attractive, don't you think?
Pink decorative stones in a flower pot
If you have decided on a neutral color or simply left the ladder in its original color, you can also use the pots to add pretty color accents. Colorful decorative gravel, which you can spread over the potting soil, is very suitable for this purpose. This not only spices up the ladder, but also ordinary clay pots.
Colorfully painted flower pots
Alternatively, the pots can also be painted. Choose two to three colors so that the combination doesn't look too chaotic. Clay pots can be designed particularly quickly with spray paint. You can also add patterns. Dot patterns, for example, are very popular. If you don't refresh your ladder but leave it in its old look, you will get an original stand in the shabby chic style.
Garden ideas with old ladder
If you have a lot of plants that all need to fit outside in a very small space, then it is usually not possible to simply spread them out on the ground without them becoming a nuisance. This is why these stands are so practical because they don't take up much space and you can use the space upstairs. In principle, you create a vertical garden whose staggered steps ensure that the plants do not obscure each other and are equally provided with sufficient light.
Leaning against the wall
Ladders that do not have the V-shape shown previously but are leaned against the wall can also be used if you want to build a flower stand yourself. Like that? Either you nail boards onto the rungs and then lean the ladder against a wall, or you simply use the rungs for small hanging plants and vases that you can attach with wire. Of course, this looks particularly romantic and original.
As you can see, there are no limits to your imagination. You can build and design the plant stand however you like. While you can highlight the frame with a colorful coat of paint, you can also draw the eye to the pots with colorful spray paint. This depends entirely on the effect you want to achieve. If you have space for several of these stands, then it's best to combine several of them together and create natural walls in your outdoor area.
Rustic garden decoration
It's not just plants that can be wonderfully displayed on the ladders. In addition to pretty flower arrangements, you can also put up other garden decorations. Birdhouses, for example, are given an appropriate height if you don't have a tree in the garden. Be creative and create the perfect decoration for your garden, patio or porch
yellow painted wooden ladder
And the homemade model also proves to be very practical indoors. There it can serve not only as a plant stand, but also as a shelf on which you can store decorations or books.
