You know you might be in overwhelmed-with-everything-in-life mode when you realize you desperately want a puppy and a month off work and to rip the paneling off the dining room walls WHILE there’s a Christmas-project-splosion covering the entire first floor of the house. That is the state of affairs in my head right now and it isn’t pretty. (Clarification: I don’t actually want a puppy – the one I have is quite enough – but when life is too much, a puppy always seems like a good idea. I DO want a month of work and to rip paneling off my dining room walls just not actually in the middle of a Christmas projectathon).
In the meantime, here’s a trend I can get behind: blanket ladders.
Do you know just how many blanket ladder tutorials you can find everywhere?? And how easy they would be to make? Let’s not speak of the aforementioned Christmas-project-splosion, I WANT TO MAKE BLANKET LADDERS! I want one in every room. Well okay, maybe not every room just the living room, sewing room, bathroom, and both bedrooms. MAKE ALL THE BLANKET LADDERS.
Yes, it is blanket season in Michigan. Today it was 7 degrees (and feeling much colder) when I went out to feed the chickens and collect their frozen eggs. And I sit in front of the door at work — so whenever someone comes or goes, all the warm air vacates the space around my desk. This is the season of being cold all the time and thus the seasons of blankets.
I actually want the blanket ladder in the bathroom to serve as a rustic towel rack. And now that I say that, I’m picturing myself huddled on the toilet under a blanket and amusing myself to no end. Of course, replacing the existing towel rack with a towel blanket ladder is a dangerous project spiral just waiting for a place to happen… because that bathroom… The toilet is mounted low and crooked (but does have a functional toilet seat now after waiting 3 years to spend a whopping $6 for a new one). The door swelled or shifted or something and doesn’t close properly anymore. The walls are crooked and the drywall job was terrible and there are cracks to spackle which will mean repainting. The caulk all needs to be redone everywhere… I want to take out the window and turn that into open shelving. Okay, so maybe we should scratch the bathroom blanket ladder off the list because ain’t nobody got time for all that right now!
Still, that leaves me desperate to make four blanket ladders. And all the tutorials on Pinterest say they are “easy”. Seriously. Check these things out. What could go wrong?
You should also know that when it is this cold out, none of the blankets will be on the ladders. They will be layered on the bed, and sprawled all over chairs and couches. But there would be some adorable and rustic looking blanket ladders there, if I ever needed a place to sling a blanket or twelve before company came over.
There you have it: the state of crazy over here. You’re welcome. I’ll be sure to check back when those blanket ladders materialize.
My elderly neighbor sold me two chairs for $5 each. I loved them the minute I saw them. They needed repainting but these things were solid, elegant, had nice legs. Mmmm chairs. I scoured garage sales, thrift stores, and craigslist for weeks looking for more chairs to finish out the set. I found three that were fine but I didn’t love, but at $5 a chair, they seemed to do the job. I actually ended up passing those on to a friend who bought a dining room set that matched them almost perfectly!
I couldn’t walk away from. Well I did at first because I thought they were asking way too much for them. But then it got awkward when I stopped 4 or 5 times to check on my chairs. As luck would have it, they went on a half off sale and they came home with me! Silly me thought I was just putting together a new dining room set, not the beginnings of a serious problem. I painted all six of the gray and reupholstered the four with seat cushions. I love these chairs. I use them constantly and still absolutely love them.
Drool. These weren’t just “oh I guess we could sit on these and make them work” chairs. These were gorgeous, old, sturdy, and lovely chairs. Where have you been all my life???? Again, I visited the overpriced chairs twice and then they went on sale. You’re mine at last!! Because I may have a chair problem, but not an overpriced chair problem. Once they went on sale, these were the chairs. So the cheapo make do chairs in the barn will be repainted and sold off because hello gorgeous! These ones are staying with me.
Six weeks later, I came across these two at a garage sale for a steal of a deal. Be still my beating heart. Two for $15. These beauties are rock solid and the wood detail. Sigh. As I told the woman I was buying them, she said her husband really didn’t want to sell them. “I understand completely,” I said and promised to take good care of them. As I was walking out of the garage with them, the husband said wistfully “Take care of my girls.” I will sir, I will.