Beautiful old ladders.

I just love old wooden ladders! In a past house I had one hanging from my kitchen ceiling and I hung all my pots and pans from it. It looked wonderful and saved me so much cupboard space! I also hung herbs and flowers to dry. Re creating this is an upcoming project as I look for a ladder just right for it. The one I found for my old home was a huge ladder several metres long and Dad cut it into three lengths for me. I'm so sorry I let that ladder go when moving!

But I am half way there! Andy came home with this lovely old ladder a few weeks ago. He was driving along and this was on the side of the road. He KNEW I would want it and did a u turn to pick it up for me! And I was thrilled!  

A quick clean up and paint and I was ready to work out how to use it in my new kitchen.
I have found this one suitable to use as "shelves" or rungs to hand things on and am thinking it would be good for my t towels and pot holders in my new kitchen. So this is how I have it set up for now...

Every year or so I have a sewing session and make a heap of new t towels and pot holders. I find it quite hard to find good and pretty t towels that are actually absorbent. Now and them I see nice ones but they are often really expensive. These are made from old sheets, doona covers and curtains from the op shop. I have washed them all well first of course and sun dried them. I use a plain absorbent cotton (also recycled) to back them so they are double thickness. I also make them a generous size. Apart from being t towels they are great to line or cover a picnic basket, cover food and lots of other uses. I am always on the watch out for material for these. 

Then I either sew a trim around them or crochet an edge as that is lovely too. I have to say I do that for gifts more than for myself. But next time I do some I will post some pics as it is an easy way to upgrade a simple item into something pretty!

Other uses for rustic old ladders are in the bathroom to display and hang your towels, in the kitchen to display pretty table cloths and doilies or aprons... as a display for pot plants or kitchen herbs. I am on the hunt for a couple more!
If they are safe and sturdy to reach things in your pantry.
In the garden you could grow a vine over or train up beans in the vegie garden.

I just know another couple will come my way and I'll show you what I do with them. With luck you have an old one in the she or maybe Dad or Grandpa does! A little up cycle and they have a whole new lease on life.

I hope you have had a lovely weekend. Last night it poured here so heavily that I was slightly frightened! It was torrential! It rained like that for several hours. And yet today the sun shone and while things looked WET there was no damage or signs of flooding I expected. I had a little time in the sun and am working on some blackboards, also for my kitchen. 

Have a wonderful week.xxx