Do you have a room that looks like this? It’s most likely the room where the family gathers to relax and watch TV, but it ends up looking like a giant nest of pillows and blankets. This room in my house was really working my nerves, but I was struggling to find a solution that would get buy-in. I couldn’t even envision MYSELF folding all of those blankets every evening because there really wasn’t a good place to put them. I LOVE cozying up with a book or a great show, but we needed a solution so that the room didn’t always look, well, LIKE THIS!
I was shopping online one day and found the perfect solution. For a couple hundred dollars. Ummm, no. As many of you know, I have a tendency to look at things and say “Oh I can TOTALLY make that!” There have been occasions where I have no business making such mental claims (plumbing, electricity, drywall) but in this situation, my confidence was warranted.
Off to my friendly Home Depot. I purchased all of the required piping and a couple of 1X4s. The 1/2″ pipe pieces are shown below. I anticipated that this was going to be a relatively quick project, and for the most part, it was. The most time-consuming part was removing those damn stickers from the pipes! I’m not kidding. Those things took FOREVER to get off. After an excruciating 45 minutes with a razor blade, adhesive remover, and a degreaser, I finally had clean, sticker-free pipes. They all got a quick spray of Oil Rubbed Bronze paint. I absolutely love this color because it gives a rich luster to hardware that accents many finishes. 
Next came the boards. I cut each board to 5′ and free-handed the general curve that I wanted for the ends. I cut out the curve with my jigsaw and then used that cut as the template for the other 3 curves. Everything got sanded down in an irregular pattern to give the boards a time-worn appearance. I wanted these pieces to look like old barn wood, so distressing was a must. My husband, armed with a hammer and wrench, volunteered for the job. A few minutes later I had randomly distressed boards. I drilled 7/8″ holes in the boards at 12″ intervals and sanded those holes in an uneven pattern as well to give the illusion of a well-worn ladder. 
Finally, I stained the wood in a custom-blended color that Sherwin Williams created to match the hardwood floors in my house.
To assemble, I simply positioned rubber gaskets on the pipe just inside of each board to keep the boards in place. I screwed the pieces together and mounted it on the wall with toggles.
The blanket rack corrals the mess and is also a decorative element in the room.
Hold my wine, I’ve got this…
Amy
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