Skip to Content

DIY Towel Ladder (or Mini Blanket Ladder)

Sharing is caring!

Learn how to create a towel ladder with step-by-step instructions. Follow along to learn how to craft a beautiful and functional decor piece for your home.

Today’s project involved creating a towel ladder. These are great for small blankets, hanging fabric, or for towels. This particular towel ladder was made for my she shed where I like to hang up fabric while I’m working on a project that uses it.


This post may contain affiliate links which may earn me commissions should you click through them and take certain actions. As an affiliate for Amazon, Cricut, xTool, Home Depot, and other sites, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please DIY carefully. View my full legal disclosures here.

Please read the whole post so you don’t miss any important information!


DIY Towel Ladder

Supplies

  • 3/4″ Dowels
  • 1x2s: 2 cut to 28.5″
  • 3/4″ drill bit: spade bit or forstner bit
  • Wood glue
  • 3D Printer with matching filament
  • Spray Paint
  • Screws/Screwdriver

Tutorial

I began by cutting two 1x2s: you want them to be around 28 and a half inches each.

After marking four spots on my two 1x2s, I used a three-fourth-inch drill bit to create partial holes where the dowels will go (these will be the rungs of the ladder).

DO NOT DRILL THROUGH THE BOARD COMPLETELY. Ideally, you want to drill deep enough for there to be equal depth pockets for your dowels, but so you don’t have any more than a tiny hole on the other side from your spade bit.

Holes added to 1x2s for the dowels to sit... these dowels will be the rungs of the towel ladder.

While the spade bit left a tiny hole on the “pretty side” of the 1x2s, a quick fix with wood filler can fix that, or you can just ignore it like I did. They aren’t obvious when painted.

Next, I aligned the pieces and attached three-quarter-inch dowels with wood glue. You can gently hammer the dowels on as these should be a tight fit.

Once the pieces were securely attached and the wood glue had dried, I proceeded to sand the edges for a smooth finish before moving on to the painting stage.

Blanket / towel ladder before I painted it.

Utilizing leftover spray paint, I used a few different matching colors to add a unique touch to the ladder.

Painted towel ladder in shades of blue.

To complete the project, I crafted brackets to attach the ladder to the wall with my 3D printer.

Brackets that I 3D printed to use for hanging the blanket ladder far enough from the wall to leave room for the blankets/towels.

I used screws through the brackets to attach the brackets to my ladder and then to the wall. These were a bit challenging to attach with the way I 3D printed the bracket, but I was able to make it work. The brackets help keep a gap between the wall and the ladder, leaving enough room to make hanging the towels, blankets, etc. easy.

Please share and pin this post! If you make this project, share it in our Stuff Mama Makes Facebook Group. We have regular giveaways for gift cards to craft stores. You can also tag me on Instagram @doityourselfdanielle; I love seeing everything you make!

Completed DIY towel ladder, attached to the wall of a room. The blanket on it is too large, but a normal blanket or towels would be perfect.

Sharing is caring!