This easy DIY bathroom storage ladder is a pretty way to add easy, functional storage to your bathroom space. Perfect for small bathrooms or to add interest to blank wall spaces.
Main Floor Powder Room
Our main floor powder room didn’t have a lot of storage options and had this blank vertical wall in the back corner. After trying out a few different ideas in the space, I came up with this easy DIY storage ladder. It fills up the space perfectly, adds a little extra interest to the room, and provides some additional easy access storage. This really is a very simple DIY that anyone can do with just some basic supplies. The dimensions can also easily be adapted to any space or your specific storage needs.
DIY Storage Ladder Tutorial
This simple DIY bathroom storage ladder is the perfect beginner project. My version came in at around $30 for all supplies {although I did already have the paint on hand}, which was way cheaper than other storage ideas that I had been looking at.
Materials
- two 1×3 boards {ours measure about 7 feet each} for the sides of the ladder
- wooden garden stakes or 1×2 boards cut down to your desired size for the rungs {we used 8 rungs on our ladder and they are about 11 inches in length}
- 1 1/4 inch wood screws
- drill
- wood putty
- level
- paint or stain {I painted ours with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Graphite}
- wire baskets {these came in packs of 2 at Target in the bathroom section}
- shower curtain hangers or ‘S’ hooks
Directions
- Cut all of your wood pieces to your desired size and sand smooth. Â Make sure that you find your baskets before building your ladder so you can determine what the length of your rungs needs to be and how much space you would like in between them. Â This will especially be important if you are wanting more baskets on your ladder to ensure that you have enough space.
- Once you have determined the distance that you would like between your rungs {ours are about 8 1/2 inches}, cut a spacer from the 1×2 board at that length to ensure that you place your rungs evenly.
- If you’re assembling the ladder on your own, you will likely need to use some wood glue to attach the rungs prior to drilling in the screws.  In our case, I aligned and held the rungs while Dave did the drilling which eliminated the need for glue. Take extra care with the placement of the first rung, as that will determine the alignment of all of the other rungs to follow. Align the long edge of the first rung against the side rail {see photo above} placing it in the middle of the 1×3. Secure in place with the screws. Once you have this first rung in place, all you need to do is slip in your spacer and make sure that it is level when placing your next rung. Completely screw in the rungs on one side of the ladder before doing the other side. Repeat on the other side.
- Once your ladder is assembled, fill in the screw holes with wood putty. Â Allow to dry and then sand.
- Paint or stain the ladder and allow to dry. Â Attach your baskets and some other fun accessories and you are good to go!
What can I store in a bathroom storage ladder?
The fun thing about this storage ladder is that you can customize it however you’d like. The possibilities are endless, but here’s a quick list of storage ideas. Let me know if you have any more!
- hang larger towels over the rungs
- roll up smaller towels into the baskets
- place mason jars in the baskets and fill with basic self-care items
- store extra toilet paper rolls
- display small decor items
- use hanging metal planters for small plants or as storage for other items
- store extra toiletries for guests
How else could I use this storage ladder?
The dimensions on the ladder can easily be adjusted to your particular needs and can really be used in any room in your home. Here are just a few ideas to help get you started…
- hang throw blankets
- display table linens
- hang pretty scarves or other accessories
- use the baskets to hold art supplies
- fill the baskets with small potted plants
More Bathroom Organization Ideas
For more bathroom organization and storage ideas, check out these posts…
Bathroom Cabinet Organizer Ideas
Coastal Style Design Bathroom Makeover
20 Items to Declutter from the Bathroom
This is a great idea and it looks really good. I wouldn’t have come up with the idea of using a ladder for storage but it opens up a world of possibilities…kitchen, hallway… Thank you for posting this.
Oh yes – unlimitless possibilities! 🙂
Love this! It looks just gorgeous.
Question for you or anyone else: does anyone know if you can use a bunk bed ladder for something like this? I have one…we got beds for the kids at Costco and you could either use them as 2 twins (which we did) or bunks. The ladder is still in the box in our basement…I’ve been thinking of using it for something like this but wondered if anyone out there had words of wisdom or advice on so doing?
Thanks! 🙂
The only thing that would be different about the bunkbed ladders is coming up with another method to attach the baskets. Since those ladders are used for stepping, they will obviously be a lot thicker.
I have bunk bed ladder (Craigslist, of course!) that I’m using in family room for throws, I love the 5 metal baskets idea for towels in bathroom. May do that in other bath. Good luck.
Good idea!
Oh my gosh this is so perfect for my bathroom! I’m right in the middle of planning an update for tub n such…Its a compact space, this is perfect!! Thank you, love your site
Thanks so much! Good luck with your update!
I love this idea. Thanks tons for linking to Inspire Me. Can’t wait to feature you next week.
What a cute DIY project. Great idea for a small bathroom!
Thanks for linking this post to #PureBlogLove link party. The party starts every Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST and runs through the week end. I love your ideas, please link up again next week!!
We are getting ready to redo our guest bath and it is quite small. Something like this would be so perfect for those necessities. I love this project. Thank you for sharing at Share It One More Time. Cathy
Yes, it works great for a small bath! Thanks so much for hosting! 🙂
Jenn – I love this idea and you have made it look so pretty. Can’t wait to see our full reveal. Thanks for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop. I have featured you on my Tuesday Favorite Things Round Up. Hope to see you again at the Blog Hop again!
Thanks so much for the feature! I appreciate you hosting your party each week!
GORGEOUS! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Chelsea!
LOVE LOVE LOVE this! I’ve been looking for a shelf in my powder room, and hadn’t thought about using a ladder. I’ll be featuring this tonight on Best of the Weekend! Thanks so much for linking up, and hope to see you back again tonight!
Thanks so much Amy! Hope it works in your powder room too! 🙂
Do you know if Target still has these baskets? I’ve been searching for something similar but am having a hard time finding something I like!
Thanks!
I just purchased them a couple of months of ago and they weren’t on clearance or anything so I assume that they would still have them. Hope you are able to track them down!
Hi Jenn, Lovely blog! I am from Argentina and have a question. How do you deal with the rust on those wire baskets, or how do you avoid it at all? You see, I have some wire baskets and hangers in my bathroom and it seems that the steam from the shower is not very friendly to them… They are completely rusty and I don´t want to change them, but have no clue on how to clean them (if possible) and maintain them rust-free. Your ideas have inspired me a lot! Thank you.
Well hello in Argentina!! This ladder is in our powder room so we don’t have a shower in there to deal with. I have had similar baskets in our other bathrooms though and haven’t really had much of a problem. We usually keep the window open a crack and have the fan on when we are in the shower, so I’m not sure if that makes any difference? Apart from drying the baskets on a regular basis, you can remove any rust that is already on there by scrubbing it down with a steel wool pad. You can also buy rust protective paints and give it a spray paint as well. I’ve also heard that some clear nail polish over the areas that tend to accumulate rust is good for prevention {although I haven’t tried that one}. Hope that helps!
Hi Jen, thanks for your reply, I am afraid I was not warned by email. Just fixed it though. I tried with steel wool and it was impossible to clean. Think that I have to paint over.
Love the idea! So cute and thank you for the plans. I have been looking for a wreath like the one you used at the top for a while. Do you mind me asking where you got the wreath? It is exactly what I have been needing for a project. Thanks1
I picked the wreath up at Target. 🙂
This is the easiest tutorial I’ve stumbled upon for this ladder. I’ve been wanting one for ages but they’re so expensive in stores and too complicated in most tutorials! Thank you for making such a simplified version, I freaking love it!
I’m so glad that it was helpful for you and I hope you can make your own! I’m all about simplified! 😉
Great ideas and so versatile! I am sharing this on Pinterest.
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Where did you get that beautiful hand towel?!
It’s from Home Sense {or Home Goods in the states}. I pretty much get all of my towels and handtowels there. 🙂
This is gorgeous storage!
Thanks for the great build idea. I was looking for metal baskets with hooks on the back for hanging things and realized from what you did that I only need to get S-hooks or shower curtain hooks to hook whatever baskets I like onto the wall. I should have thought of that. Brilliant.
We have a weird wall underneath our front stairway (in the garage/laundry area) with exposed studs and some previous owner or the builder put these approx half inch diameter dowels in/through the studs horizontally about every 8 inches from the top to the bottom of the wall. It’s a weird set up, but would be a great place to hang small baskets to put things like trash bags, ziplock bags, cleaning supplies, or even unopened dry food items for extra storage, since we don’t have a ton of storage.
I got some plastic baskets that had hooks like plastic hangers coming out of the back at the Japanese dollar store (about $2.50 each) and they work pretty well to hang up after I cleaned out all the cobwebs and dust from the nooks and crannies in the wall. Unfortunately, they seem pretty flimsy–probably good enough for light items, but I suspect they’d break if I put anything very heavy in them.
The metal baskets and metal S-hooks seem like a much nicer idea, both functionally and aesthetically. Thanks for the idea.
I still can’t figure out why this wall has dowels in it since I’ve never seen anything like it before. Maybe someone before wanted to hang stuff there, or maybe it’s just some weird 1947 thing from when the house was built, but I might as well use it since it’s here.
Great idea to make the best of an odd space! We have a few of those in our home too! 😉
Would a regular ladder work for this, or is it necessary to build one?
Thanks!! Such a cute idea!!!
It would just depend on what ladder you’re using. The steps on a step ladder would be too wide but if you just had a regular rung ladder it should work. You might just need slightly bigger ‘S’ hooks depending on the thickness.
How do you secure the ladder to the wall? I could picture the kids testing it.
My kids are past climbing age so I didn’t secure mine. That being said, you can get wall hooks that could secure it from any home hardware store. 🙂
I have been looking for something to decorate a long blank wall in a long thin bathroom. This idea is the perfect solution. Thank you.
Oh good! I hope it works out well for you!