If you’re a fan of upcycling, or taking an old artefact and repurposing it or giving it a new lease of life with a makeover, then read on. We’ve got some excellent ideas on how you can upcycle a ladder.

Garden Trellis Made out of Old Ladder

It’s very easy to use an old ladder for a garden trellis or even an arbour. You won’t need many tools or extra materials.

For example, if you have a 24ft extension ladder then you’re almost there. Split your ladder so that you have two pieces, each of 12ft long. Then cut one of the pieces into two, so that you have two 6ft long pieces, plus your 1 x 12 ft.

Now use the one 12ft piece as the top and two six foot pieces as the sides. You’ll rest the 12 ft piece across the top of them. You can use adjustable ring clamps to secure the pieces together and make them safe enough to walk under. Bury the sides into the ground a little so that they are secure and it won’t wobble over. Alternatively you could weight them down so that if it’s a windy day, they won’t be going anywhere.

One way that we have seen them secured, is to bolt them to a stone wall.

Once your project is complete, you can then grow clematis or other climbing plants up and along the arbour.

Other ideas for reusing ladders:

• Use as bookcases or photo shelves
• Use as a trellis up a wall
• Blanket holder
• Towel holder
• Plant holder

If you search on Pinterest, using the search terms ‘recycle’ ‘ladder’ then you’ll see just how many different truly creative ideas there are to make the best use of your old ladder.

If you do make anything special, do let us know and we’ll add you to our recycled ladder Hall of Fame!