Lighting can be simple but, sometimes be hard to decide on. When we first moved into our farmhouse, I knew that I wanted to do something to make a statement with the lighting over our dining room table. For at least a month a i scrolled though Pinterest and Instagram in hopes of seeing that light fixture that just stood out to me. Then one day I saw this laddering hanging from the ceiling over a kitchen island and I knew right then that this was it.

I knew that I wanted to have a ladder over my dining room table even though it was a much different light fixture the most people would have over their dinning room table. Although the photo that inspired me has beautiful chinky lights coming through their ladder, I wanted to keep the pendent lighting much more simple in ours. When I first started this project I wanted to find the ladder first that way, I would know how far apart the laddering rails were. This is where a problem came in. When I started looking for antique ladders that were around 4-5 feet long, I could not find one anywhere. All of the ladders that I found were 10 feet long or baby step stool ladders. I know that wooden ladders can be cut down but, the ones that I found did not look and would not look cute if I would have cut them down to the size I needed.

Since I could not find one, I decided that I would build one and make it look vintage. These ladders are so easy to build, if you have to build one instead of buying a vintage one. All you need is one or two 1X6 pine boards depending on the length you want your ladder to be and from Lowes or HomeDepot and a 1 1/4inch dowel rod. Once you have that you will decide how far apart you want the steps of the ladder to be. Make sure you mark where you want to put the dowel rods and mark the spots on each boards. Once they are marked you can use a nail gun to shoot a nail into the outside of the pine board and into the dowel rod. Make sure you use long enough screws to go through the pine board and about 2 inches into the dowel rod, you are using for the ladder steps. Continue this down the ladder until you have all the steps you

After you get your ladder made or you find a vintage one to use. Now comes the fun part of installing the light that you want to use was the lighting on the chandelier. I personally do not feel that there has to be a certain light used with this design because the one that inspired me to do this was not the same style of light the I picked to go in mine. I used this a mason jar themed light from Lowes for my light. This light was very easy to install. The two things that I liked about this light is , that it is a single mount fixture and it has adjustable pendant lengths. Once I had the light fixture mounted, it was time to put up the ladder.

You then will use ceiling hooks to hold the ladder chandelier from the ceiling. I only have two ceiling hooks holding my ladder up because it is fairly lightweight. Before making holes in your ceiling you want to make sure of where you want the ladder to hang. Once I knew where I wanted to have the light hang, I then put the hooks on my ladder and decorative chain on. I think putting the ladder up and then deciding on how long you want to the pendants to be is what worked best for myself because I wanted to see the light fixture with the ladder to create the right look.

Now it is tine to hang the ladder, you will take the change and create an upside down V to hook the chains on the ceiling hooks. Once the ladder was up and I had the light fixture mount in the center of the ladder, that is when I decided the lengths of the pendant lights. I did the center one the middle length, and then one side longer and one side short. This light fixture allows you to cut the length to your liking and I loved that. Once everything is in place you all set to style and enjoy you new unique chandelier.

This would seem like a very difficult DIY but it is really simple friends, you can do it! Thank you for coming by the blog today and everyday! More DIY’s coming soon, XOXO