DIY bookshelf out of old ladders

These rustic bookshelves are so easy to 'make' and can be free (or at least fairly cheap) if you have an old wood ladder holed up in your garage.

One set I used was a very tall, straight pair that extended rather than fold up. I also used one single, flat ladder that was a bit shorter. The tall pair was too tall to fit in my bedroom, so I cut them down, and then leaned them against the wall. Voila! Bookshelf. Now, some of the books leaned against the wall, causing the ladder to push away making it unsteady. My solution for this was to tack a wide ribbon to the backside of the ladder from one end of the books to the other, and this held the books in place and off the wall.

The short cut pieces and the single ladder I used for shelves off our living room. I drilled in some screws at various intervals (sure to find a stud or use those plastic holders made for drywall) and using a tape measure made it all level by finding the same distance for each screw from the ceiling. Then, I hung the ladders by placing the screws directly under the top side of the ladder. VHS tapes stayed on really well, but the DVD's and a lot of books had to shelved tightly so they would not fall off. But these are all items we do not use very often, so I was not worried about the awkwardness of removing things from the shelves.