Choosing Kiva Ladders For Unique Mountain Home Decorating

Kiva ladders or Wooden Indian log ladders are pueblo style accessories that work great for enhancing southwestern style in your home. While traveling or visiting the southwestern states you will no doubt notice that Indian log ladders have become the most renown symbols of American Indian style design and art, used for impressive, rustic and southwestern style home decorating. Kiva ladders are beautiful wooden ladders usually created from pine logs that have been hand scraped. The ladder rungs are fitted together into the upright poles, and rawhide string is used to join each joint together in a cross style design. The ladder is smaller at the top than it is at the bottom, adding a dimension of height.

One exciting way to incorporate the pueblo look and feel in your decor, without actually having pueblo designs, is to use the same primitive style, pueblo ladder or kiva log ladder. The ladders will create a subtle but distinct pueblo or southwestern look in the area. A kiva ladder also makes a wonderful way to display some of your most treasured southwest rugs or saddle blankets. Other home decor items that combine well with decorative pueblo ladders are Mexican style throws, Indian pottery and drums, hand made dough bowls and rustic lamps with rawhide lamp shades. Ladders can also be used to emphasize unique patterns you may like such as the tree of life pattern or other pueblo designs. Using the kiva ladder to display trinkets will further enhance the western style in your interior design, add bright colors, and make the ladder a useful part of your home decor.

There is something very beautiful about the grouping together of dwellings made of adobe bricks with their wooden ladders on the roofs. This shape has become representative of southwestern decorating and style. Many homes in New Mexico and Arizona are designed after the early pueblo style, and the kiva ladder is always present. You can find pueblo designs on rugs, dolls, pottery, paintings, art, and rustic furnishings. And, the rustic wooden ladders have become popular in cabins, lodge style homes and also anywhere people like western or pueblo style.

Use some creativity. There is no limit to how pueblo ladders can be used. You can design a unique display or book shelf by putting two ladders together like an "A" frame with rustic boards between them on the ladders rungs for shelves. It is possible you already own some rugs you can use and just add a small table beside it or an American Indian style drum and you will have created a beautiful and eye catching design.

Some people also use kiva ladders to store Indian blankets to cover up with during those brisk winter evenings. You could use kiva ladders as a place to hang extra blankets or comforters in your guest rooms when not being used. Use kiva style decorative ladders in all your rooms, in the same aspect or similarly without it looking overly done. So, if you want a truly fabulous Native Indian design element to incorporate into your home decorating, think about using rustic log kiva ladders.

Craig Chambers