When Cheltz's husband, Woo, found this discarded industrial spool, he imagined a new dining room table… for free. Check out how the transformation went:
From Cheltz:
My husband found this giant wooden spool for free and wanted to make a dining table out of it. I was more than willing to have him try. The spool is 65" in diameter, which is huge, but it was also over 40" high (which is way too high for a dining table). We also wanted to be able to scoot our chairs in, so the base had to be trimmed.
My husband took the whole thing apart (cutting through metal dowels and wood in the middle), made a quick run back up the road to remove 6 metal dowels from spools that were the right height (30"), trimmed the base with a chain saw, threaded the new, shorter dowels through their holes, set the wood slates up in the groove of the top piece, and we somehow got the base on top. I finished the whole thing with 3 coats of poly, and voilà! Free table in a weekend!
For more photos and details, check out their blog, Penelope's Pad.
Thanks, Cheltz & Woo!
Have your own Before & After project you'd like to share with the editors? Submit it here.
(Images: Penelope's Pad)
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Outstanding. And I love every bit of that dining room!
Stunning doesn't even cover this! I found a small version of a spool last year at thrift store and it was bought before I could put it in my cart. If I found something that big this is exactly what I would do with it. Bravo! Beautiful!
Wow. I would never have thought of doing this (and lack the necessary tools and skills anyway), but this looks incredible.
I've seen this done on a smaller scale as coffee or end tables but never one big enough to make a full dining table out of. This is awesome. It would be great if you just had one dining area, or to fill the more informal space for every day use. I imagine it'd be great if you had kids, indestructible.
I knew quite a few people in grad school that did this project and the base of the table was always too large to scoot up closely to the table. You ended up leaning way over or sitting on the edge of your seat in order to eat.
Ummmm....can we see a picture of the husband? #dreamman
Interesting table and cool room!
Wondering about the base.. does it impede the chairs from sliding in? That would be a deal breaker for me, but I'm sure it could be mitigated somehow.
Great job repurposing!
Isn't there a redneck joke about this?
http://www.just-one-liners.com/people/15565
;)
yes this is very cool compared to memories of guys using untreated spools as coffeetables (along with milk carton decor), but I wonder about keeping the base. Not sure how else to support such a heavy top though.
A restaurant in Montreal has the same tables :)
@RocketScientist @Carrotsticks In college, I did this exact project with a spool of the same size; the base absolutely becomes an issue. It ended up going outside on the balcony - not good for eating meals at, but great for drinking / smoking / snacking when the weather's nice...
we had these growing up as outdoor tables. the base does get in the way of being able to slide in completely. however, a little tip - call your local power company and ask if they have any spools they are getting rid of, many will give them to you completely free.
She did say that they trimmed the base so that chairs can be pushed in.
She says in the post that they trimmed the base so that they could slide the chairs in...
They trimmed the base so the chairs fit underneath. You can see it's an octagon instead of a circle on the bottom.
Did this 40 years ago & used a leveled big tree stump as a base. Didn't stain it, so yeah, it was a cheap, young guy conversation piece. I think the table would look better in a lighter painted room but as said, beside the point. Table looks nice.
This is absolutely beautiful!
This is absolutely beautiful!
I thought table when I saw the BEFORE picture, very nice job!
If you look closely in the photo, you can see that the base has been cut to allow for the chairs to be pushed in closer. looks like it's now an octagonal shape.
Nice job! It looks great and gives the room a warm feeling! I have one of these outside at my clothes line.. put my laundry basket and clothes pins on it so I don't have to keep bending over and stretching for the line. I put a cover on it so that I can put folded clothes on it. Thank my son all the time for it!
My grandparents have a spool table in their beach house, and it has withstood 30 years of spills, steaming bowls of gumbo, grandkid art projects, etc. It's been amazing. They added a lazy susan which is great for big family meals since the table is so large...maybe not a fancy solution, but definitely practical!
Growing up about half a mile from a wire company in a working class neighborhood,EVERYBODY had these as a "patio" sets! Brought back memories!
I still looks like the chairs can only be pushed in a little. I wonder if there is a possibility of putting a X shaped base on it so that the chairs could be pushed in 100% between the crosses of the X...
Looks great! Love all the colors, resourcefulness and the work it took to make this fit your needs. Perfect!
I love this so much. I am obsessed with the rustic look and want a wood table so bad. I am beyond jealous as this just seems like an impossible feat for me and it was free. Lucky!
I'm seeing what @yosh is, too. The base doesn't look small enough to push the chairs in all the way. It may sound picky, but I think that's the only way I would make that work. Alternative to the X on the bottom would be to brace it using three or four pieces of wood at a 45* angle to the middle part.
I did read the post, it just doesn't seem like there's sufficient space to push the chairs in as much as I'd like. I like to be able to get close to the table. And it would be necessary if you have kids in booster seats..
Looks great! If you check out their blog, you will see the base is a lot smaller than the top and they happily seat kids in boosters at it.
Would be nice outside too.
Hi everyone! There seems to be a lot of concern with the base. We knew we'd need to trim the base to scoot chairs in, but also didn't want to sacrifice stability. We measured the amount we normally scooted our chairs in and then cut off an additional two inches. No, we cannot scoot the chairs in completely, but we eat comfortably. (I don't know anyone who eats with the table pressing into their chest. ;)
Nice! What is the gray paint color on the walls, please? Thank you
It's Behr silver hill, capybara.
Fantastic job! Looks excellent!