The cast-off turned furniture trend is going strong. Wooden pallets and cable spools are appearing everywhere as better versions of themselves.
Our favorite makeover of a cable spool so far is this table. We love a round coffee table so it's already perfect for that reason but the super book storage around the edges takes it over the top. This would be a great sturdy piece for the playroom where all of your little one's favorite reads would be right at his finger tips. This idea is from the September issue of Country Living which we found over at Carrier Leber blog. If you want to see more photos from that issue, run over to her blog and check it out. For more great examples of cast-offs turned into furniture, check out our previous post here.
(Image: Country Living via Carrie Leber)


Shaw's Original Fir...
Beautiful! Why don't I have more room!?!? I don't think I can squeeze a third coffee table in our living/playroom, but I'm mentally bookmarking this one!
where do you get a cable spool? Love this!
Oh I wish my mom had kept the spools from the spool tables we had in our basement when I was younger!
Somebody else likes The Best in Children's Books, too! I liked those when I was little; I love them now.
I love it! now I just have to find a place for one in my house.
The phrase, one man's junk is another man's treasure, is going through my mind as we have one of these that my husband inherited from his parent's house. It's painted a horrible mustard yellow color and it's one piece of furniture that I don't think can be "fixed" with paint, at least not for me anyway. I'm in WI if anyone is interested it taking off of my hands.
Well done! We have a spool table in the works. We're having acrylic fabricated for the top so it'll be a more functional coffee table. Work-in-progress pic here: http://on.fb.me/spooltble
@Carrie any industrial neighborhoods outside your nearest city will often have them just lying on side of the road. That's how we source ours. Home Depot/Lowes also has smaller, plywood versions though I'm not sure if they'd be willing to part with them... worth asking!
What about something like this RPK123?
http://www.designsponge.com/2008/04/before-and-after-spools-gold.html
I saw a picture of a cable spool long ago and it was covered in fabric scraps...it looked kind of Moroccan(?) I loved the look. Can't find a spool though.
I adore this and will definitely be on the lookout for one!
We used to poke fun at my dad, who made our kitchen table out of a large spool that he had found, so I had to send this along...and he noted the humor in the juxtaposition of the children's books filling the spool and the open-mesh fan on top of the spool :)
But I do love all of the recycling of spools and pallets, I can't believe how many amazing and creative things people have come up with!
Check Lowe's or Home Depot or one of the hardware places. Most of them throw theirs away when they get empty. I got mine from my local Lowe's it used to have electrical wire on it and they gave it to me at no cost since is was going to be thrown away. $12 for castor wheels and I'm done