Cable Reel From Construction Sites to Bookcase

A simple cable reel from construction sites can be re-purposed and up-cycled into an useful and practical storage solution. Cost was minimal, but the final look was quite cool. Sustainability and style working together to save waste from landfill sites.
Cable reels
These are cable reels that you can find in general construction sites. These reels carry power cables that is going to be used on the building, and they are usually discarded after use. My husband works in the construction industry and I've asked him to bring home some of these cable reels, because I was going to think a way to re-use them. After many days looking at them and trying to figure it out a way to use them, I've decide for the simplest way.
Attached with nuts and bolts
The first step was to attached each cable reel on top of the other and create a small tower. We've made 4 holes equally apart, then we've used small nuts and bolts to attach them together.
Stack as many as you like
We did ours with 4 medium size cable reels. I was planing to use 5, but I thought would be too high, then we've attached castor wheels to the base. We've used 4 small castor wheels because I didn't want the bookcase to be too high from the floor, but I believe that large industrial castor wheel would look cool too. We used 4, but it doesn't slid smoothly, I think 3 castors would be better. I didn't change the castors yet but I plan to do it soon. I will let you know if does work better with 3 castor.
Finished with dark wax
We applied one coat of Ronseal Interior Wax in Walnut.
Style with books....
To finalise, I have styled in two different way; with books as you can see above and...
with shoes and bags.
with shoes and bags, but in my opinion the bookcase is better than shoe storage. You can use to store or display practically anything. It could be really cool to use in a shop to display small merchandise or cards, etc.
Perfect for paperback books
The medium cable reels has a perfect depth for paperback books. By the way the size of these cable reels are 60cm diameter, 15cm deep for the shelf and 30cm high on each shelf. I call them medium size, because my husband brought a larger one that we up-cycled into a coffee table/bookcase (only on cable reel was used) I will talk about that one on another post. And my husband also brought a smaller cable reel that I've used as a cake stand for my daughter birthday.
Add bookends to hold the books on place.
I have used a small bookends from Ikea, but unfortunately they don't have those anymore, but the size was perfect for this bookcase to hold the books in place.
The total cost was only £3 for 4 small castor wheels. The cable reels were free and the wax, nuts and bolts I've already got them at home, leftover from other projects. The final result was simple, but practical and very effective.
Monica - The Pallet House
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
4 of 135 comments
Next