Spool Revamp

This will be a unique and functional addition to his bedroom! Here's how I did it:

I started with an industrial wooden wire spool. This one was a little smaller than others I have seen in the past so it was perfect for a side table with some fun storage for my 2 year old son's room. Make sure it is cleaned up good and sand any rough spots to help prevent splinters.

I knew I wanted to have wooden dowels going all the way around between the top and bottom. I wanted to just eyeball it but my dad suggested (insisted) on using some good old trigonometry. If I were to make another one I would definitely just eyeball it because he spent a good 20-30 minutes working out his calculations and measurements!

Once you decide how far in you want your dowels to be placed find the center and draw a circle for reference. I drilled clearance holes in the spool and pilot holes in the dowels.

DO NOT skip this step or you will most likely end up splitting your dowels when you secure them with screws. I used pretty skinny dowels but I wanted them to be nice and strong so I used 3 inch wood screws. (They had to go through about 2 inches of the spool first.)

It was a little tricky making sure I was actually hitting the pilot hole when securing them from the bottom side because they were already pretty snug but having the clearance holes in the spool helped me feel once the screw hit the pilot hole in the dowel and after installing a couple of them I was able to get the hang of it.

Here it is, almost done! I also had to measure and cut each dowel separately because the spool is far from perfect or level and some dowels had to be a little longer or shorter in order to fit snuggly.

Next I painted the entire thing with a HVLP sprayer. I chose a nice medium grey to go with the other décor in the room and gave it several good coats to help smooth out any rough spots. I also added castors to the bottom to allow it to be moved around the room without much effort OR damage to the floors.

The dowels make for great book and stuffed animal storage and I always prefer round tables for the safety of little ones. For now I am done but I might add a plexiglass top in the future to provide a smoother surface and to prevent my kids from dropping toys down the hole!