Design Megillah: 08/27/12

Monday, August 27, 2012

Making a Spool Table

Lately I've been seeing spool tables in catalogs like Ballard Design and Crate and Barrel. I love how they look so nautical and organic and are also so functional. I've been wanting to try my hand at making one for a while and last week finally went out and gathered all the materials.

Here is how it turned out--it really does look like a spool of thread, right?

Here are the parts I bought to make the table.

The guys at my local lumberyard helped me by cutting the plywood circles and the Sonotube to size since I do not do power tools!

The first step was to glue the rope onto the Sonotube with a hot glue gun.

My measurements were off and I had to buy more rope (opps!)
Here's how to determine the length of rope you'll need:
1. Measure the width of the rope (in inches) and divide that into the length of the tube.
2. Measure the circumference of the tube.
3. Multiply both numbers together and divide by twelve.

I bought my rope at Lowe's.

Next I stained the plywood top and bottom with a dark walnut stain...

followed by a coat of clear water-based varnish in a satin finish.

The bottom circle is glued on, but the top is attached with Velcro--you can open and close it...