Reader Guest Post!
One of my readers sent me an email with some pictures of a project she did.
She does not have a blog, so I asked her to send me a tutorial so I could post her project here!
I think she did an awesome job! Thanks so much for sharing Jill!
I’ve never written a tutorial like this before, I hope this will do.
I am so excited that you might want to share my project–thank you!
I loved Ballard Designs spool table, but at $199 there was no way I was going to buy one!
My super handy husband and I put our heads together and decided we could build one fairly easily.
1. We purchased from Home Depot 2 wooden rounds (approx. 17″ diameter), a cement form
(I believe they are used to pour footings for patios, etc.) and 3 rolls of jute rope***.
2. We cut the cement form down to about 20″ in length.
3. My husband drilled a 2″ hole in the center of one of the rounds for the spool hole.
4. We traced the inside of the cement form on a piece of scrap wood and cut out 2 of those smaller circles. We glued/nailed one to the bottom wooden round so later we would have some way to secure
the cement tube to the base. We glued/nailed the other to the top wooden round
(with the hold drilled in it) to help the lid stay in place on top of the cement tube and base.
It is removable for storage in the tube too.
5. I painted both wooden rounds with dark brown paint I had on-hand. I used an orbital sander to distress it a bit.
6. I spent a lot of time looking online for an antique spool label I liked but ended up using bits and pieces from different things I found. I settled on G & K for my two kids, Greg and Kate.
The rest says trade mark, quality rope and since 1885 in French–
I used Babelfish translator and then printed it up in a font I liked. I transferred my words to the top using carbon paper and painted them on with craft paint I had at home.
The little scroll-y things I free-handed to fill in empty space on the sides.
7. After the craft paint was completely dry I brushed on a polyurethane finish and we attached the tube to
the base round using screws.
8. We hot glued the end of the jute rope to the tube and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped.
***The rope was really smelly! Knowing I have no tolerance for unpleasant smells my sweet husband
washed all the rope and used those new laundry scent pearls to try to improve the “aroma”–it still doesn’t smell wonderful but it is much better and that rope was really dirty–yuck!
As we ran out of rope we hot glued the ends down and began with a new section of rope.
9. We put the top on–the smaller circle of scrap plywood holds the top in place on top of the tube.
I could not be happier with it–and I saved at least $150!
Thanks so much for sharing your project Jill!
April @ Chronicles of a Compulsive Decorator
223 days ago
This is fantastic! I have also loved the idea of a spool table but their price has stopped me, too. I think the personalization and ease (and price!) on this one is awesome! Great job!
[Reply]
Kathy @ Creative Home Expressions
223 days ago
Wow! What a fabulous project! I love it and I love to see “copy cat” projects that give you what you want for much less money. I love the way Jill did the painting on top of hers. I’m always impressed with anything freehand because I am horrible that way.
[Reply]
Katie Daniels
223 days ago
Oh my goodness! I think I NEED one of these! Beautiful! I can’t wait to try this!
[Reply]
Reanna
222 days ago
Great tute, Jill! I really cannot guess why you don’t have a blog. You would be fantastic
Thanks for featuring her, Sharyl.
[Reply]
ingrid
215 days ago
i love this! bev at flamingo toes also did a table like this. i love that jill showed us how she made the base, bev lucked out and found a basket, and this gives someone (who has trouble finding inspiration on HOW to knock off, exactly what to use!) here is the link for the other tutorial
http://www.flamingotoes.com/2010/10/ballard-knockoff-table/
[Reply]
kathy t
215 days ago
What a great project and how nice that you and your husband worked together to acheive this beautiful piece of furnature for your home.
[Reply]