Adding Wheels to an Armchair

I'm working on my new desk area. Actually it's pretty much done aside from some details but I'll keep you in suspense for a little while longer. Ha ha!

To go with the new desk I needed a new chair because the stool I had there before was way too high. It's not new though the chair I had in mind, it's actually pretty old and has been moving around in the house all these years but hasn't really been sat on much. I wanted it to be a little more mobile though so I added, yes you guessed it, wheels!


Martin got these wheels for me that are super easy to attach and which work for narrow surfaces like the legs of  a chair.


All you do is get a 10 mm / 3/8 inch drill bit and drill a hole and pop in the white bit. As you can see I pre-taped the drill bit after measuring the stick end of the wheel thingy. Then it's just a matter of drilling straight until reaching the tape.


And there it is, the wheel inserted. I normally get my wheels at Clas Ohlson but they didn't have wheels that could be inserted so Martin got these at Tellus. It's the coolest store, all wheels and casters and not much else. Love specialty stores like that!


Our floor in the closet/desk area and adjoining bedroom is actually a pine sub floor which we discovered under a few layers of hideous fake linoleum. It's not the hardest of floors so the wheels will probably leave marks but it's not a precious floor so I don't really  mind.


I'm on wheels people! I'm on wheels!

Comments

[Leena]

Weird, at first I thought that the chair and wheel combo does not look good. But I seem to like it more and more everytime I look at it. I even started to think which chair I could do this at home.

[Brismod]

I think it's a very cool idea. A little more elegant than your standard office chair! xx

[gail]

I always smile and chuckle when I read your accompanying words--love your sense of humor!

[Lena]

Love it! Nice office chairs can be hard to find and this is a great alternative. Excited to see the rest of your new work space.

[Iiris]

Very practical, and what a nice old chair. I've been thinking of adding wheels under my daughter's bedside chest, because all her stuff drops behind it and it's quite heavy to move otherwise.

If you want to keep your floor scratch free then maybe you could add a length of see-through floor protector plastic, whatever its real name is, under the chair. Not very pretty, I know, but would save you sanding and varnishing the floor later.

[Carlos]

I'm afraid I'd rather sand and varnish than have the sheet... :)

[Katharina]

could you please reveal the name/brand of the wallpaper (maybe you did already sometime earlier but I am only following your blog for a little while)?

Mersi

[Carlos]

The wallpaper is by Ferm Living http://www.ferm-living.com/ and it's called Wild Flower in green http://www.ferm-living.com/wallpaper/wild-green.

[Cherri Porter]

Is that a skinnylaminx pillow? Love the elephants!

[Carlos]

It's not, it's by Estrid Ericson for Svenskt Tenn http://www.svenskttenn.se/en-us/product/0127/textil/ta10057/textil-elefant-lin.aspx. As you can see it's very bleached. That's how bright our house is...

[valeria]

I love wheels too! Benita, you are funny!!!

[down bedding]

I never would have thought about this. wheels on a classy old chair...very interesting

[Vicki K]

This is so brilliant! (I'm sure I'm repeating myself.)

[Frida- trendenser.se]

I just love that wallpaper! Have a nice evening!

[Dana@Bungalow'56]

This is such a great idea. I'm just surprised the chair hasn't been painted white yet?

[Carlos]

I don't know if you can tell from the photo but the chair has awesome patina so even I can't bear to put a paintbrush against it.

[Katharina]

thanks for sharing!

[Al - Clocks]

Looks wonderful. Great reading your post as well.

[Julie]

Wow, that's so cool and kinda whimsical! Great tutorial! Thanks.

[garrywild18]

I like that arm chair in wheels, pretty innovative idea.

[katie]

why did i think you have little sun there if your house is so bright? is it only for a few months of the year? hmmmmm curious=)

[katie]

Benita: i'm curious how this makes the chair's stability. I wanted to cut down the legs to my daughter's piano BENCH (so it is a little wider than your average chair to start with) and then add the castors. I wondered, tho, if the 4 legs of the bench would be wobbly...Or if I'd have to put a stabilizing bar on 2 sides? How do you feel, sitting on that chair so far? Does it wobble? (or 'wibble' as my daughter would say?) =) oh, and btw the bench would sit on carpet at this point. low pile.

[Carlos]

It's stable and doesn't wibble :). You can't wheel all over the place on small wheels like these ike in an office chair but you can move around a little bit. When buying, check how much weight each wheel can take.

[Carlos]

It's super bright al year around as soon as the sun is out and quite bright the rest of the time. It's those white walls and the fact that we are on a bit of a hill I guess.