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Casters On Things

After hours and hours of painting perched atop one of our backless barstools, m’lady was beginning to have some back-pain issues. We decided it was time for her to scoop up a bad-ass new drafting chair for a bit of support, and after a couple weeks of searching, she found one she was happy with and pulled the trigger. A couple days and 15 minutes with an allen wrench later, the chair was all complete. Only one problem- even at it’s lowest height, it wouldn’t slide underneath the painting table. Oops.

We entertained the idea of cutting down the main support tube of the chair, modifying the table, and a couple other ridiculous ideas, then it hit us. Casters! It seemed so obvious and so easy. Simply raise the height of the table a few inches, rather than hacking up pricey furniture to “make it work.” After another round of research, we found these pairs of bed casters on amazon and got to drilling. (Disclaimer- I got to buy a new set of drill bits to accomplish this project, so I was on board from the get go.)

And wouldn’t ya know it – three inches of rise from the wheels mean that the table is not only mobile, but that the chair now tucks nicely under it when not in use.

Now when I return home from a long day at work, the first words out of Kim’s mouth do not generally revolve around back pain and wrist strain. Hooray!

All that research got us brainstorming other cool and interesting ways to use casters around the crib… and as some of you may know, Kim has become quite the Pinterest addict. Her quick search pulled up some impressive results:

An Ikea Expedit bookcase turned on it’s side (could be great in a mudroom as a storage bench, too!):

Islands? Sure. Why not?

Log? Yup.

Looking for a mobile daybed? Howsabout you use a handful of reclaimed pallets on wheels?

Why buy those cheapo under-bed-storage bins when you could use vintage drawers on wheels? (Also great for serious puzzle fiends.)

So that’s that. Mobility and a touch of height are easier than you thought.(Not to mention, it just looks cooler.) As we recently found out, there are actually entire web stores that sell nothing but casters in every size, shape and variety. So, how do you roll?

Pinterest images can be found on our pin board here, with links to all original sources. Man, you all are a bunch of smarties.

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  • Lindsey d.11.18.11 - 8:44 AM

    My kitchen island is on casters and I LOVE it! I’ve got a big kitchen, but only one wall of counters (it’s like half galley and half eating space). So I bought an awesome minibar with marble top from a hotel surplus store in Atlanta, painted it, and added casters.

    I can move it out of the way to clean, set it up as a bar in the corner of the kitchen for parties, move it to whatever part of the kitchen I need extra prep space in. I highly recommend casters!

    A not very good and quite old photo – http://www.flickr.com/photos/ldeblieux/4380851212/in/set-72157623365575983ReplyCancel

  • Kim11.18.11 - 8:54 AM

    Ah, yes, a large kitchen with an island on casters is PERFECT. I’ll dream about this for our future home… Until then, we’ve found that adding the casters to my painting table helps to move it around like Tetris in our home! And like Scott said, it just looks cooler, too!ReplyCancel

  • Gloria11.18.11 - 9:05 AM

    Oh my gosh, I would put casters on my dog if I could. I want like everything to have casters. I have a big craft table that needs some, but the legs are so darn big and the ones I want are $30 each, which is a lot for four legs. The table was free… but I still can’t quite justify it.ReplyCancel

  • Lauren11.18.11 - 9:18 AM

    So, curious why couldn’t you lower the arms on the chair so it would fit? Or was that uncomfortable? Just wondering!

    I think there are several pieces of furniture in my house that needs casters!ReplyCancel

  • Kim11.18.11 - 9:23 AM

    Gloria: Casters on your dog gave me a great morning laugh!

    Lauren: The arms were as low as they could go. Sadly, the only thing that could have been done was to alter the chair or the table itself. During my chair hunt, I quickly learned that some chairs were just an inch shorter than I needed, or maybe it didn’t have arms, or maybe it was too tall – there was no perfect chair, but this one was SO close (with the help of casters!).ReplyCancel

  • Heather11.18.11 - 9:53 AM

    That log with casters is cracking me up. And it reminds me that I should rewatch Twin Peaks. :)ReplyCancel

  • Kate11.18.11 - 10:07 AM

    I had to laugh at the log with casters too, haha. Great solution!ReplyCancel

  • emily @ the happy home11.18.11 - 12:08 PM

    the “log?” question also had me giggling something fierce. I’d like to put my bed on casters… so i could move it to sweep the dog hair out from underneath more easily.ReplyCancel

  • Two Pitties in the City11.18.11 - 1:45 PM

    We’ve always had light-weight furniture because like Emily said, it makes it so much easier to vacuum up any dog hair. But now casters adds a whole new element. I wonder what I can get E to ‘caster-ize’. And I hope your arm is ok. I never knew the physical pain people needed to go through for art.ReplyCancel

  • Kim11.18.11 - 3:07 PM

    Two Pitties, you are too sweet! I have a permanent nubbin’ ma-bob on my right hand ring finger, but now it’s all the better since my paintbrush has a permanent spot to sit in place! It’s all good for the sake of puppy art!ReplyCancel

  • Sarah11.18.11 - 3:28 PM

    Where did yall get your office chair? My husband also works at home, off of our island and the barstool he uses is not very great. Thanks!ReplyCancel

  • Kim11.18.11 - 5:00 PM

    Hi Sarah! We got the Moon Swivel chair from WayFair:

    http://www.wayfair.com/OFM-Stars-and-Moon-Swivel-Stool-OF1452.html

    The shipping was really fast, and the chair itself is super comfortable and supports my back. There are a billion colors you can choose in this style, too!ReplyCancel

  • Dave11.18.11 - 5:33 PM

    Very cool post. Great outside the box thinking!ReplyCancel

  • Emily @ Our Waldo Bungie11.21.11 - 8:17 AM

    Okay, just read this and my first thought was “We put casters on things!” a la Portlandia. Seriously, I am a nerd. :(

    But the casters are awesome – I love them! Good job, Scott!ReplyCancel

  • Beth Deatherage2.21.12 - 8:24 PM

    My boss taught me all about casters and now I have them on my book shelves and chairs. Sarah if you already have a chair you can just add casters to them. There is great selection specifically for chairs at the online store I got mine. The website is http://coolcasters.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.searchResults&string=friction.ReplyCancel

  • […] 5. game table on casters. This rolling short table is perfect for setting up complicated games or big puzzles, and then rolling the whole thing under the couch or bed between play times. […]ReplyCancel

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