How to Add Caster Wheels to a Round Chair

My parents bought these chairs when they moved into their current house about 5.5 years ago. My mom got them to go at the ends of her dining table since she has long benches flanking both sides. However, they have always been kind of short, making them an awkward height to the table. We found some wheels we liked to go on them hoping hey would give the chairs some height, but initially I didn't think they would work because there was a rubber plate in the way. Well, we revisited that this week and it turns out it is a lot easier than I initially thought!

This project really was so simple, the whole thing maybe took me 15 minutes. I really wish I would've done it years ago instead of insisting it wasn't possible, but you live and you learn! The chairs in question are two or three inches too short for my parents' table which isn't the worst thing ever but it does make it kind of awkward when you're the one sitting to eat in them. I flipped over the chair and began by twisting the legs off. There is a rubber plate that covers about two-thirds of the bottom of each chair leg. I'm a lot more curious and willing to explore things now than I was when I originally looked at these 5-ish years ago.

I took all the legs off, looked at the cover and realized it could be easily pried off. I used my upholstery stapler remover and was easily able to remove the little bit of rubbery plastic that has a nail in it. I continued removing the pieces from all eight chair legs. If you don't have an upholstery tool, you would easily be able to use a flat head screw driver.

Once I had them all removed, I used a 3/8 drill bit to drill straight into the leg. After each leg had been drilled, I placed the castor socket into the hole and used a rubber mallet to secure it to the leg. The castor sockets have teeth that grab onto the wood after they are hammered in.

After each leg had a socket, I was easily able to put the wheel in. I repeated this process for the seven other feet and made sure all of the wheels were secure, and honestly, it took more time to unscrew all of the feet off of both chairs than it did to do everything else combined. I was easily able to screw the legs back on and we were done! Having the couple extra inches from the wheels provides just enough height to make the chairs more practical at the table.

The whole thing was so easy to do that it's a little frustrating to look back and realize I could have done it forever ago, but have just been sitting on it. Part of that was my ADHD causing me to be overwhelmed and the other part is learning and growing confident in myself and my DIY skills. So, if you have something small you've been putting off because it seems like a big deal, take a minute to think about WHY its stressing you out, take a deep breath, maybe watch a YouTube video and go for it. You'll thank yourself later.