Adding Caster Wheels to our Lego Table

This project has been on my to-do list for several months now, and I finally managed to get it done. We love the Lego table I built last summer, but it is very heavy and moving it is difficult and always results in a wrinkled rug. I considered cutting the legs off and just installing caster wheels in their place (too difficult with how heavy the table is) or screwing the wheels to the bottoms of the legs (would raise the table too high and look awkward), but after some further thought I decided to add the wheels behind the legs. The thought was that the legs would mostly hide the wheels, but raise the table up just enough to allow it to be moved around more easily.

notice the wrinkled rug in front of the closest leg

I knew it wouldn't be difficult, and it ended up being even easier than I thought it would be, though I did have a bit of a false start.

After drilling pilot holes, I screwed each wheel into the frame under the bottom shelf.

holes marked and drilled

wheels on

After doing all four, I righted the table and realized the wheels were just a smidge too small: I couldn't easily move the table. So I dug through my scrap bin (which is very full and I need to come up with some projects to use up all my scraps) and found a length of lattice left over from when I did the board and batten in the guest room. It's not very thick, but I hoped it would be enough to lift the legs off the floor.

I cut four pieces to size, predrilled some holes, then attached them to each corner with wood glue and a screw. All that was left was to screw each wheel back in place and check to see if it was enough.

lattice piece with holes marked and drilled and attached to the table

you can just see the lattice between the table frame and the wheels

all the wheels on

It was!

wheels on

You can see the wheels a bit depending on which direction they're turned, but they're not super obvious. And even better, the table can be easily moved, but two of the wheels have locks to keep it from moving when I don't want it to go anywhere.

in its usual position

Being able to easily move the table makes it much more useful. Mr M and I like to have the table closer to whichever couch we're sitting on. We can put our feet up or put a laptop on it to watch a show on Netflix. Now one of us can move the table (instead of both of us together) close to the couch then easily push it back when we're done. I'm hoping it will also decrease the severity of the bruises I sometimes get. I'm not always as spatially aware as I should be and have run into the corner several times (aka I'm a klutz). If the table moves instead of sitting like a rock, the impact won't be as bad.

snugged up to the couch

next to the love seat

I still need to paint it, but I haven't quite decided on the color. I'm working on a cabinet for our bedroom and I love the color I used and want to use it in the living room, but I haven't quite decided which piece to use it on.