You Should Put Your Coffee Table on Casters

Photo: Byjeng (Shutterstock)

We’re all struggling to keep our spaces clean, and at the same time, living in smaller spaces with rooms that pull double duty. The tables in your house are functional in ways that go beyond being the place you put the tableware: Most serve as staging spaces for projects, too. The problem is, they’re also largely immovable, but being able to shift them out of the way could reactivate your space at a moment’s notice. If you move your coffee table to the side, now you have a larger party space with a console to put snacks on; same with your kitchen table or even a kitchen island. The solution? Casters.

Those rollers on the bottom of your office chair can be bought and installed on almost anything, including ottomans, coffee tables, and even a sofa. They don’t have to look as functional as your office chair, either. They come in a whole slew of styles. Adding casters to my coffee table meant that I could easily get at dog toys that had disappeared underneath it, make it easier for my Roomba to do its thing, and best of all, made me actually wash my washable rug because I could get to it more easily.

I chose vintage casters for this apothecary table so I can reach over from the couch and drag my coffee closer to me instead of getting up, and my dog could get to the giant magnet of tennis balls under it. Photo: Amanda Blum

To install, you just need a drill and your casters. Make sure you choose casters that are rated for the weight of your furniture, and ideally, you want the kind that can lock in place.

Turn the furniture on its side, and hold the caster bracket up to the leg where you want it and use a marker to mark where holes should be. You always want to pre-drill instead of just trying to screw in the casters because you don’t want it to split the wood. Also, keep in mind, as you are placing the casters, you want to ensure they’re far enough away from the outside edge of the furniture that you won’t stub a toe on them. In fact, you may be able to place them far enough away from the edge that they become invisible.