The Easy Way to Add Caster Wheels to a Wood Table

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Today on the blog, I want to show you how to add caster wheels to a wood table – the easy way!

farmhouse style screened in porch with rolling table and two vintage wood folding chairs on a beige outdoor rug

Adding caster wheels to a wood table is a great way to make it a more functional piece of furniture. One that’s easier to move around as needed.

white and brown painted rolling table with a vintage wood folding chair on a screened in porch

And it’s actually a fairly easy project, even for a beginner DIY-er!

brass and rubber caster wheel on a wooden table leg

There are many other tutorials and videos online showing you how to attach caster wheels to furniture. But sometimes you just want to find to find the easiest and the simplest solution to get the job done.

That’s how I approach most of the DIY’s in our home. If you can relate, then you’re in the right place!

cocker spaniel laying on an outdoor rug in front of a painted rolling table and a vintage wood folding chair

In this post, I will show you how I added caster wheels to a wooden table on our front porch.

But you can also apply the tips I share in this post when adding caster wheels to a chair, a sofa, a potting bench, or really any piece of wood furniture!

This is the table I started with for my DIY. It was a vintage find from the Liberty Antique Festival a while back.

vintage chippy white table with a barnwood table top on a screened in porch

And this is how it turned out!

Why Add Caster Wheels to Your Furniture?

1) For functionality.

This table lives on our screened in porch. A space that I am frequently rearranging when we host as well as when I sweep off the dirt, pollen, etc.

Wheels make it easier for me to move larger pieces like this with less effort on my part!

freshly painted white and brown rolling porch table on caster wheels

2) For the aesthetics!

I like the look of caster wheels. I think they’re a fun touch that makes this table feel a little more like me. Which in turn makes our porch feel a little more like home!

How to Choose the Right Caster Wheels for Your Project

So you’ve decided to add caster wheels to your wood table / or piece of furniture. First things first… let’s talk about choosing the right caster wheels for your project!

Find a Style of Caster Wheels that Fits Your Furniture

Let’s start with the fun part – the look!

Caster wheels come in a variety of styles, shapes, colors, and materials. You want to find a caster wheel with a look that fits the piece of furniture you’ll be adding the wheels to.

I tend to like vintage style casters, ball caster wheels, and casters with fun metal finishes like brass or copper.

Find the Right Type of Caster Wheel

Once you know the look you’re going for, you’ll want to think about the different types of caster wheels.

The main difference in the types of casters below are the way they are installed or attached to a piece of furniture.

Plate Mounted Casters

Plate mounted casters have a rectangle shaped metal plate above the wheel. The rectangle plate is the part that actually attaches to the bottom of your furniture.

holding a brass and rubber plate mounted caster wheel

Using screws, you can secure the plate to your table leg by drilling the screw through the holes on the plate and into the leg.

Plate mounted casters are the type of casters I chose for my rolling porch table. And they’re also the type of caster I recommend for an easy and simple DIY install!

Click here for the exact plate mounted casters I used on our rolling porch table. I also rounded up a few more that I liked the look of below!

Cup Casters

Cup casters have a rounded or square cup that the leg of your table fits inside of. There are little holes on the sides of the cups where you will attach screws to secure the cup to the table leg.

Using screws, you can secure the cup to your table leg by drilling the screw through the holes on the sides of the cup and into the sides of the leg.

I honestly love the look of a cup caster! I also think these would also be very easy to install.

Here are a few I found and loved.

Stem Caster Wheels

Stem caster wheels are a little different. These casters have a metal stem that goes into the center of the table leg. Some of the stems are threaded, and some have an additional piece of hardware used for the install.

To install a stem caster, you drill a hole into the center of your table leg, and then insert the stem of the caster into the hole.

Honestly these were a little more intimidating to me because I felt like there was more room for error when it came time to drill the hole for the stem. Like if you go too big, the caster might not fit as well as it should for the table to be sturdy.

It’s probably not that hard, but I avoided them even still because the other two options just seemed easier and simpler.

There are some really pretty stem casters though, so I wouldn’t rule them out for my next caster wheel DIY. Here are a few I liked that you might like to.

How to Choose the Right Size Caster Wheels

Now that you have an idea of the style and the type of caster you’ll use for your DIY, it’s important to choose the right size caster wheels for your project.

First you’ll want to measure the width and the depth of bottom of your table leg.

If the table legs are rounded, you can measure the diameter of the leg (the length across the center of the table leg.

Then you’ll want to find a caster wheel that fits that measurement.

My table legs are about 2 inches by 2 inches. I ended up using these 2 inch plate mounted casters and they were a perfect fit!

How to Attach Plate Mounted Caster Wheels to a Wood Table

Let’s dive into the DIY! Here’s what all you’ll need to get started…

Tools & Supplies

a table
caster wheels (1 for each table leg.)
screws to attach the casters (I needed 4 screws for each caster – So 16 in total. This will depend on the exact caster wheels you choose for your project.)
a drill

Step by Step Instructions:

Now that you have your supplies, let’s get into the nitty gritty.

Step 1.) Flip your table upside down so that the legs are pointed up.

(FYI, I did not drill the hole you see in the photo below. The holes in the table legs were there when I bought it. So maybe we could have done the stem casters after all!)

Step 2.) Position one of your caster wheels, plate side down, on the bottom of one of the table legs.

brass and rubber caster wheel sitting on the bottom of a wooden table leg

Step 3.) Use screws and a drill to secure the plate to the bottom of the table legs.

brass and rubber caster wheel installed on a wooden table leg

Step 4.) Repeat steps 2 and 3 to mount your caster wheels on the rest of the table legs.

Step 5.) Carefully turn your table right side up and enjoy your new table on wheels!

vintage wood table turned into a rolling table by adding caster wheels

DIY Rolling Porch Table – The Before and After

One thing I left out of the steps above is painting!

If you look at the before and after photos below, you can see that I painted the table after I installed the caster wheels.

rolling porch table on caster wheels sitting on a screened in porch

I originally planned to leave the top unpainted, and maybe just stain or at least seal the wood.

But the tabletop had a lot of damage to the wood. So I ended up using wood filler and sanding it really good before painting.

white and brown rolling porch table with vintage wood folding chairs and a tray with a drink pitcher and vintage milk glass drinking glasses

I love the two-tone look for this piece! What do you think?

wicker tray on a painted table holding a drink pitcher and vintage milk glass drinking glasses and a striped tea towel

The legs of the table are painted in the color Cashmere by Fusion Mineral Paint. And the tabletop is painted the color Algonquin by Fusion Mineral.

a container of Algonquin and a container of Cashmere by Fusion Mineral Paint

Full paint color reviews of these two colors are coming soon! But in the meantime, here are a few of my favorite colors from Fusion Mineral Paint.

Color Reviews

with Fusion Mineral Paint

Fusion Mineral Paint is my go to for all my DIY furniture projects here at the farmhouse!

If you’re new to painting furniture, or even if you’re not new, but you would like to hear some of my best furniture painting tips and tricks… I’d love to share a free helpful resource I created just for you!

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I am loving how our new rolling porch table turned out!

painted rolling table on a screened in porch with wood chairs and a wicker tray of vintage water glasses sitting nect to a potted plant and a vintage radio

It’s so nice being able to roll the table around on the porch when I sweep, or when I just want to rearrange the furniture out here.

I actually sat at this table while I wrote this blog post, and the kids have gotten to enjoy a couple lunches here too on the screened in porch.

vintage wood folding chair and a white rolling table on caster wheels

It’s been nice to check this DIY off my project list, and finally put this table to use!

a wicker tray holding vintage water glasses and a striped tea towel sitting next to a potted plant and a vintage radio on a painted porch table

And then there’s Ford. He’s quite the ham these days! He layed right in front of the table when I was taking these photos like “mom take my picture too!”

black cocker spaniel laying on an outdoor rug in front of a table and chairs

Don’t worry, he got his plenty of treats for posing like a good little model pup!

black cocker spaniel laying on a screened in porch

If you’re not quite ready to tackle this DIY, be sure to pin this post so you can refer back to it again later!

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I hope this post was helpful! Whether it brought you a little inspiration, or maybe even gave you the extra nudge you needed to tackle your next DIY project.

Now that I know first hand just how easy it is to add caster wheels to a wood table, I’ve been looking around our farmhouse to see what else I can add wheels to.

screened in porch with rolling table and two vintage wood folding chairs on an outdoor rug with a black cocker spaniel puppy laying down

Maybe that antique trunk I’ve had on my project list for forever? I’ll keep ya updated.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! Until next time…