Create a new office chair from old chairs - an environmental project

February 21, 2009 by Lee Hammaker

Office Chair Reconstructed

I’m a packrat. I’ve collected a lot of things over the years and just recently got rid of some of it. I’ve been trying to create a small photo studio in my apartment where my dinning room is and I wanted an office chair with casters on to use there. I have one where my “Idea Room” is but I needed one in the photo studio so I could sit comfortably while I do some of my close-up work, or I just want to sit and think about what I’m doing.

One day at work management decided to replace the cheap cushion chairs the regular workers use while assembling the product with bigger and more comfortable chairs. They offered the old chair to us before they tossed them our. I was lucky enough to get one without casters on it but I was glad to have it. It served for a time but I still wanted a better one. I could have purchased one but I was still building some money up for other camera stuff.

One day I found the bottom part of a wheeled office chair in one of the dumpsters and asked the supervisor if I could take it home with me. He agreed and I carried it out in a small box. It was being thrown out because two of the spokes of the chair was broken though all five casters were attached. For the longest time I tried to figure out how to reattach the spokes together and place on the caster-less chair without any luck.

Months passed and one of the supervisors showed me a complete office chair that was broken in half. The bottom part with the casters was intact and the top part was in good shape. It was cushioned with armrests. I took the bottom part home one day the upper part home the next. I stared at it for several days wondering if I could reattach the bottom half with the top but each possible scenario ended in disaster in my mind.

I noticed the casters just popped off the plastic legs of one and the metal feet popped off the bottom of the other. I switched the metal feet for the casters and I had a tall armless office chair with casters.

It was okay but I wanted the other cushioned chair with arms instead of the tall armless one (yeah, I’m picky). I spent more time staring at the two chairs and realized; there were four bolts connecting the metal parts of the chair attached to the cushions. I snapped my fingers and got a ratchet screwdriver out and switched cushions. I now had a tall office chair with casters on it, the only problem was the bottom part was only attached by two bolts; all I had to do was get the drill and make two new holes to fit the new bottom. Then I realized I didn’t have a drill.

Years ago I had a decent drill when a new neighbor moved into the apartment across the hallway from me. He asked to borrow the drill and being a nice guy I let him use it for a few days. Well, when I remembered he had the drill I went over and knocked on the door. No one answered and I realized he had left with my tool.

I thought about using a Dremmal tool I had but it was old and I realized I had no drills to speak of. I’m normally a very organized guy but I wound up neglecting my tool inventory for a long time and had not replaced some items. After checking my bank account I went to Amazon.com and purchased a new drill and a drill bit kit. I don’t like Ebay that much, if I want something I want to buy it as soon as possible and not wait for the bidding to end. Besides, this way I know I’m going to get it.

I spent all of two hours detaching the bottoms of the chairs and then reattaching them correctly with the new holes drills made and bolts attached. What took the longest time was photographing each step. I now have a tall office chair with cushiony armrests and casters on the bottom so I can scoot around the room in relative comfort. The only problem now is one of the armrests has it’s cushion torn. Does anyone know how to sew?

Here is what I did

	This is the office stool I took home from work.
	This is the second office chair I was allowed to take home from work.
	The bottom of the office stool without the metal feet.
	The bottom of the office chair without the casters.
	Close-up of the metal foot still attached to the bottom of the office stool. These can be removed by just pulling them straight out.
	All the metal feet after they’ve been pulled out.
	Close-up of the plastic caster attached to the bottom of the office chair.
	All the casters after they were pulled out.
	The seat newly attached to the base.
	The final product.
	All the tools and parts I had started with. This is the office stool I took home from work.

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Curt Siters is an Independent Associate for Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. He is also aYoung Living Essential Oils Independent distributor and publishes articles on YourWebReference and at TheVeryEssence. He also does web work such as website design, website maintenance and SEO for websites.

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