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The Wonders of Chair Leg Floor Protectors
Floor protectors are a very cheap and easy method of safe guarding your furniture and flooring. Chair legs without some form of cushion or pad underneath them can cause all sorts of damage to both hard floor surfaces and sometimes carpets. The last thing you want is to be sliding all over varnished floors, or worse, horrible floor scratch marks. Instead of covering the floor with unsightly plastic chair leg protectors, add inconspicuous fabric protector pads to the bottoms of your chair legs.
Chair leg grippers really help prevent furniture legs from scratching and sliding on slippery floor surfaces such as tile or wood. Without chair leg pads, some furniture legs may scuff the floors as well, leaving behind marks that are difficult to clean or remove.
While modern wood floors are very durable, they are damaged easily by moving chairs, couches and tables around the room. The sharp edges on the legs of the furniture both scratch and dent the wood surface. The solution to this problem is installing woven felt pads on the bottom of the feet. Woven felt is preferred because it is the most durable type.
While many varieties of furniture leg protectors are available in stores, you can make your own, custom-shaped to fit each furniture leg, for less cost.
Things You’ll Need
- Things You Will Need
- Felt
- Pen/Pencil
- Adhesive Glue Spray or Hot Glue
- Scissors
Tip
Choose a fabric close to the color of your chair legs to be less noticeable.
Using an adhesive glue will mean the pads will stick on for longer, but be careful not to damage the legs with glue.
Felt Chair Protectors
Step 1
Take a piece of felt and set it on a flat surface, either the floor or a table and place your chair leg on top. Trace around the chair leg to create a good visible outline, and cut out the number of felt pads needed for your chairs. Not all chairs have the same legs so make sure to trace around each individual one so the pads are inconspicuous. (You can also use left over pieces of fleece fabric from an old scarf if you can’t obtain felt!)
If you’re struggling with moving your chair to view the bottom of the legs try and source household objects of a similar size to draw around such as a soup can, a glass or for smaller legs, a bottle cap (see below). Cut out same number of fabric circles as the number of felt pieces. (Assuming your chair legs are round.)
Step 2
After tracing the shapes of the leg onto either adhesive-backed industrial felt or regular felt fabric, cut out the traced shapes to prepare the chair bottom pads for gluing. Then clean the surface of the chair leg bottom with a multipurpose household cleaner.
Step 3
Spread a small dab of hot glue or spray adhesive to each chair leg bottom surface before applying the felt to the ends of the chair legs. If you are using any of the materials below, apply a dab of contact adhesive to the chair-leg bottom before putting the protector in place. This helps the longevity. When all four legs have protectors, turn the chair right-side up and have a sit down. Your weight provides even pressure to create a lasting bond and you can also double check the legs are even.
Other Materials You Can Use
DIY Leather Pads
Cut scraps of thick leather, suede or faux leather as simple, durable protective pads for the bottom of each chair leg. Trace around the bottom of a chair leg onto a piece of card stock or paper; then cut out along the traced lines. Some chairs may have the same leg shape for all four legs, while others may have slightly different front and back legs, requiring two different templates. Trace the templates onto the desired pad material; then glue each pad in place with hot glue. Leather and faux leather will hold up longer than most suede’s.
Felt or Craft Foam
Make your own chair-leg pads from felt or craft foam for another way to protect the floor. Trace the chair legs onto paper; then use the cutout paper as a template on the felt or foam. Glue pieces of a sturdy fabric such as denim or canvas between layers of felt or craft foam to make the pads more durable; use spray adhesive glue to secure the pads to the chair-leg bottoms.
Plastic Cap Trick
Metal chairs such as folding chairs tend to wear through the plastic or rubber caps on the bottoms of the legs, resulting in scratched floors or damaged carpets. Make your own wear-proof cap by purchasing replacement rubber chair-leg caps in the same size. Place a penny inside the bottom of each cap – or an old five pence if the diameter is slightly smaller – before pressing it onto the chair leg. The coins prevent the sharp chair-leg edges from cutting through the caps. Of course you can use plastic bottle caps on on chair leg as long as they fit, but they are a less attractive option!
Office and marketing manager for Sloane & Sons Stylish Chairs, who sell a range of high-quality tub chairs, accent chairs and more.
