Plywood Mystery Item? Good Questions

Q - I found 2 of these wood veneered, molded plywood pieces with these unusual, over-engineered, heavy hardware attached to the sides. They're 23" wide, 11" high and 17" deep, 3/4" 14 ply and well constructed. There are small nail holes on what look like the arms. The hardware appears to be to shift the piece back and forth slightly…

I have no idea what they could be, but the construction is so good, I couldn't bear to see them thrown away. I think I'll fashion them into 2 barstools or some sort of bench. Do you have any idea what they are?

Sent by MH

Editor - We're stumped. Anyone got a guess?

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Comments (15)

I'm wondering if they are some kind of base for a modern style glider rocker?? just guessing

Seats for swings of some sort?

Rather, ottoman.

It's part of a matching set, glider ottoman.

Bravo shockthebourgeois! Great sleuthing!

in one pic it looks like the shelf under the 'u' is supported from what is obviously the bottom. based on that, pcitures 4 and 5 seem to be the natural position for this thing. so i think these are the bottoms to some sort of lounge/rocking chair. the supports for the seat would connect to the hardware, i guess?

It's a seat from one of the preliminary rides in IKEALÄND, this particular one made you sit comfortably in a memory foam pad and rocked you, while you waited to get in the giant Swedish-meatball pit. They finally rejected the idea, thinking it'd attract hungry people and the meatballs were just made out of plastic.

Thank you shockthebourgeois! I love the AT community. I knew I could count on you to end my torment.

For nearly $800? Wow! Get those to an upholsterer asap! Resale!

Happy to help- I can't stand an unsolved mystery :)

I'd love to see how you decide to repurpose these... share when you're done!

@shockthebourgeois
I'm mystified as to how you worked this out... please let us know the process of this magical searching power you have!

@soooz: It's a magical power called obsessive-compulsive google-searching. :)

I just looked carefully at the photos to analyze the pieces- I realized that I had been looking at it upside-down, and that it was a base instead of a seat. I did a few image searches using keywords like "modern," "molded plywood," and "glider," and found some similar items. I located the sites of vendors who were selling similar pieces and perused their inventories. I had also figured out that I was really looking for an ottoman (because of the size of the base and the lack of hardware for a seat back), so I searched for glider sets. I just scanned through the images until I found a match!

Anyway, nothing too tricky- I just love solving puzzles, and this one beats Sudoku any day!

Shock, you must be very good at solving puzzles.

I'm going to fashion a gliding bench, using them side-by-side. I'll submit an update when I'm finished. Don't hold your breath, though. This will take me a while. I want to plan this out carefully so I don't ruin them.

I feel so blessed, like the Re-use Karma God smiled on me.