Remember Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium? Well, I have a coupla seats. I would like to use them in my “man-cave” along with my 1900 dentist chair, skychair, futon, and papasan chair. (I have an odd-chair fetish).
How would you go about creating a stable base? I don’t want to drill into concrete. The “footprint” is 38" x 12.5" (the metal plates that originally bolted the seats down).
I’m thinking of making a 3/4" plywood base, raised off the floor on 2 x 4s and bolting the seats to it. How big would the platform need to be to make the seats stable? Is there a better way to do this?
if you made the riser to go from a few inches more than totally under the seat back to more than an isle width in front (you don’t have the seat backs to keep you from falling) then you should be good.
What you’re planning is what I would think. I’d at least consider using 2 x 6s, and decide which I thought would be better. 6-7 inches seems like a more normal step (ETA: my stairs are 7.5 inches). Make sure the back is the right distance for them to be placed with their back against a wall.
You could put a railing on the platform in front of them: Font row seats!
OK, the robust 2x6’s it is. My gf has enlisted a friend of hers, who is an artist (advertising) who thinks it would be cool to do a trompe l’oeil thing. She wants to paint the floor with images like crushed cups, discarded popcorn containers, ticket stubs/a program, etc.
I attached my art deco movie theater seats to a 2x12 that I wrapped in some gaudy, old theatre feeling, carpet. The base was wide enough for comfortable seating if they were leaning up against a wall, but would easily dump someone if they were in the middle of a room. The plus side of using the carpet is they would slide on the floor when you wanted to move them and it was a pretty simple way of camouflaging the base while staying with the theme.
