Weird Wooden Box

My dear grandmother just passed at the age of 91. As my family is going through her belongings, they came across this wooden box, with some sort of initials on the top. The inside is wooden tiles with names of furniture carved into them, and then spots made in the bottom of the box for where they go. We feel like it may be handmade, but we're just completely lost on it's purpose. Any info on this would be appreciated!

Box Top by dveen posted Nov 28, 2016 at 9:04 AM

Box tiles by dveen posted Nov 28, 2016 at 9:04 AM

Box tiles by dveen posted Nov 28, 2016 at 9:04 AM

 

I have NEVER seen something like this in my whole damn life!

**stares at it in confusion and wonderment**

 

Welcome!
It is VERY cool and I suspect it's for a home designer and/or for someone just wanting to do some planning themselves either before the home is built or later for rearranging.
Anything on the box or pieces that indicate scale?
Any marks or stamps on the bottom or anywhere else?

 

So there are absolutely no other markings on the box whatsoever... kind of weird. That's what's making us think it's homemade.

Just texted my dad, he said the box is 5.5 x 4.5 inches.

 

Hi! The lettering is surely hand done but still nice.
I still think it's as I've suspected and may have been done by such a person to use to show potential home buyers how it could be furnished.
I still think it's very cool and would be great for such a person or just for fun on the coffee table.
I also think the wood's patina is just beautiful.

 

The screws on the hinges look machine made.
Couch is a newer term as is stool.
Why couch and sofa?

Were your grandmother's initials LEH? Or someone else in the family?

 

I think Kings is exactly right. I could see these being used by an architect. I dont think they are too new,how longs it been since many homes had a piano ?

 

1960s
I was thinking these might be from the 40s post WWII

 

Sorry to hear about your GrandMa....

 

I was wondering about the couch and sofa as well! Seems odd to have both. And we're looking into the initials. Thanks for your input!

 

What's weird is you don't have a complete room of furniture. Only bits.

Living room - piano, couch, sofa. No sitting chairs.
Stool as in ottaman?
Bedroom 4 beds, no dresser, no armoire,

The table could be living room or bedroom, it is not on a scale for a dining room.

 

Just had another thought.
Was wondering what kind of room would have all those pieces of furniture and not others.

Anyone in the family work in Sanitariums, hospitals, convalescent homes? 1940s, 50s there were a lot of TB hospitals.

 

good point..

 

All I know is that I wanna PLAY with it!!!!!!!

My sympathy to you... glad you found us. Hopefully we can help here and there.

 

Fascinating-never heard of these!

 

Hmmm... Maybe an early version of this magnetic set that my Mom gave me? (She worked for Ethan Allen for many years and used this in her work.) This one has LOTS of pieces - probably one for every piece of furniture the company ever made!

 

I've seen such things is why I thought what I did right off.

 

Now I wonder what this set might be called.... for Googling purposes! hahaha

 

I was thinking similarly -- but couldn't find a photo of what I meant. Maybe this was home made for somebody to use with a lot of imagination, pretending that each block was a piece of furniture?

 

Since the pieces are not to "scale" I would look further into the possibility that this was a game of some sort. They would be pretty useless for architectural or engineering purposes.