cathouse beds

The Great Depression and Iron Beds

No photo I’ve seen evokes quite as much sorrow and despair as this one with a man setting on a  bed at a “Poor House” in Perry County Missouri. If you look close, the  bed in the photo is missing the brass treatment on the footboard that can be seen on the headboard. The corner…

cathouse beds

A King for the Colony

Not long ago I was asked to help stage a house, with one of our beautiful antique iron beds, in the prestigious Malibu Colony on Malibu beach. They asked if I could come up with a bed that had a bit of a “WOW” factor. A bed that would be representative of the waves and…

cathouse beds

Iron Beds and Ghost Town Bodie State Park

Bodie is a ghost town in the Bodie Hills east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in Mono County, California, United States, about 75 miles (120 km) southeast of Lake Tahoe. As a bustling gold mining center, from 1859 to the begining of the 1900’s, Bodie had the amenities of larger towns, including two banks,…

cathouse beds

Iron Beds for Log Cabins

I have quite a few people come to me for iron beds for their log cabin homes. Most of them have a preconceived notion that only Austere and Straight Line  beds will work in the log home surroundings. Although the thought of a scrolled  bed in a log cabin seems a little far fetched. Through…

cathouse beds

Wedding Ring Style Iron Bed Conversion

Most people that are considering   iron beds for possible king conversion, feel as though their options will be limited to beds with straight lines……  beds that can simply have a few iron tubes welded in to increase the width. No so. In this photo of an iron bed we converted for a customer, you’ll…

cathouse beds

The Youth Size Iron Bed

Throughout the 1800’s, iron beds came in double size (53″ x 75″), twin size (39″ x 75″), 3/4 size (48″ x 75″). What many people don’t realize is that there were Youth Size  beds, between the twin and crib size. Youth size, were only about 31″ wide and sometimes as short n length as 54″. The…

cathouse beds

The Indestructibility of Iron Beds

Few things, throughout history, have survived like that of iron beds. They seem to have an indestructible nature to them. Because they are made of one of the strongest and most durable materials known to man, it’s not that unusual to see  beds in “aftermath”  photo’s of natural disasters. I have actually had customers that…

cathouse beds

Before & After Iron Bed King Conversion Sketches

As you may already know, the largest size bed being made back in the early 1800’s was a double size. So when someone wants a king size, we convert whatever original double size  they select from our inventory into a king size. That’s done by cutting the bed apart in integral places and adding additional…

cathouse beds

The Sleeping Porch and The Iron Bed

Thank you to a customer who was kind enough to share this grand old tradition of sleeping  outside on a screened in porch . Iron beds on porches were not uncommon during the Victorian era. The homes were designed specifically with areas for  beds. Why……because of the hot humid nights during the summer months. There…