Fathers Day

It’s almost Fathers Day, and you’ve yet to decide what to get one of the most important and possibly influencial people in your life. As is the situation with any gift giving occasion, what we give shows how much we care about the person we’re offering the gift to. No……it doesn’t have to be pricey.…

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Converting Double Size to Twin

I am constantly getting requests from people looking for matching twin size iron beds. As you may know from reading some of my other blog’s, twins were not made in the same quantities as double sizes were. The reasons were varied…….but that’s another whole story. Suffice to say, over the past 40 to 50 years…

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Packing & Shipping Your Iron Bed

What is the best way to pack and ship your antique iron bed. The first thing to remember is that your bed isn’t a mirror that needs to be bubble wrapped with  Styrofoam peanut’s. It’s thick wall steel tubing and heavy cast iron castings. But……with that being said, there is a degree of fragility to…

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Sandblasted Details

The iron bed in this photo was covered with layer upon layer of old lead base paint before it was sandblasted and readied for restoration and paint. It’s often difficult, if not impossible to really see what detailing is under all the 150 to 200 years of paint, until they are sandblasted off. The beauty…

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The Cornucopia of Iron Castings

There are few castings , seen on antique iron beds, which have a definitive meaning as that of the “Cornucopia”. It is rich in meaning dating back to medieval times.  The dictionary describes a “cornucopia” as a goats horn that is overflowing with abundance. That abundance is symbolized  with fresh flowers, fruits and corn. Another…

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Straight Canopy vs. “Crown Canopy”

When it comes to converting our antique iron beds to canopy, there is often a fair amount of confusion on which type of canopy will look best with which type of bed frame. It’s a commonly held opinion that a head and foot board with a straight line top. should automatically have a straight canopy…

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Dressing Your Old Iron Bed

Many people just aren’t aware of the proper way antique iron beds should be dressed. If the truth be told………there really is no proper way. Much of how a person dresses their bed depends on two things…….. The gender they’d like it to portray  and the setting they want it to blend with. As you…

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Popular Oldies Being Reproduced

Over the years I’ve sold well over a hundred iron beds that different manufacturers have ended up reproducing. Sometimes that reproducing occurred here in this country. But most often it took place in China, Taiwan or Spain. All centers of low price labor. But few beds have ever experienced the popularity as the one in…

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Altering the Height of Your Iron Bed

So you’ve found a beautiful old antique iron bed, gotten home and set it up in your bedroom only to find that once you get your big thick “pillow top” mattress and large square European Pillow Shams…….your headboard is pretty much hidden. What are your options? The first possibility is to have the headboard raised…

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Beds & Pets

Over the years, I’ve had more customers request certain alterations to their iron beds than you can imagine. Most of the time it was to have their beds lowered so a small dog could get into the bed. As you’re probably aware, the rail system on  antique iron beds is about 13″ off the ground.…

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Iron Bed Folklore

Back in the early to mid 1800’s the British made a lot of iron beds that incorporated the use of round “mirror medallions”. Originally thought to have no more than a decorative purpose behind them, it was learned that merry old England was fraught with superstition and the belief in the occult. It is a…

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Casting With Sand

So what is “casting with sand”? Especially when it relates to antique iron beds. It’s a process whereby a mold is taken of an object , by building a box around the solid object  and then packing a dense  mud sand mixture into the box that forms around the solid object. On beds this has…

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Floral Iron Castings on American Made Beds

Back in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, Europe was going full bore in their production of iron beds. We picked up the calling in the early 1800’s and far eclipsed any of the beds Europe was making. There were a few distinctions that set our beds apart from those beds being made throughout Europe…

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An Antique Iron Beds Best Friend is Sandblasting

I’ve lost track of the countless times a prospective customer has said to me, after I’ve showed them the custom antique faux’ finishes we specialize in, ” oh…. I’d only want an iron bed in it’s original condition”. First of all it automatically lets me know what little this person really knows about the restoration…

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Dumping of Reproduction Beds on US Market

“Dumping” refers to the practice of a nation or group flooding a market with less than fair-value products in an unfair effort to dominate that market. This is what happened to the iron beds market in this country about 7 years ago. Prior to this time there were a number of good quality manufacturers in…

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The Passing of an Icon “Dick Clark”

Very few people have had as much of a hand at exposing generation upon generation to the world or Rock & Roll Music. Dick Clark enabled a young generation to see the music they loved, no just listen to it on the radio. His American Bandstand launched the careers of individuals and groups alike that…

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Iron Bed on Wheels

I usually don’t go too far afield from iron beds in the majority of my blogging. And if you take into consideration that there actually is an bed in this “log cabin” on wheels, then I guess I’m still on track. I just couldn’t pass up sharing this particular photo a client emailed me last…

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Bed Sizes Antique Iron Beds

When it comes to iron beds that were being made back in the 1800’s, there were 5 specific size categories. Yet even within those five categories  beds could vary in width quite a bit, especially in the Twin Size category. The five different categories of beds were: Crib Size : These usually were very close…

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Rusty Iron Distressed Carckle Finish

For people looking for a really old distressed finish for their iron bed, let me suggest our Rusty Iron Distressed Crackle Finish. Although this is one of the more labor intensive antique faux’ finishes that we do on the beds we sell, it offers one of the more distressed looks we offer. I should let…

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