But few iron beds have ever experienced the popularity as the one in this photo. I can honestly say there is rarely a week that goes by that someone doesn’t see the original antique version I have of this bed on my website and ask if it’s available. In the forty years of being in the business I’ve only had this bed a couple of time and one of those went to one of the many companies that reproduced it. Unfortunately many of the companies that did reproduce it, didn’t even have an original to take the molds from and instead bought a reproduction and took their molds off of that. When that happens you end up loosing a “generation” with the mold. Every time a mold is taken of something that already had a mold take from an original, it is loosing a “generation” of clarity and definition.

Also it’s next to impossible for a reproduction to have the clarity in their castings as an original old iron bed has because of the materials that are being used in the reproduction castings……..aluminum. Aluminum is a very soft alloy and looses clarity with every pass through a sandblasting booth or industrial roto blaster.

The clarity of the original castings on this bed were incredible. It’s easy to see why so many companies wanted to reproduce it.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

What are your options?

The first possibility is to have the headboard raised on your bed. That can be done by any welder. It’s a rather simple fix. Have your welder cut the tubing just a couple of inches above the “hitch level”. That is the connecting point at which your side rails attach. Before the cuts are made you’re going to want to measure what you have on the bed to see how much you’re going to need to have welded in. Your welder will then cut a piece of tubing that is the same diameter as the tubing on your bed. A suggestion to your welder……ask him to dowel the added tubing for additional strength before he welds it. After the welding is done, you’re going to want the weld marks to be completely grown down,with a grinder, so it’s completely smooth. Then you’ll touch it up to look like whatever finish your bed already has.

Another possibility is to eliminate the use of your current box spring, and use what is called a “bunkie board”. A bunkie board is only 2″ thick and has no springs in it. But gives better support and longevity to your mattress….that the old box spring did, which was approx 9″ in thickness. By using the bunkie board you’ve effectively lowered the height of your mattress by approx 6″.

On rare occasions I’ve had people ask me to lower their foot boards. Raising or lowering a foot board is much more problematic than a head board because all of the interior design of the foot board needs to be cut and welded. It can be done…..but you’re going to change the intended proportions of the bed. You’re also not going to achieve any better look in the long run.

So whether you decide to weld or use a different box spring…….. alterations can be done to achieve more exposure of your head board. The reason this was not an issue in the 1800′s is because their spring unit and feather mattress together only measured about 6 to 8 inches. That’s a far cry from the mattress and box springs we use today.

Also most all beds only had one thin set of pillows, that were rarely ever propped up against the headboard and were instead usually laid flat on the mattress at the head of the bed.

Hope this has been helpful to you in your dealings with the height and alterations of your antique iron bed.

Although most people, with pet concerns, want their iron beds lowered. There are a number of requests I get to have their iron beds raise, specifically to keep small dogs out of their beds.

For those people wanting their iron beds to have that nice high romantic Victorian height,  I’m continually asked if we make or could suggest a place they can get short little step stools for their pets to get up in their bed.

One of the most accommodating pet requests I get is to either eliminate the use of the footboard on their iron bed or have it lowered below the height of the mattress……..which is where their dogs like to jump up. Lowering the footboard of an iron bed can get costly because every single veritcal interior rod also needs to be cut and welded back together. Depending on how many interior rods or interior design needs to be altered, you could be looking at $100. and up for this alteration.

I’ve even had clients that had me cut down “youth size” iron beds and cribs, for their pets. This can obviously get costly. But then Ernest Hemingway once said………“we should be judged, as a society, by the way we treat our animals”.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

Most all of the round mirrors used on iron beds had beautiful etching on them and were “convex” in shape. As you probably know, a convex mirror “distorts” the image of whoever looks into it.

Many people back in the Victorian Era believed in ghosts and goblins. Their biggest fear was that when a person would fall asleep, they were in jeopardy of being hurt or taken by the nocturnal ghost and goblins. There are historic autobiographies that actually mention people paying servants to stay awake and watch over their employer while they slept, so as to “scare off” any late night unwanted ghostly intruder. This was not a terribly practical thing to do for a couple of obvious reasons. First there was the privacy issue and secondly, there was a pretty good chance a servant wasn’t going to be able to stay awake all night and watch over their employer. Thus falling asleep and opening a window of time for the demons and goblins to do their work.

As you may or may not know………goblins and demons are not known for being attractive in nature. But are rather hideous.

It was thought that an iron bed with round convex mirrors on it would frighten off the demons, because they would see their own distorted grotesque appearance in the mirror. Thus an iron bed became a form of private security.

Because of the volatility of the mirrors, few of them have survived over 150 to 200 year period. But many of the iron beds that originally  had them can still be found ……. just minus the mirrors.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

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 iron beds this has to be done to either copy existing castings on a bed frame or pour molds around new wooden template’s  that are hand carved . That is the manner in which iron beds were made back in the 1800′s.

An artist would hand carve a design, out of wood, that would then be used as the template for a mold to pour hot liquid cast iron to create the castings on an iron bed to join the pieces of that iron bed together.

When we hear Sand Cast molds, it’s a little misleading. It’s not just pure plain old sand………. its a mixture of fine sand, some clay, and a small amount of water to make the mixture cohesive. This mixture is called green sand because it is moist, not because it is actually green. The “green sand” is packed into the box that was built around the wooden template or the existing casting that is on an original iron bed.

Cast iron was then poured into the sand mold. Quite often, back then, new molds had to be made after every iron bed was poured. Today cast iron molds are used so the repetition of having to make new molds after every iron bed, is a thing of the past. Whereas it might take as much as a day or two just t make one iron bed from start to finish…….larger factories today, are able to manufacture hundreds of beds in one day, from from stock to finished iron bed.

Unfortunately along with the innovations and newer production methods come lesser quality . Manufacturers with argue that their iron beds, which are actually aluminum , have all the same detailing as the original iron beds from the 1800′s. That argument falls flat for a couple of reasons. First …… iron beds today aren’t iron beds ……….they’re aluminum beds with steel tubing.  No one is making bed frames today out of cast iron. It’s too costly and prohibitive because of the foundries that are necessary to be able to pour cast iron. Aluminum melts at a much lower temperature.  Cast iron needs furnaces that are specially designed for the high temperatures needed to melt iron ore.

Another reason products made today with aluminum  can’t have the same quality is because of the  soft nature of aluminum as oppose to cast iron. Once an iron bed is poured with aluminum in today’s factories, it then has to go through a sandblasting booth or an industrial roto-blaster. It is of utmost importance that only a minimal amount of time is spent sandblasting the aluminum castings or else a significant amount of clarity and definition is lost. Sort of like a jagged rock that ends up in a river and over years and years become smooth all the way around. That’s a similar analogy to what happens to aluminum castings. That is not the case with cast iron castings, which can withstand any amount of sandblasting and look as good as the day they were poured close to 200 years ago.

Materials make a world of difference in the iron beds that were being poured in sand cast molds back in the 1800′s. Although we still have those materials today……. they are no longer cost effective for manufacturers to be able to complete foreign markets and companies here at home that choose to make inexpensive replicas of what man took great pride in producing in the 1800′s.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

Castings being poured on their iron beds throughout Europe and England were very unimaginative in their design and clarity. They tended to be merely a necessary function to hold the iron spoke and bed together. They were plain and rarely ever had any distinctive design to them. Whereas……… the castings our foundries designed and poured on our iron beds were extremely detailed.

Many of those castings were floral designs. Some more detailed and beautiful than others.

I often wondered why some specific flowers were more popular than others on the iron beds we were producing. Then one day a news feed came across Google about the meaning of a particular flower, and it all started to make sense……..

Although the legendary associations and religious meanings of flower symbolism have existed for centuries, the use of the symbolic meaning of flowers in iron beds to represent emotions was developed to a high degree during Victorian times. Due to the strict protocol of the times, emotions, wishes and thoughts were not openly expressed between men and women. Instead, an elaborate language based on flower symbolism was developed. Gifts of either single flowers or bouquets conveyed clear messages to the recipient. Iron beds with such symbols also carried the same emotions and message.

During the Victorian era, flowers adorned nearly everything–hair, clothing, jewelry, home decor, china plates, stationary, wallpaper, furniture………not to mention iron beds.

Daisy’s were by far one of the more popular floral castings used o iron beds. The flower symbolism associated with the daisy is purity, innocence, loyal love, beauty, patience and simplicity. Daisies are often depicted in meadows in Medieval paintings, also known as a “flowery mead.” Daisies are believed to be more than 4,000 years old and hairpins decorated with daisies were found during the excavation of the Minoan Palace on the Island of Crete. Even further back, Egyptian ceramics were decorated with daisies.

The Chrysanthemum is another popular flower I’ve had on some of the better, fancier iron beds I’ve ever had. The flower symbolism associated with the chrysanthemum is abundance, wealth, cheerfulness, optimism, truth (white), hope, rest and wonderful friendship, I love (red), slighted love (yellow). The Japanese put a single chrysanthemum petal on the bottom of a wine glass to sustain a long and healthy life. Japanese emperors sat on the Chrysanthemum throne. The name is derived from the feminine form of Greek Chrysanthos, meaning “golden flower.”

Probably one of the most popular floral castings used on our iron beds in this country was the Tulip. The flower symbolism associated with tulips is fame and perfect love. The symbolic meanings also change with the color of the tulips. Red tulips mean “believe me” and are a declaration of love. Variegated tulips mean “you have beautiful eyes.” Yellow tulips mean “there’s sunshine in your smile.” And cream colored tulips mean “I will love you forever.” Tulips are the foremost national symbol of Holland, rivaling wooden shoes and windmills!

So there you have it……..the floral meaning behind castings we poured on our iron beds way back n the 1800′s.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

Most of the time I’d try and change their minds with this similar scenario……..What if you had the choice between a beautifully restored Model A car or a Model A that’s been setting outside and is rusted and falling apart. They usually choose the restored option.

Often they counter with…..“…..well I wouldn’t want to effect the value of  an iron bed by changing the original finish“. Here again……their ignorance is showing. Proper restoration to any antique appreciates it’s value.

So having said all this…….where do you start with your iron bed, once you realize restoration and refinishing can be a good thing.

Sandblasting………

It is the only way to effectively get the ball rolling. Iron beds from back in the 1800′s, will have two things you’ll need to deal with before any finish can be considered……..rust and layers of old paint.

Don’t think for one minute that you can hand strip it or wire brush it. You need to get everything off. That way there won’t be any underlying rust, and the new paint will have a sufficient clean surface to bond with.

“Dipping” or “Chemical” stripping is the worse. Simply because once your iron bed is dipped, you now have a wet liquid inside the tubing. Which means eventual rust from within. Sandblasting is a dry process and leaves no moisture…..the enemy to all iron beds. It is imperative the surface of your iron bed is clean and dry…… exactly what sandblasting with do.

Now you’re ready to paint your iron bed……………

_________________________________________________________________________________

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

This is what happened to the iron bed market in this country about 7 years ago. Prior to this time there were a number of good quality manufacturers in this country that produced “high end” iron beds. The materials they used were better than need be and the manner in which they were constructed insured they weren’t just being produced for the visual, but also for the long haul.

The market continued to grow for these iron bed producers and they not only sold directly to the public but also to large chain stores.

Then all of a sudden larger chain stores stopped placing orders with American manufactured iron beds. Yet iron beds were still being displayed in their catalogs and in their stores. Where were they coming from? The iron beds they now were selling were coming from the, near slave labor, factories in China.

One of my closest friends built, at one time, the largest and most respected reproducer of iron beds in the country. He became known for exact replicas of antique iron beds that had been made in this country back in the 1800′s. He was meticulous in his attention to detail and the quality of materials that he used. When orders from his larger store chains started falling off, he found out the iron beds he had been producing, were now being imported from Chinese foundries.

In an effort to see exactly how they could possibly produce an iron bed at a fraction of what he was able to produce them at, he took a trip to China under the guise of being an importer that wanted to look into establishing a source for iron beds. What he found were enormous factories in which the labor force actually lived in living quarters of the factory, ate at the factory and purchased their needs from the factory store. Many of them worked 10 to 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whereas our minimum wage is $8. an hour, China’s is approx $4. depending on what province they are located in. But beyond their labor costs being nearly half of ours, their hours are far greater.

The other glaring difference in China’s production of iron beds was the use of inferior materials which cost far less than what we used in this country.

It’s unfortunate that the larger chain stores didn’t look into the differences he found in the product and only concerned themselves with the initial visual look and bottom line cost.

There’s an old adage we’ve all heard……..“you get what you pay for…….”. It’s unfortunate that a generation of people that bought iron beds that were made in China, won’t really know what a difference there was until it’s too late. “Dumping” their inferior products on our iron bed market put a look of good reputable dealers from this country out of business. It also did nothing for our economy, which along with other imports helped put us in the economic boat we find ourselves in. Tariffs, import taxes and restrictions must be put in place if we’re ever going to regain the level of quality and economic stability we use to enjoy.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

Over my 40 some years of being in the antique iron bed business here in the Los Angeles area, I’ve been fortunate to have met and made customers of some of the more iconic celebrities in the entertainment industry. It wasn’t until just recently, within the past 5 years, that I had the distinct pleasure of selling numerous beds to Kari and Dick Clark for one of their Malibu homes. I found them both to not only be knowledgeable but also very inquisitive and interested in the history behind the iron beds they’d gotten from me. They were both very accommodating and offered on numerous occasions to allow me to photograph the beds after they had been installed and decorated with linens etc. I thank them for their continued kindness throughout the years.

You will be greatly missed Dick…… but never forgotten.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

I just couldn’t pass up sharing this particular photo a client emailed me last week. They’re from Wyoming and bought a couple of beautiful iron beds from me a few years ago. They are extremely nice people and we share a common love for “log cabins” and just about everything “old”. Iron beds were what initially brought us together. But it’s been the fun communication back and forth of sharing things that put a smile on your face. They had occasion to take a trip and noticed this “one of a kind” log cabin motor home. I love old vintage trucks and also Log Cabins. Having resored a couple of older vintage pick-ups and having built a couple of log cabins for our family in Big Bear Ca., the marriage of those two things in this photo really put a smile on my face. Then to find out it had a twin size iron bed set up inside, was a real treat. Unfortunately my friends were only able to see through the window, but couldn’t get a photo of the iron bed. They did mention whe they returned from their trip, on the same route as that took them past this truck, ….. it was gone.

Another unique thing, other than the twin size iron bed, was a pot-belly stove. If you look close, you can see the chimney coming out of the roof toward the rear of the cabin.

After seeing this photo, I’m now on a quest to find a good vintage “flat bed” pick-up that I can build a similar “log cabin” on. It would be a fun “guest house” to set along side our warehouse/barn that houses all our iron beds.

I’ll keep you posted on the progress of this latest “project”. I’ve always found projects of this nature to be very therapeutic. It will be fun picking an iron bed to grace the interior, once I get the log home built.

I hope you’ve found this blog informative. I invite you to revisit my website

www.cathousebeds.com

to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.

I also invite you to take a look at the multiple “Before & After” photo’s on our

company Facebook

at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cathouse-Antique-Iron-Beds/126838177398?ref=ts

.