Cathouse Beds

Natural Brass vs Painted Brass on Your Old Antique Bed

admin — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 06:57:23 +0000

Over the years, I’ve had quite a few people that weren’t crazy about brass on their bed. But back in the 1800′s the manufacturers of iron beds were desperately trying to offer the brass bed market a better, stronger bed, yet still give a touch of the then popular “brass trim”. With brass the public was limited to one look… one color…..one feel. Metal beds offered a stronger more durable framework that didn’t make the noise that was inherent in brass beds. Because all the points of connecting one rod to another or one tube to another were cast together, there was no friction when there was movement in the bed…….hence….no noise. All of the connecting points on a brass bed were with screws and small brass balls that had to be continually tightened.

Iron beds also offered the public the ability to determine what color they wanted in their room. No longer were they stuck with the boring look of all brass. Most manufacturers offered any color you could show they. Because a bed had to be painted to preserve the iron, it didn’t matter to the manufacturer what color it was. To them it was only important to sell the bedframe…. not get hung up on the color. Although the majority of people think iron beds were mostly painted white, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Greens, blues , reds and black were very popular colors back in the 1800′s. The majority of beds still being found today have dozens of coats and colors of paint on them. Even “two tone” combinations were popular back then……. as they are today and with us.

But occasionally a buyer would love the design of a bed that happen to have brass on it. But they didn’t want the brass. That also happens to be the case today with decorators and clients alike who’s decor just doesn’t work with brass. When that is the case we are asked to either try and replace the brass with iron tubing or rods, or paint the existing brass. As was the case with the photo you see here.

It’s important, when painting brass to ruff up the brass with either sandpaper ir a very lite sandblasting. When sandblasting, care has to be taken not to over blast or blow through the brass tubing. For the paint to bond properly the brass has to bond with the primer that goes on first. You should always use two thick coats of primer, and be sure they dry adequately before applying the next color you want to see.

If done properly, painted brass can look as natural as the rest of your beautifully restored antique iron bed.

“Grapes of Wrath”…… A Bed With A Message!

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 12:50:23 +0000

One of the more unique and collectible beds I’ve come across over the years is one we lovingly refer to as the “Grapes of Wrath” bed. It’s thought that it was a “commissioned” bed for the owner of a vineyard. Although rare…….. it wasn’t uncommon for an affluent customer to “commission” a foundry to design and construct a unique “one of a kind” bed, that would have all the molds distroyed after the pouring of one bed. Some of these “commissioned” beds are priceless. Here is the “Grapes of Wrath” bed and the grape castings that have an incredible amount of detailing.

Ironically enough, this particular bed, that I surmised was designed and built for someone who had something to do with a vineyard or wine………. I ended up selling to a couple that lived in Germany, and owned a vineyard. Although it was a beautiful bed with incredibly detailed castings…….. it’s audience was limited to those who had a strong attraction to “grapes”. Not an design item readily sought.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

Animal Head Castings

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 12:47:20 +0000

Antique beds, generally speaking, were feminine in design.
They were lighter and airier than their wooden counter part bed frames. So to try and pull in the male clientele that were more accustom the heavier looking wooden bed frames, foundries started offering castings with a masculine theme. “Lion Head”castings were used by many of the small independently owned foundries to try and break the feminine gender barrier iron beds had created. Along with these masculine symbols, manufacturers also began to offer darker finishes in black and dark gold. These two things were successful in changing public opinion that Victorian antique iron beds were strictly feminine in nature.

Another thing that seemed to attract more males was a larger size tubing that the traditional 1″ tubing being used. Larger 1 1/4″ thick wall tubing had a much more masculine look and feel and also required larger castings, giving a bed a bulkier more massive look, than the otherwise feminine beds being produced by the majority of the foundies. Animal heads were just one more thing the foundries used, to attract an otherwise dominant female household decision.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

Matching Twin Beds

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 12:45:28 +0000

Matching Twin Size iron beds are about as scarce as any antique item you’ll come across. Matching twin size frames were more of a “luxury “, than they were utilitarian in nature. Most of the time the were in children’s rooms of upper middle class and affluent families. Traditionally if a family had more than one child, which most did, they would put them all in one double size bed. Prior to growing up and beyond the width of a standard double size bed, 54″ wide, two or even three children could sleep width wise in the bed. When their height became more than the width, they would all have to turn to the length or move in to a separate bed. So to have your own twin size bed, was a real luxury…….. and to have a sibling in a bed right along side of yours was even more special.

So consequently foundries made far fewer twin size designs, and even fewer people ever bought a matching set for one room. That was usually only done in homes of rather affluent means. For a time in history when “practicality” was the catch phrase of the century, a pair of matching antique iron beds was far from being practical.

Matching twin size metal beds are one of the rarest of an most sought after beds on the market. If you ever find a pair…..buy them. Even if you don’t have a need for them. It’s like buying “gold” ……. it will only go up in value. The tangability and finite amount of antique iron beds that were made and still exist on the market, make them oe of, if not the best investment a person can make. A limited supply and finite number of an item insures against others controling the market value.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

Set Decorators and Old Metal Beds

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 12:40:07 +0000

Old Metal beds have always been something that helps create a particular feeling for the period. I’ve been selling metal beds to the entertainment community for over 25 years. One of the first feature movies I ever sold a iron bed for was the cowboy movie “Sliverado” with Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, and a new unknown………Kevin Costner. We had five beds in that movie. Since that movie came out in 1985, I’ve sold hundreds of beds for movies and TV alike. One of our most prominently displayed beds,in a feature , was in Mr. & Mrs. Smith with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie . The photo of that bed was in this shot with Angelina. Selling beds for feature films and also TV productions, also opened up the celebrity clientele books. It was not uncommon for a production company to purchase a bed from me for a film and then once production and filming started and the bed got more and more exposure by people in the movie or working behind the cameras on the film, I would end up selling beds to numerous people working on the film. On the Mr. & Mrs. Smith movie I sold a total of six beds to people working on the film. On “Silverado”, I sold a bed to Kevin Costner and three other crew member’s.

Set decorators haverepeatedly told me how after the filming of a movie or TV production, the beds that were used, usally “disappear”. An I’ve heard others say that they, on ore than one instances, seen the beds they remember having been on the set of a movie, in the bedrooms of actors in that movie. A “perk” , you might say, of having celebrity.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

Decorating with Antique Beds ……. Texas Style

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 11:12:37 +0000

Decorating with antique beds has become more and more popular with interior designers throughout Texas. The Shabby Chic trend of decorating

seems to have started on either coast and worked itself inward toward the heartland. Antique iron beds have always been the staple of country decorators throughout the east coast. As was the case with many Texas decorators, they felt metal beds to be much more indigenous with North Eastern Decorators because the source of beds, back in the 1800′s, came out of the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area. But it has come to light that there were actually metal beds being made in the small independently owned foundries of the Pittsburgh steel area for patrons in Texas. Take a look at the “casting ” photo to the right. You’ll notice it has the Texas Star within a horseshoe. Although the bed frame this casting is on was made in the Pittsburgh area, it came out of an old hotel in Dallas……..along with twenty others. The hotel decorator, back in the 1800′s, must have ordered them from one of the many Northern foundries. It is now believed that many more beds, than were previously thought to have made their way west of the Mississippi, did make it into the still developing Western States. As more decorators in Texas become aware that metal beds were not just being used in the North, they started including more and more into their interior designs. Today it’s one of the most popular form of bed used in something other than a modern setting.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

Metal Beds….Influenced by Statue of Liberty

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 11:11:42 +0000

On Oct.28th, 1886 the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor. It was a gift from the French as a symbol of liberty in the United States. But between 1876 to 1882, before the statue was even erected, the torch bearing arm and head were being displayed at numerous fund raising events throughout the United States. Because of these displays, people were exposed to what the statue was going to look like and started incorporating it into their own furnishing designs etc. Iron beds were no exception and the “torch” became a very popular motif on the corner casting. New York decorators were particularly smitten with the statues appeal and worked it’s theme into many of their jobs. It wasn’t unusual for every New York household to have something commemorating the statue at that period. New York decorators, who were known for their avant-garde forward thinking design sense found themselves scrambling to incorporate the statues appeal in everything from the beds they choose for a job to the wallpaper the selected. Here are a couple of corner castings with the torch theme that foundries started using during that dedication period.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

Antique Bed Styles…..Ahead of Their Time

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 11:10:37 +0000

Quite often the style of an antique bed was way ahead of the style catagory it would fall into. Take for instance the Art Deco Period. This style originated in the 1920′s, specifically the 1925 Exposition of Modern Art in Paris. Yet there are iron beds that were being made in the mid-1800′s that were every bit as Art Deco in their Styling as would be introduced much later in the 1920′s.

The Art Nouveau Period from, 1890 to 1905, was a period where designers tried to make art a flowing expression of everyday life. Yet again I have beds from the early 1800′s that were extremely Art Nouveau in their style.

So how did this happen?……… beds being made in styles that wouldn’t become known or popular for decades to come. Who knows………But it’s a testament to the outstanding designers that created the designs for iron beds back in the early to mid 1800′s and were way way ahead of their time.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

From Austere And Sublime To “One of A Kind”

admin — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 02:15:08 +0000

What determined the accessibility of different styles of beds throughout history. You need look no farther that the socio-economic climate of that period in history…….as is the case of today. It was not only necessary to offer the more affluent specter of society fancy scrolled beds………it was also necessary to offer the rest of society practical designs that cost less and provided the public with affordable utilitarian styles. Lets say there were Volkswagons and there were Rolls Royces. Old bed catalogues show that they offered styles that were extremely simple in design with few castings and no ornamental brass, for as little as $2.00. They also showed extremely ornate iron beds, that could go for as much as $18. to $20.

Some foundries specialized in Austere institutional beds that were more utilitarian than anything else. Then there were foundries that only manufactured high end scrolled fancy designs, which would only look appropriate in an elaborate home. Antique iron beds were no different from any other commodity that was getting it’s “legs” in the Industrial revolution…….design for the masses and design for the few, and price accordingly.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56

Canopy Conversion’s on Old Metal Bed’s

admin — Sat, 25 May 2013 19:38:21 +0000

Canopy beds were not popular in this country back in the 1800′s. It seems they were very popular throughout Europe in the 1800′s, but not here in the states. That’s why we convert close to 25% of all the beds we sell to canopy. It’s done in the same manner they were being constructed into canopies in Europe at that time. We extend, by cutting and welding, the side’s of the bed, so they appear to have one continuous pole s tarting at the floor and continuing all the way up to the top of the canopy. We pour castings on the side pole where it connects to the interior design. We then fabricate four connecting rods at the top of the canopy that can be taken off for shipping or moving and then put back on when the bed is installed.

We offer the three types of canopies which were most popular during the 1800′s…….Straight Canopy……..Crown Canopy……….Princess Canopy. Take a look.

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 our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.

Cathouse Antique Iron Be#B1BE56