As I’ve mentioned in the past, a large group of people have always had a preconceived idea that iron beds are, were and should be, white. Well that couldn’t be farther from the truth. When they were being produced back in the 1800’s, the small independent foundries that were producing them had a wider array of colors and two tone finishes than you can imagine. They actually had a better handle on the versatility and adaptability of their beds than we do today. They accented their castings 
quite often with gold guilding, for contrast.
That preconceived notion of iron beds needing to be white, although still locked in to some peoples sense of decorating has slowly but surely started going by the wayside. More and more people are wanting their beds to stand out and not bleed away with the same background colors it’s up against. Contrast seems to be the new catchphrase in decorating. Whether it’s the contrasting color of the bed with the wall treatment, paint or bed covering….. or with the contrast on the bed itself between the interior and exterior tubing or castings. The real beauty in antique iron beds are the detailed castings. It usually denotes the quality of the foundry and manufacturer. And manufacturers used their unique, individual castings to give their beds the contrast they were looking for.
There’s really nothing worse that taking a beautiful old bed that is between 150 to 200 year old and painting it all one monochromatic color. One color doesn’t let your eye delineate the style or design of the bed. It also makes it impossible to have the castings stand out and be appreciated.
So if you’re considering an bed for your bedroom. Do yourself a favor…….don’t paint it all white……. unless you have a contrasting pastel paint on your wall.
I hope you’ve found this blog informative . I invite you to revisit my website
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.
