Old Iron Bed Advertising

Over the years I’ve seen a number of old catalogs and advertising material on antique iron beds. The thing that seems to stand out the most in all of their literature and sales pitch is the cleanliness angle. Iron beds preached the benefits of being clean and “Vermin-Proof”. Although there’s really no reason to believe…

Iron Beds Will USUALLY Work Togeher

Because of the size of second bedrooms in today’s homes, more and more interior designers are using multiple iron beds in the same room. The ideal thing is to find two that are alike. The second best thing is to find two beds that are similar and look good together. When similar “finishes” are applied,…

Refinshing: Old Iron Should Have Old Brass

One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen made when people try and refinish their own antique iron bed is to do an old antique faux’ finish and then have the brass polished up bright and new looking. If you want a new fresh paint job with no distressing or possibly a powdercoated finish…..then polishing the…

Old Time Iron Bed Advertising

Here are two rather diverse “iron bed” advertisements. The first is of a little girl playing with her miniature doll bed. It’s not sure if this was simply a re-touched photo or actually an ” bed” ad. I’ve seen similar ads in the past that had definite script attached discussing the  bed in the photo.…

Iron Beds for The War Effort

In 1943 Berea College, in Kentucky, participates in the WWII effort by organizing a scrap metal drive. Here students stand on iron bed frames and make a victory sign with the bed rails. These beds seem to have always been viewed as a “green” item to be used for the greater good in times of…

Antique Iron Doll Beds……..Miniature Iron Beds

As you may have seen in a previous blog…….there were little iron beds being made for salesman to carry with them when they went from town to town taking orders for full size beds. These were called “salesman’s samplers”. Those miniature  beds were distinctly different from the one in this photo. The miniature one in…

“Height”……You’re Up There.

What’s one of the major differences between original old antique iron beds and modern bed frames………height? Back in the 1800’s, iron beds were design to elevate the mattress off the ground to get away from cold drafts and also to eliminate rodents and termites that permeated wooden bed frames. As the Industrial Revolution brought to…