When you’ve made the decision to search out a true antique iron bed frame, that was constructed over 150 years ago, why would you ever consider restoring and painting it to look brand new ? 
from a countless number of finishes we developed over the past 40 years. The majority of these “finishes” have come about from seeing them on beds that we’ve had. Many of them were original newly painted finishes, that over the years have aged, peeled and patina . Recreating that natural aged look is not an easy job. It quite often, takes multiple layers of paint, that require drying time and some time just the wash of a color that has to be applied and then wiped off. There are also “crackle” finishes that require a layer of glue to crackle a top coat , leaving the coating underneath to show through.
We did the bed that is showing here, for a family that lives in NYC. They were agonizing over a color scheme until one day they called me and said they had just taken visiting relatives to see the Statue of Liberty. The whole family fell in love with the patina the statue has. They took a photo and sent it to me and asked that we accent the “castings”, in a silver with a black wash. The first photo shows the bed in the condition and colors we found it in. The “patina green” w/ silver castings is what we did for them.
“Character”……….Every antique iron bed already has it. So why would you want to cover that up ?
Hope you’ve found this informative and will check out the rest of our website to see what we can offer you at Cathouse Antique Iron Beds.
