One of the many desirable aspects of owning an antique iron bed, is it’s ability to be painted and refinished in any number of colors and looks to blend with whatever the bedroom’s setting need. Back in the 1800’s, people had been accustom to wooden headboards, due to their access to natural growing wood in their surrounding area. Iron was just becoming more accessible to the public as Pittsburgh Pa’s steel mills were producing a high grade of iron ore that was being used in railroad tracks and all forms of utilitarian items.
One of the main things that helped antique iron beds become the most popular form of bed, was their ability to be painted any color of the rainbow. This enabled every socioeconomic class of patron, to customize, very economically, their own bed with whatever palate of colors worked for their individual setting. Apposed to popular belief, all iron beds were NOT painted white or black. It was a common practice when people painted their house or individual rooms in the house, to use the leftover paint to give a new coat to the iron bed. Hence…..every and any color was used to freshen up the iron bed and make it look new. In doing so , it looked like it was custom made for the setting.
Over the years we have seen every imaginable combination of painted finishes on our antique iron beds. Quite often we will create antique “faux” finishes to mimic a beautiful old patina or distressed look that is appealing. It’s quite rare that we are asked to paint one of our iron beds in a pure, un-distressed or antiqued finish. Probably because the people that come to use are looking for an original old antique iron bed……..not a “reproduction”. So it would be counterproductive to find a beautiful old bed , then paint it to look brand new.
The sample finish photo, I’ve attached to this blog is our “Copper Tone Wash”. It also originated from a bed we had gotten in that had this look naturally.
I hope you’ve found this blog informative and you’ll take the time to go back through our website to see the array of things we have to offer when it comes to antique iron beds……….be it photo’s of our inventory or the “finish” we can offer to do on any of them.
