Antique Faux’ Finishes

When it comes to achieving a true rustic looking antique finish, the most important thing you can remember is “experiment”…….. There are so many variables when trying to mimic an old look, that your best bet is to give yourself a lot of time…… don’t rush it. The more samples and experiments you do, the…

The Craftsman Era

Sometimes referred to as the Arts and Crafts movement or the American Craftsman style, this period in design history became popular toward the end of the 1800’s and  continued until the 1930’s. It is probably one of the more “revived”  schools of design and to this day experiences a larger share of popularity, than all…

Refinishing Your Antique Bed Where To Start

If you bought your antique iron bed earlier than 1977, you can count on on it having been painted with lead based paint.  Back in the 1800 s, when these beauties were being made,  lead based paint was being used on all furniture and pretty much all iron beds of that period.  Lead was added to paint to help the speed…

Louisiana Foundries and Antique Iron Beds

Pittsburgh was the focus of steel production in this country back in the 1800’s. So if you owned a enterprise that depended on steel and iron ore, like antique iron beds, for the production of what you created, it behooved you to locate that enterprise as close to the supply of those needed materials as possible.…

“Green” Decorator’s and Their Choice of Antiques

Antique iron beds have grown to be one of the most preferred furniture items being used today with “Green” interior designers. As we all know, there are no better sustainable eco-friendly items than antique furniture. Their “atomic footprint” has previously been determined and subtracted from the environment. It’s affect, whatever it may have been, has…

How To Dress An Antique Iron Bed

If you were to come across any vintage photo’s of bedroom interiors, you would probably be amazed at how spartan they are. The factor that would probably catch your attention before anything else is the lack of pillows that were used and the method in which they were exhibited. Most of the time there was a solitary pair of pillows…

Appropriate Antiques for Cottage Design

Leisure and comfort are two of the more integral things to remember when deciding on a Cottage decor. Other schools of design base their foundation on formality and pretense. Quaint and cozy can be your catch phrase for Cottage Style. Another tenant to remember is “practical”, yet comfortable. When it comes to color schemes, stay…

The Depleted Access of American Antique

“The Hills are Drying Up”, has become the catch phrase for every antique picker that is still in the business. When I started as a wholesale “picker”, over 40 years ago back in Washington DC., the “hills” were packed with merchandise. The “hills” are the backwoods, that are away from cities and densely populated metropolitan areas.…

Size Conversion of Your Antique Double Size Iron Bed

As you probably know, the largest size antique iron beds being manufactured back in the 1800′s was a double/full. And you probably know that these antique iron beds can be converted to support a modern queen size mattress. But did you know that it can be accomplished in two ways: The most difficult way is done by…

The Feminine Attraction To Beds

When you think about metal beds, what’s the very first thing that comes to mind? Well if your a women, it’s most likely something like “stylish” , “attractive”, “romantic”, …………if you’re a man, it’s probably “girlie”, “feminine”. It’s a preconceived notion the majority of people have of those stunning old antique iron beds that graced the bedrooms…