Few events in history have attracted more attention than the sinking of the Titanic. The RMS Titanic was a passenger liner that struck an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, and sank on 15 April 1912, resulting in the deaths of 1,517 people. Making it one of the deadliest…
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…
We here at Cathouse Antique Iron Beds have been refining the art of refinishing and adapting old original double size iron bed frame’s to accommodate today’s modern Queen and King size mattress’s for close to 40 years. Converting an old antique double size iron bed, to a modern king size requires we strive to maintain…
Few iron beds that have been photographed in the movies have ever received the attention as the one used in the movie “Cat On A Hot Tin Roof” with Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. It was an incredibly scrolled Victorian piece that really highlighted the mood and personalities of the actors and story. What many…
In the early 90’s I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and selling a number of iron beds to Whoopi Goldberg. At the time she had just started dating a high profile actor who I’d also sold a number of iron beds to over the years. I’d first sold him an iron bed for his…
What little girl hasn’t looked at her parents one day and said I want a “Princess” bed. Well being a parent I knew exactly what she meant. She meant a iron canopy bed. A remark like this usually came after seeing a Disney movie with a princess and her castle bedroom. Little girls have always…
If you’re searching for an antique iron bed and you’ve found one you like…….be sure it has a set of siderails. Now…… be sure and check to see that they fit…..perfectly. DO NOT take the dealers word for it. Have him set the iron bed up with the rails and make sure it doesn’t wobble…
For the longest time it was widely thought that most of the iron beds being produced back in the 1800’s, were coming out of the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area. That thought was because the vast majority of steel production was also in Pittsburgh. But more and more is coming to light that many of the iron…
Here is a photo of a iron bed casting, before it was sandblasted, and the same iron bed casting after it has been sandblasted and refinished with our Black Smyth finish. Iron beds get the name from the cast iron castings that hold the design element of the iron bed together. When you hear about…
The tulip iron bed is probably one of the more prolific iron bed designs to have been copied and duplicated back in the 1800’s. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery. That couldn’t be more true with this iron bed style. I’ve have at least 6 versions of this tulip iron bed. The…