If only beds could talk. Of course, there are some stories we wouldn’t need to hear but in this case, the iron rails and brass accents of this turn-of-the-century bed would have tales of love, deceit, good dreams, bad dreams, births and deaths – all around families whose ancestors are now long gone and once rested their heads in this fascinating and beautiful piece of history.
When we got the call to ask if we restored vintage beds, we were quite excited to take the project on as it was different, unique and it reminded us of the furniture we had been seeing in the famous TV series, Downton Abbey.
The before image shows a head rail and foot rail that had seen brighter times and had now yellowed with age and the seashell and sphere brass accents missing or damaged. However, the absolute class we could see this bed once held, made the project a lot of fun to restore.
The owner also thought some of the dents and wear on the brass spheres should be left to show the authenticity and patina of the age of the bed and we couldn’t have agreed more. We also decided to leave some of the ingrained darkened coloring on the brass between the folds in the shells for the same reason.
Back in the day when brass was class, a bed such as this would have been considered a luxury. The iron rails have intricate and ornate turns in the patterns and the simplicity of how to attach the frame rails to the head and foot pieces was surprising.
The finished product ensures this beautiful piece of vintage furniture will still be around for many years to come – a forever conversation piece and attestation to a past where quality and pride went into workmanship.
Before condition
Some fine detail
