Even though they can be almost 200 years old, rope beds can be a sturdy and quality piece of furniture for your home.
Frequently, these beds bolt together with long metal bolts and nuts. We also like the simple shaped headboards. The appeal of an antique rope bed lies in the simple posts and often warm patina of the bed. Then, they can add either metal brackets or wooden boards to support a modern boxspring and mattress. Many people will decide to flip the thick side rails upside down or to cut off the pegs that once held the mattress support ropes. Rope beds can still offer a beautiful bed for the modern home. A period rope bed will have pegs on both the side rails, as well as on the footboard and headboard. Thus, they spawned the phrase “sleep tight,” because rope beds always needed tightening. In a rope bed, ropes created a criss-cross support system for these hay and straw mattresses. Rope beds became a staple until the 19th century in America. Hence, the origin of the old time expression, “hit the hay”.
During the Medieval period, basic bed frames consisted of wooden slats and rope slats that held hay and straw. In fact, it wasn’t really until the 14th Century in Europe that people understood the benefit of sleeping above the ground at all. Indeed, many people in the family often shared the same bed for warmth! Historical records and artifacts show that most people slept in rather tiny beds. Even our founding fathers seemed to have beds that were shorter than five feet in length. One of the most common remarks about period beds we hear is how small they look! Before standard sizes and commercial mattresses, beds were often modest in size. This article is devoted to helping consumers understand their options, as well as to the history of antique beds. Obviously, it is a choice that the consumer must live with for some time. While vintage bed choices remain deeply personal, the idea of purchasing an antique bed often overwhelms people at the start. As the focal point of our bedrooms, and really our lives, antique beds can offer an escape from our dull and hectic waking life. Of course, these features can change the mood and look of the room completely.
Antique beds give us romance and beauty in the bedroom! Certainly, beds from different periods offer different styles, shapes and sizes. Antique beds offer something that modern beds seem to miss.