Problems rebuilding beds

[JoceAndChris]

Here are our new Edwardian beds, all the way from an antique shop in Perth (we bought over the Internet without seeing them in real life).

They were a real bargain, have some nice detail, but as you can see are really just a headboard and footboard. But here are the two sets of side rails supplied by the antique centre, complete with brackets:

The rails on the left are the original Edwardian satinwood ones, the ones on the right, which currently fit the brackets on the bed, are modern replacements. The original are 5 ft 10 inches long, the modern iron ones are 6 feet 5 inches.

Which to refit?

It should be borne in mind that the bed has a curved foot board, that curve having a depth of 5.5 inches. Which means that were we to fit the iron rails, the total bed length would be 6 ft 10. :?

I can only assume that in 1905 mattresses were comprised of squashy feathers, and could mould themselves to a curve, whereas these days they're much more a solid rectangular structure.

The standard length of a single mattress is 6ft 3, I really can't say if it would fit the original rails. I don't have a spare one to try out. Or, I could have one made. It's so confusing. What would you do?

There's also the business of having some kind of a base made, for which there are a number of companies offering their services. Has anyone ever done this?

Thanks for reading through, and any thoughts much appreciated.

 

[LadyArowana]

The modern rails would make the beds very long and possibly the proportions could look odd. I would start by profiling the curved end of the bed with a piece of card or paper and seeing how that curve compared to the curve on a standard mattress. If there isn't much difference then it might be OK ( although possibly difficult to make the bed and get sheets tucked in, I have a similar issue with our sleigh bed ). Alternatively you could buy inflatable mattresses and inflate them in situ with the old rails and let it conform to the shape of the bed. Of course you would have to warn guests against wearing their stiletto heels in bed......

 

[JoceAndChris]

Clever Lady A. But I see me sleeping here when the snoring gets too much, and I'm not wild about inflatable mattresses. Love the idea of the card though, ingenious. I could draw around the curve on a large sheet of paper, and compare it to a single mattress in a shop. Thanks!

 

[LadyArowana]

Another thought, what about a futon mattress, they are much closer to an old fashioned one than all the new fangled pocketed springs etc etc and might be better at conforming shapewise? We have one on a sofa bed and it's OK to sleep on, quite firm and definately different from a modern mattress but to me not uncomfortable. http://www.futoncompany.co.uk/futons/single-futon.html

 

[skier-hughes]

maybe buy a matress that fits, and also buy a rectangle of required depth of foam, cut to shape and insert. Once covered with sheets etc nobody will know.

 

[AMc]

Which to refit?

If it were mine I'd probably make one bed up with the short and one with the long and decide from there even though you'll have to make one bed twice either way.
I'm 6'2" so the longer ones would probably get my vote as I don't think I'd squeeze into the shorter one!

As previously suggested - check the profile of those ends and decide. My gut feeling would be a rectangular mattress that fits will leave a small gap at the foot in the curve. A modern duvet will cover that without it looking odd, if you're going sheets and blankets then you could probably pad it out with more blanket at the foot or a foam insert as previously suggested.

 

[Owain]

the cable drop to the bedside lights isn't in the permitted zones, it should fall vertically above one of the lights/switches not in the centre.

 

[Jellyfire]

Id get a carpenter to make new frames to fit a standard mattress size, I would have thought the cost involved would more than pay for itself in the cost of mattresses and bedding over the new lifetime of the bed. In my experience, having a non-standard sized bed generally means paying through the nose when your are buying bedding.. especially if you are likely to replace it every few years

 

[Moo]

Surely, in the interests of authenticity, the obvious solution would be to acquire a couple of replica feather mattresses.

 

[88v8]

Another vote for the curved foam insert at the foot. Clever idea....

And lengthen the original frames a bit. (remove one of the dovetail fittings, splice in a piece to lengthen the rail, put the fitting back).

The base... 1/2" ply covered with deck-chair fabric. Three sections, each about 2ft long. Just did this with an Edwardian oak bed. I had to add inner supports to the side rails for the base to sit on, but not difficult.

Ivor

edit... I previously said 'shorten the rail'... not paying attention, sorry...

 

[Flyfisher]

I'm hoping Milady will expand a bit more about wearing stiletto heels in bed.






(er, did I say that out loud? )

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: I bet they're Jimmy Choos as well!

But oh, at last I feel I'm making some progress in how to go about this restoration - thank you all so much. I knew I could rely on my house restoring friends for some clever answers.

Jellyfire's point of bedding not fitting is a good one. That rules out the very long metal rails which would make the bed 6ft 10. The duvet would either be by your elbows or leave the bottom curve bare. At least if a bed is smaller than standard bedding the surplus can be tucked in. ( and the room apart from 5 foot me is likely to be used by children most of all, as there's a normal double bed in the other guest room)


Skier's idea of having foam cut to size is great, and reminds me of camper vans and caravans I've slept in where the entire mattress is of thick foam. If I were to have thick foam cut to size it could be done with one curved end, and with a couple of feather mattress toppers should make the soft bed the cat and I require.

I've just done a search on feather mattresses Moo and they don't seem to exist! It would be fun to make one though - the hens had better watch out.

 

[Penners]

Speaking as one of an elderly persuasion (with a bad back that I never talk about - agonising though it is), all this talk of feather mattresses, futon mattresses, filler pieces and so on fills me with horror. The one thing you'll want to do, I'm sure, is provide your guests with a really comfy night's sleep.

I wouldn't use the modern angle-iron siderails. If you add the depth of the footboard curvature to the length of the original siderails, you get almost exactly 6ft 3in - the length of a modern single bed mattress. So - if I were doing the job - I would buy two fairly decent foam mattresses (Dunlopillo if you can afford them). I would then unpick the stitching of the ticking on one end of each mattress and cut the foam to shape. Then I'd ask the lady in my life to restitch the ticking as neatly as possible to the new shape (not having Nigel's facility with a needle-and-thread myself). I don't think that would be excessively difficult for a competent seamstress, would it?

That way you'll have the beds equipped with good, comfortable mattresses of the correct size and shape.

As for the base underneath the foam mattress, I would fit the bed with slats. These can be softwood or better still, sprung beech slats. You can buy both types of slat sets from here: http://www.bishopsbeds.co.uk/shop_categories/view/bed-slats-and-fixings

The only thing you'll need to consider is how to adapt the slats to the curved end of the bed. It would useful to see a photo of the inside face of the footboard, to see whether there's any facility in the structure to support some kind of bearer. It would also be helpful to have a clearer photo of the inside faces of the original siderails, to see how the slats can be supported, and to know the exact width between the siderails of an assembled bed.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thank you Mr P, your answer really does make a lot of sense. I do want the guests to have a really comfy stay, and think the Dunlopillo mattress alteration an excellent idea. That way I could buy them, hope they might fit and if they don't, be ready with the foam cutter and the needle to create the perfect mattress for these beds.

Some more pics will follow as requested, and thank you so much for pitting your considerable wits against this!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

leave the bottom curve bare

:shock:
Sounds good to me

 

[Penners]

Ooooooooh, Joss! If I'd said that, you'd have told me off!!!

 

[Penners]

Joce - I don't know whether you;ve had a chance to explore the website that I linked to in my last post, but this could be quite interesting:

http://www.bishopsbeds.co.uk/shop_products/view/value-slatted-frame

They offer fully made-up slat sets made-to-measure. The above is the cheaper one. So all we'd have to do is work out how to mount the slat set on your bed-frames.

The photos I requested should help us plan that.

 

[Lime]

Where does the tv pop out from?

 

[LadyArowana]

I'm hoping Milady will expand a bit more about wearing stiletto heels in bed.






(er, did I say that out loud? )

They say a picture is worth a thousand words........





























and they also say "be careful what you wish for", because it is usually disappointing :lol: Now back to sensible discussions about problematic matresses.

 

[Lime]

If I wanted to use these beds I would purchase enough mattresses to set them directly on the floor one on top of another for comfort.
Perhaps it is me, but I have never found the wooden-slats-under-single-mattress beds comfortable.
Older beds had interleaved wired sprung support directly under the mattress which made them more comfortable.... a little.