Putting It All Together, The Country Bed Shop

Putting It All Together

As you have seen there are a number of reproduction bed styles and original antique beds to choose from. By now you have probably narrowed your decision to a few styles or perhaps made a choice. Your bed will be a made up of a combination of a bedstead, mattress, box spring or platform, pillows and perhaps a bed skirt or hangings. In the end everything needs to work together.

Mattress Height

Start with the height to the top of the mattress. My standard height is 29" which is a bit higher than most modern beds but not so high you need steps to get into it. It's about the height of a kitchen table. You may want your bed higher or lower which is fine.

Whatever the height of the mattress, I'll start with it and subtract the thickness of your mattress to get the height to the top of the bed rail. Then I'll subtract the thickness of the box spring to get the length of the "L" bracket that supports the box spring. If necessary I'll adjust the height of the bed post foot to accommodate the rail height. The bottom of the headboard is set to the mattress height so the full width appears above the headboard.

Today mattresses come in wide variety of thickness' from about 8" up to 18". A stock bed can not accommodate everyone's taste and have a reasonable height to the top of the mattress as well have the headboard at the proper height. This one reason why I make each bed to order.

If you don't know your mattress and box spring thickness or will be purchasing them that's fine but I will need the thickness dimension before I can begin building your bed.

Mattress Support or Foundation

I offer several methods to support the mattress:

1	Use the original rope spring. I supply manila rope and a straining wrench for tightening. This method is used primarily by museums and historic restorations but if you're a purist I offer it.
2	Use a box spring or foundation. I provide iron "L" brackets at the proper length for your foundation. For queen and king size beds there is a center cross member to support the box spring.
3	Use a platform. In this case there is no boxspring or foundation. I supply either Swedish slats or cross braces for plywood. The mattress rests on the slats or plywood. In the case of plywood, I can supply it or you can.

Size

You probably know the size mattress you want but if not, here is a chart of standard and special mattress sizes.If you are looking for a custom mattress to fit an antique bed use this search on Google.

Headboards

The standard headboard varies in height depending on the size of the bed. Standard headboard heights are twin 14", full & queen 16" and king 18". If you use a number of pillows or sit up in bed to read you may want a higher headboard. Let me know your requirements. If you haven't seen them yet here are the standard headboard styles.

Bed Skirt

If you are using a box spring and any bed rail except wide rail #4 you will need a bed skirt to conceal the spring. Modern bed skirts tuck in between the mattress and box spring hang down over the bed rail. This works if the bedstead is a metal frame or has a modern thin rail. I recommend hanging the skirt from the bottom of the bed rail on a rod or with self-adhesive velcro. This allows the rail to show and provides a better appearance to the skirt.

Bed Hangings

If you are doing a full set of traditional bed hangings (curtains) or just a net canopy let me know. I'll give you the dimensions you need to get started and will construct the tester frame to meet your needs. My son makes forged iron hardware for traditional hangings. Here's an example of a custom tester frame. The client did the needlework. For a net canopy you'll need a six piece tester frame rather than the standard four piece frame otherwise the net will sag.

Undersize Beds

If you are using Swedish slats or a plywood platform I can make your bed "undersize". This option makes the bed narrower by the width of the rails so the side of the mattress is flush with the outside of the side rails. This allows your coverlet to hang straight and reduces the width of the bedstead by about 5". You can not use a standard box spring with an undersize bed.