Bed frames and bedroom sets

With an old bed, the only question that really matters is asked before you buy, not after: will your mattress fit inside it? Everything else — the style, the timber, the carving — can be settled from photographs. The dimensions cannot.

Measure the inside of the frame, not the bed

This is the one genuinely important warning on this page. Old European frames were made before mattress sizes were standardised, and the differences are not small: widths of 135, 150 or 165 cm turn up regularly where today you would buy 140, 160 or 180. In length, many old frames are 190 cm rather than 200. Always ask for the internal dimension — rail to rail — and compare it against the mattress you own or intend to buy. A shortfall of 5 cm cannot be fixed; a surplus of 5 cm is easily solved, with a made-to-measure mattress or by filling the gap at the head.

The base can be replaced, the frame cannot

Many old frames arrive with a sprung metal base or tired slats, and that puts people off for no good reason. The base is the consumable part of a bed: a new slatted base cut to size costs little and goes in within an hour. What cannot be remade is the frame itself — the solid timber, the joints, the carved headboard. Judge the piece on what cannot be replaced. Do check two things in the structure, though: whether the headboard locks firmly into the rails without play, and whether the support cross-members are intact. A bed that creaks almost always has a loosened joint rather than damaged wood, and it can be tightened.

Why a matching set has a real advantage

Among vintage furniture, complete sets — bed, nightstands, chest, sometimes a mirror — are rare, because the pieces were separated between heirs over time. When you find one intact, the advantage is not merely that it matches: the proportions were conceived together from the start. The nightstands sit at exactly the right height against the mattress, the timber came from one batch, and the patina developed identically across every piece, which cannot be imitated by assembling separately found objects. That is also why a complete set is worth more than the sum of its parts.

Space around the bed

Leave 60-70 cm clear on each side anyone gets into bed from — that is what you need to sit on the edge and put your shoes on. At the foot, 90 cm if that is the route to the door or wardrobe. If the bed sits with one side against a wall, the room will carry a larger frame more easily. And a practical detail with tall old pieces: a carved headboard can exceed 140 cm in height, so check where the socket, the switch or the wall light falls before you position the bed.

Bedroom

Mirrors