Why Manhattan? What would make this city the consistently largest antique iron bed market in the nation. Is the sophisticated tastes of its people? Or is there a much more practical reason behind the “iron bed” capital of the world.
For close to 40 years I’ve been selling New York designers beds in record numbers for the clients in Manhattan and as far away as Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket……..not to mention clients with second homes as remote as Australia and Greece.
New York Interior Designers seem to have a much more discerning clientele who would perish the thought of a reproduction or modern made bed. One client I had spoken with, put it very succinctly when she said the last thing I want is to walk in to a friends home and see the same piece of furniture I have in mine. She likened it to going to a cocktail party and running into a friend with a dress exactly like the one she had on.
With original old antique iron beds, the likelihood of you ever seeing another one like what you have, is extremely rare. There just weren’t that many of them made, and even fewer of them survived.
I’ve actually had a couple of very good clients with really outstanding residences, come to me after a few years of owning an bed I sold them, and want to trade it in on a different one. One told me she had seen one like the one I’d sold her, in a magazine. Because her house was going to be photographed for a decorating magazine, she wanted to make sure her bed wasn’t going to be the same as the one she had seen. We went to great lengths finding one that I’d never seen before, that she wouldn’t have to be concerned with photo’s of it popping up before the magazine spread came out on her home.
Another more practical reason New York designers use our beds in their decorating schemes is because of their light airy designs. Wooden and upholstered headboards tend to take up a tremendous amount of “visual” space that an iron bed doesn’t. Our beds are light and airy permitting your vision and light to pass through. In a small Manhattan apartment that can make a world of difference in a small room where the headboard might only be able to go on one wall and that wall has a window that allows in the only daytime light the room gets. Our beds will allow that light to come in and a persons vision through it.
Ourn beds also have a much lighter less cumbersome look…….. another necessity when considering small intimate bedroom spaces.
With a population of over a million and a half residence, spread over a 23 square mile area, I think it will be a while before I saturate this great city with our beds.
I hope you’ve found this blog informative . I invite you to revisit my website
to answer any and all questions you might have about antique iron beds.
I also invite you to take a look at our company Face Book page for multiple photo albums on Custom Finishes, Canopy Conversions and a comprehensive “Before & After” King Conversions album.
