More about bedsFor hundreds of years, ordinary people made their bed from a pile of straw, reed, heather or similar material. These materials trapped air and provided some insulation from lying on the cold earth or stone floor of the home. Growing affluence(!) meant ordinary people began to acquire proper bedsteads. The bedstead was a simple wooden frame that was strung with rope or leather straps upon which was placed a simple mattress. The mattress was a cloth bag or sack again stuffed with straw, heather etc. Achieving a good tension in the straps produced the most comfortable bed on which to sleep, leading to the expression of goodwill ‘sleep tight.’
The beds of the nobility included the more familiar post at each corner (the four poster bed), allowing curtains to be hung and provide additional shelter from cold drafts. In fact, when the nobility went travelling, they often had their bed dismantled and sent on ahead. There were two reasons for this: one was to try and ensure a good night's sleep, the other was as a demonstration of their wealth and prestige (like those who today have designer luggage perhaps).
Perhaps the greatest contribution to the development of mattresses and upholstered furniture occurred in 1828 when camping equipment manufacturer
Samuel Pratt of New Bond Street, London, patented
the first coiled bedspring. Within 10 years these springs were being made in their thousands by the factories of Birmingham. Previously, springing had relied on wooden slats or rope or leather straps and mattresses were still bags stuffed with soft material, the best of which included duck down or horse hair.
But sleeping on the floor on a bag stuffed with straw or similar material did not disappear completely in the Victorian era. It was a practice that continued well into the 20th Century with palliases, as these bags were sometimes known, still being issued to British Army soldiers in the 1940s (see old episodes of
Dads Army).
Today here at Right Price Furniture we believe finding the right bed is perhaps the most important choice of any item of furniture. Not only does it have to be physically comfortable but it has to look and feel right for the room and fit in with your
bedroom furniture. Because everyone is different we try to offer as many different beds as possible. We have everything from sleek modern styles of wonderful oak beds to romantic Rococo-style painted beds. Whether you're furnishing a mansion, a modern apartment or a country cottage, we offer beds from the magnificent to the retro-stylish, from pine to the plain and simple. If you find your bed isn't supporting you properly, this can cause or at least contribute to back problems, that in turn lead to poor sleep and more problems.
We’re sorry if finding the right one seems a bit daunting, (particularly as we have to use the same images for beds from the same range but in different widths!) but if you have an idea of what kind of bed your looking for, you can simplify your search by using the beds sub-menu. If you are looking for a bed for a little one such as a cot then a site such as
Mothercare Stores might be the best bet.
Because of their size, our beds are usually delivered in sectional form (a practice as shown above, that has been used since medieval times, when beds were scarce and the nobility would take theirs with them when travelling!). If you would like assistance with assembling your bed, please let our delivery company know when they call to arrange delivery. This service is not available for beds from self-assembly furniture ranges.