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Antiques & Collectibles

Antique bed w/keyhole rails, needs to accept hook rails, how?

15 years ago

I've inherited my grandmother's antique bedroom set, and I want to convert the double bed to a queen. I know there are converter sets available, but they are all for hook-on or bolt-on rails. This bed has a keyhole rail system. How can we convert the headboard and footboard to accept hook-on rails so I can use the converter set? Is there a piece of hardware we can buy somewhere, or is this a major woodworking project (in which case I'm out of luck)?

Featured Answer

calliope

15 years ago

My old iron bed has a keyhole system and it's moulded right into the bedframe. Short of taking it into a metal worker I'd not even consider it possible. Is your bed iron or wooden? How are you going to reconcile the difference in mattress width between a queen and full sized bed mattress? How does a converter kit make the head and footboard wider?

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Comments (9)

damascusannie
15 years ago
Here's a solution that worked for us. We lengthened the rails so that the longer queen mattress would fit between the head and foot boards. Then we just laid 2 x 4 crosspieces across the top of the rails to hold the mattress. By opting not to mess with the width of the bed, we didn't have to worry about the connecting system. Granted the mattress is a bit wider than the head and foot boards, but it's not really very noticeable. It does raise the height of the mattresses by quite a bit, but I like a high bed, so this wasn't a drawback to me.
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Hello again! The antique bed I wrote about is in a univ. town where we own a 2nd home. I finally got over there and studied the framework. The side rails looked too narrow at top to add boards or plywood across them(it could have easily slipped off either way if not nailed in, and the rails were too old and thin to nail into) I could have used L shaped brackets on the underside but that seemed like a lot of work. I found a REALLY cheap box spring at a country furn. store, bought and delivered for $65!; added to the top and it looks great! Not the solution I thought would work, but this bed has a very tall head and footboard so I still have most of the woodwork showing. Thanks for everyone's good ideas!!! PS on another bed in our condo, and on my son's bed in his house, we added the risers ($9 at Walmart/Target) and they are great! Bought queen size dust ruffles for full size beds to make sure they went to the floor. Lots of storage underneath now, especially for a college student!
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Wayne, I do appreciate all your posts. The existing cleat slots in the headboard are about 51" apart. To avoid conflict with the mattress set, the mattress etux would have to be offset toward the footboard to clear the cleats and whatever they are mounted on. Not ready to do it that way. For my Mother-in-law who had an old single bed that was too short but almost the correct width of 39", I just drilled a couple of holes in each headboard leg, installed tee-nuts from the back and used machine screws (stove bolts) to attach a steel bed frame, no footboard used (it is stored). There is one "rope" bed also. Ropes under tension were used to support a "tick" which was a huge bed-size "pillow" used on the bed. Filled with dried leaves or straw for the children, feathers for the parents. Children got fresh leaves or straw once a year. Sleepers sank deeply into the tick and quilts on top made sleeping in winter without heat tolerable. I did sleep on a (straw) tick while visiting relatives a few times in the 1940's. Anyone ever seen one of these used with conventional mattress?
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lceh
Original Author
15 years ago
I forgot to mention it's a wooden bed. The converter frame is designed to allow a queen sized mattress to fit a double bed (see http://www.bedframeparts.com/specialrails.htm).

dmascusannie, how did you keep the the crosspieces from slipping? And how did you lengthen the rails? Thanks!
floyd_devoid
15 years ago
You will need to find an old junk bed and salvage the rail holders off of it. We use a converter to queen on out old double bed and it works great.
damascusannie
15 years ago
It's just gravity keeping the crosspieces in place--after five years, it's not collapsed yet. Our situation was different than yours because our rails are iron. My DH took a cutting torch and cut through each rail, then welded in a length of angle iron to add the length needed.

Annie
floyd_devoid
15 years ago
I think the problem is that most solutions require severely altering the original design of the bed. You could bolt angle iron onto the frame but that's an ugly way to go. (covered up completely by the wide queen mattress) I've heard of people attaching the head to the wall. placing a self supporting Hollywood style bed in front of it and attaching the foot to that. I paid about $50.00 for my converter over ten years ago. We've moved three times since and I no longer even know where my original wooden rails are.
lceh
Original Author
15 years ago
floyd_devoid, I like your idea to attach the headboard to the wall, but how do I attach the footboard to the Hollywood frame? Doesn't this present the same attachment problem?
floyd_devoid
15 years ago
I'm not sure how it's done, only that I've heard of people doing it. The hollywood bed frame bears all the weight so all you need is some way to get the footboard to hold onto the frame. Possible a long bolt with nut or washer that would fit into the keyhole, through the frame and tighten.
lceh
Original Author
15 years ago
Floyd_devoid, that's brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? Thank you!

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