I just got done working on a antique iron twin bed for my little girl. The bed frame was to short for today’s mattresses. The easiest and most cost effective way to fix this for me was to use an extra bed rail from another bed long gone before my time for material. I cut the two side rails and welded 6” to them. The rails are now 76” long. An inch longer then what I needed, no big deal. As far as a mattress we got a medium size box spring about 6” tall they come even shorter. I think the mattress is average height. I sent the bed out to be sand blasted using a light abrasive. (Ask if they have prior experience blasting these kind of beds), most iron beds are hollow and if they are really rusty they can blast holes in them. The company I sent it to also powder coats parts. So I opted for that too. (Some parts can NOT be powder coated fully) the block and pin assembly on the end of the rails or you could say all of the mating surfaces, the wheels if you have them slide out can be gently blasted and painted. To sandblast and power coat it cost $250.00 It sounds like a lot, but a new bed frame would be more expensive, made poorly with cheap materials and more then likely made using child slave labor from china. Same thing goes for all the new iron beds.. No thanks to any of that. It’s not done yet so I can’t add a picture. Hopefully this is written clear, basically all I did was add 6” to the sides, cleaned it up and powder coated it, that’s it! Did it loose value by cutting the rail ? No the value is in the head board and foot board, Also in using it. The bed will get a new life with lots of use!

The "bed warmer" may well be a chesnut roaster...used over an open fire to roast chesnuts and considerably "newer" ( relativly speaking!) than a bed warmer. The foot warmer I have seen at a lot of farm sales, used in school houses,n farm wagons etc...Carriages were long gone from thes cent when these came about. The bellows are hard to tell about. I have a pair of bellows very similar but the leather is intact. I think mine are about 70 years old. Glad you saved some of the family stuff....but those items are not "mayflower era" more likely 1890 at the earliest, very likely 30 years later. But they should NOT have been in a garage sale....and are well worth the $100 your mom paid your sister. Enjoy them and make sure you kids know what they are! Linda C

I have a size Full Old Hickory Bed Frame, I believe from the research I've done that it's circa 1930's. I'm trying to figure out value, as I see a wide range online. It is in generally good condition, but has a silver dollar size piece of the "bark" out on the headboard, and unfortunately it's visible. I will try and post pics also. I'm in Seattle. TIA.

Do you have room for a matching pair and how wide/narrow do they need to be? How much room atop the nightstand do you need. If you read in bed, your lamp needs to deliver enough light to not strain your eyes. Usually a tall lamp with white shade works best. With a smaller base and tall thin post for the lamp there is usually more room atop the nightstand for a cell phone and/or an alarm clock. In addition to a drawer, do you want open shelving for a box of tissues?