3 Mar
A Short History Of Bedroom Furniture
Our beds have a long and distinguished history. In fact, beds existed even before primitive man knew how to pass down history to their descendants. These early beds were nothing more than leaves or straw piled on the ground to soften its surface so that our ancestors could sleep more comfortably.
The next development came when our primitive ancestors learned to work with tools. You may be surprised to learn that the first beds of the tool-using Stone Age were actually made from stone, not wood. Our ancestors carved out stone shelves on which they placed their piles of straw. These shelves raised the straw off the ground, reducing uncomfortable drafts.
Strangely enough, wooden beds were invented much, much later. However, by the Middle Ages, oak had become the defacto material used to make furniture in the Western world. It was pretty much the perfect material at that time – strong, hard, resistant to the elements, long lasting, widely-available. It was so perfect people used it to build ships, not only furniture.
But by the 1600-s too many oak forests had been cut down. The perfect wood, oak, was no longer available to make beds or wardrobes. Only the wealthy could afford luxurious oak bedroom furniture. Everyone else had to make do with other woods. Fortunately for furniture makers, the middle-class started to dominate society then. These furniture makers chose another widely available wood, beech, to make furniture for the masses. Beech was the new ideal … at least for the craftsman. It was a softwood that was much easier to work than oak. In the time it took to shape one oak bed, the skilled craftsman could churn out and sell many beech wood beds. The increased productivity allowed them to make lots and lots of money.
Of course, beech soon went the way of oak. Despite growing much faster than oak, beech was over-logged by the 1800-s. The next wood targeted by the furniture makers was pine. Like beech, pine is a softwood. Like beech, beds and wardrobes made from pine wood did not last long by the standards of those times. Unlike oak furniture, which could last many generations of use, furniture made from softwoods only lasted a few decades.
Solid pine wood bedroom furniture was the new standard until the turn of this century. Pine would have gone the way of beech and oak before it. Fortunately, plywood was invented, and then fiberboard. Both of these wood substitutes allowed cheap low quality wood to be recycled to make cheap beds, wardrobes and other furniture. From the furniture manufacturers’ point of view, these wood substitutes were perfect inventions. They were cheap to make. They were easy to shape and form, even compared with softwoods. Furniture made from these new materials rarely lasted a decade, forcing customers to continually buy replacements. What was not to like?
Fortunately, customers who like solid wood bedroom furniture can still find them. Because softwoods grow fast, they can be grown in plantations. Some furniture companies make real wood furniture out of these planted softwoods (e.g. pine) for those customers willing to pay a premium. While much more expensive than plywood or MDF, the fact that they last much longer makes them a worthy investment for those who can afford the price.
But as you can see, the beds we sleep on have a long and distinguished history. From piles of straw on the ground, our ancestors slept on stone beds, then on wooden beds.
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