Practical Sleeping Solutions - A Four Post Bed Versus A Sleigh Bed

Our beds define the style of our bedroom. This is the most important piece of furniture that we should take time to ponder upon before buying. There are two very popular types of beds that can be bought in stores today, the four poster beds and the sleigh beds.

Let's see how they differ from one another. Perhaps, if you're looking to buy a new bed, you can benefit from some of the information on both kinds of beds to help you decide which kind of bed suits your taste.

Just to give a brief background, the four poster bed is composed of four vertical columns which look like thin but sturdy posts, one in each corner that supports a tester or upper panel overhead. This bed style originated from way back in the 16th century, Elizabethan period.

These four poster beds are usually highly ornate, decorated with luxurious pieces and are usually made of the finest oak wood. The posts of the bed support the curtains that used to keep out the cold during the olden times, but improvement in insulation as time passed has made this obsolete. Nowadays, four poster beds come without the tester and posts, although the posts at the bottom of the bed are retained for that popular traditional, elegant, and luxurious appearance.

Modern four poster beds come in different types: the standard low bed, the half tester beds, the four poster beds with turned posts (no tester), the open canopy beds, and the full paneled canopy beds. One other neat things about four poster beds is that the space underneath the bed can be used for storage. You can just easily cover it up with a decorative bed cover.

Somewhat similar to four post beds are the canopy beds which usually have posts at four corners extending four feet high above the mattresses. Decorative fabric is draped across the upper spaces of the posts and this creates a sort of ceiling or canopy over the bed for added aesthetic appeal.

There are several types of modern-day canopy beds being sold all over the world today. Most of them fall under the traditional and contemporary beds. The traditional canopy beds have a Victorian look, with metal rod frames and intricately carved wood that make up the posts. The draping would come in different shades of red or brown, usually in earth colors, and are either ruffled or pleated.

The contemporary designs offer cleaner and simpler beds. Most of them are made of wood or metal, with little or no detail on the headboards. These contemporary beds often sport sharp, geometric designs.

The other type of bed which is not so totally different from the four poster beds are the sleigh beds. These beds have the curved or scrolled feet and headboards, which really resembles a sleigh. The sleigh bed was a result of the French and American Empire period of the early 1800s. This "empire style" drew its influence from the Greco-Roman period where kings and queens had beds made to look like sleighs. Sleigh beds are also usually made from a variety of materials such as wood, iron, steel, and aluminum.

Today, brought by the ingenuity of bed manufacturers, sleigh beds can not only come in wood, but also in leather, rattan, and iron. Sleigh beds on sale in stores today include iron-metal sleighs, "Ireland sleighs," kids sleigh beds, leather sleigh beds, modern and sophisticated-looking sleigh beds, rattan sleigh beds, sleigh daybeds, and wooden sleigh beds.

If you'd like to choose designs for your sleigh bed, you can choose from the contemporary, country, retro, and traditional designs of sleigh beds. If you want to have a bed which you can convert into a sofa in the daytime then you can go for a sleigh daybed. Sleigh daybeds look a lot like sofa-beds but are more elegant and stylish.

If given the chance to choose whether to go with a four poster bed or a sleigh bed, it really doesn't matter as long as you are comfortable in the bed. Most poster beds are appropriate for big, luxurious houses with big rooms. On the other hand, the sleigh beds are somehow reminiscent of small country-like rooms that have more of a touch of "home" to them.

If you are after elegance and artistic style, go for the four poster bed since it has a lot of history and aesthetic appeal. The sleigh bed also has its own beauty because of the uniqueness and design, and the genius behind building a bed that looked like a sleigh. The sleigh bed also prohibits your feet from falling slightly over the foot of the bed when you sleep, which is a good thing. It means that your bed should be just the right size for you.

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