Heirloom Beds Ltd

But real timber is more expensive and to accommodate movement involves labour intensive and a high number of processes / steps to complete

Other timbers you may find in the manufacture of sleigh beds and four posters on the high street.

Hevea – Grown in plantations in Hawaii the predominant tree used for natural rubber harvests for the worlds supply Hevea trees generally stop producing latex after 20-25 years they are then felled and re-planted due to the long term suppressed prices for rubber supply has increased and further uses for it found with its lower market price. Appearance similar to Oak and Teak. Pale cream to a yellowish brown mostly a straight uniform grain.

Alder - The third most important timber exported from America and Canada similar in value to Douglas Fir. Reddish in appearance

The Heirloom Beds finish is a NC lacquer based finish used for decades for its protective qualities and ability to showcase the grain and character of the timber it is used on but there is no such thing as a plain old NC lacquer. Think of a Steinway piano finish and you’re on the right track

In fact, the formulations of NC lacquer vary more widely than do pre-cat formulations. The co-resins employed in NC can be maleic, acrylic, urethane, phenolic, natural resins, alkyds, and so on. Each of the resins used to formulate a lacquer has its strengths and weaknesses. So great care is taken when choosing the lacquer its composition but equal care is taken over the thinners used, they too can vary in quality. A great deal has been invested in the equipment and training to reach the finish we achieve on our sleigh beds and four poster beds as well as our other bedroom furniture. Applying our finish is actually a 14 step process taking a week to complete though we have explained the 8 fundamental steps. To help put the skill required to finish our sleigh bedsteads and wooden four posters into perspective consider the following –

If you took your pride and joy car to be sprayed your likely to ask around for referrals and recommendations as it’s more widely understood that this is a time served apprentice acquired skill taking approximately two years. This how ever is spraying non porous surfaces that enable even dry rates a standard base colour as well as generally flat and gently curving shapes. Take for example the detailed carving on our Queen Anne Four Poster canopy bed quite the opposite and finishing in corners of the sleigh beds or any corner is more difficult. Also bear in mind that natural solid timber in our beds will not have an even colour but varied, evening out these differences (but not completely!) mixing stains with the finish over that directly applied to the timber this is a fine art in its self.

Have you ever seen these descriptions in brochures catalogues and websites –?

‘Solid timber’ - As long as there is some solid timber it’s a true statement but it does not exclude the use of man made materials.

‘Solid Oak and real Oak Veneers’ - If its solid oak why would you have Oak veneers?? What type of Oak in there sleigh beds and four poster beds is it French, Chinese, American, Polish, English

Real wood veneers – As though this is a treat! Because it’s usually plastic engineered veneers which are very convincing. You can find sleigh beds with plastic veneers that will fool most applying real timber veneers on a mass production basis is fraught with many difficulties as it is a skilled process. To duplicate it through plant and equipment is too difficult when dealing with anything other than small flat surfaces which is why the plastic veneers are used and why pre veneered flat wood products are brought into the production site and cut and manufactured accordingly.

New to our range of Sleigh Beds is the ‘Lansdowne Sleigh Bed’ designed with a number of features and preferences in mind. First of all for those of you around 6ft tall you probably experience hitting your head or feet on the head and footboard which is disconcerting and uncomfortable. The mattress height will sit flush at the corners and above the sweeping side rails and footboard.
Also for those who want a higher sleeping level the Lansdowne is the perfect choice certainly not your sleigh bed design something a little different with an art deco influence in its design.
This higher mattress height obviously also helps those of us for whom the hips and knees prefer not to be challenged first thing in the morning but gently woken up!