| The bed is one of the earliest pieces of furniture. It | | | | Unfortunately, oak became overlogged and other |
| was originally nothing more than a pile of straw or | | | | woods like beech had to be used. The old furniture |
| leaves placed on the floor. Then during the Stone | | | | makers were probably not unhappy. This change |
| Age, this pile of straw was placed on a stone shelf | | | | more or less coincided with the growth of the middle |
| to get it off the ground and reduce drafts. Today, | | | | class. Using an easily worked softwood like beech |
| beds are made from many different materials - | | | | enabled the craftsmen to greatly increase their |
| cherry wood, pine, beech, oak, steel, rattan, MDF, | | | | productivity. They made more money selling many |
| etc. Today, the bed is just one piece of an entire | | | | cheaper beds to the middle class than they did selling |
| bedroom furniture package. | | | | one expensive bed to their feudal overlords. |
| Furniture made from real wood is very expensive | | | | Today, even bedroom furniture made from |
| today. This is true even of beech, which was | | | | softwoods like pine or beech are rather expensive. |
| originally a cheap softwood in the 1600s. This is also | | | | Unless, of course, you are willing to buy them used in |
| true of cherry wood and pine in the 1800s. Modern | | | | a garage sale or on eBay. If the thought of sleeping |
| bedroom furniture made from any of these three | | | | on a bed with an unknown history makes you feel |
| woods are considered relatively high-end today. | | | | creeped out, you can try waiting for an |
| Today's discount furniture is made of plywood or | | | | end-of-season clearance sale. You can frequently find |
| medium density fiberboard (MDF). Plywood is made | | | | some pretty good discounts. |
| from thin sheets of cheap low quality wood glued | | | | But why buy expensive wooden beds and |
| together with their grains at right angles to each | | | | wardrobes? Because they last so much longer than |
| other. This "sandwich" gives surprising strength to | | | | those made from plywood or MDF. Solid wood can |
| what would otherwise be wood that is too weak to | | | | last for decades, even softwoods. Hardwoods like |
| be used for furniture. Fiberboard is slightly different. | | | | oak can easily last a hundred years with only minimal |
| While it is also made from cheap wood, this wood is | | | | maintenance. Unfortunately, an oak or teak bed is |
| first processed into a powder. Then this powder is | | | | very expensive and something of a status symbol |
| compressed together with a plastic (resin) under high | | | | today. |
| pressure and temperature. | | | | As you can see, the bed has come a long way from |
| Up until the mid-1600s, furniture in the West was | | | | pre-historic times. From a pile of straw on the floor, it |
| made from hardwoods like oak. Oak was widely | | | | became a pile of straw on a stone shelf. Then |
| available at that time, and oak was hardy against the | | | | humans learned how to make wood furniture, and |
| elements and made very sturdy furniture. Oak | | | | we had oak beds and wardrobes, then pine and |
| furniture for the masses was crude and rough-hewn | | | | beech, and today there are metal, plywood and MDF |
| while that for the nobility was well-made and finely | | | | furniture for the bedroom. |
| finished. | | | | |