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About Canopy BedsFour PostersThe canopy bed - usually known as a four poster bed in the UK - can add an extra element of style and luxury to even the best bedroom. Some hotels use canopy beds in their top of the range rooms. In the US the Bel Air canopy bed is one popular example of the style.The most popular canopy bed sizes are queen and king. You can buy them in full, twin or even single sizes, however these are less common and the proportions tend to look a little strange. They always remind me of hospital beds.
What Is A Canopy Bed?The name refers simply to any bed, usually wood or metal such as wrought iron, which is covered by a suspended cloth canopy. They come is a huge range of styles and you can usually buy the canopy as a set or separately from the bed itself, allowing you to create the perfect ensemble for your bedroom. Make you you know exactly what you're getting, especially when you buy online - the canopy itself is very often not included in the price of the bed.Most specially built canopy beds will have a "canopy frame" above them from which the fabric will drape. This drape - often referred to as the curtains - is usually rectangular, tracing the outlines of the bed itself, however variations exist such as a circular frame above the middle of the bed. The canopy frame is usually supported by four posts, one at each corner of the bed. Hence the name four poster or four post bed. Sometimes these posts are plain, sometimes they are themselves ornately carved. Apart from the presence of the hanging curtains and posters, canopy beds can vary tremendously and you can buy them in a huge variety of styles from medieval gothic through lush romantic to simple modern designs. If you're a DIY / home improvement fan then it's possible to add your own canopy cover to an existing bed by simply fixing posts to the corners and draping your choice of fabric over the top. If you're planning to try a project like this then take care - a badly fixed canopy and supports crashing down on the sleepers could be very dangerous. An alternative approach - if the position of the bed is unlikey to change - is to fix rings to the ceiling above the bed and attach the fabric to these.
HistoryAlthough canopy beds today are considered decorative luxury items, they were first made for purely pragmatic reasons with materials designed for durability rather than aesthetic appeal.The thatched rooves in many poor homes were a haven for assorted bugs and other creepy-crawlies - not the sort of thing you want dropping on your face in the middle of the night! In wealthier homes with solid roofs the soot from the fire would collect on the ceiling and sometimes fall. The canopy above the bed was simply to protect the sleeper from these unwanted intrusions. A bonus feature of such a piece of furniture was that being able to draw the curtains around the bed gave at least some illusion of privacy from the outside world. Poorer homes were often very cramped with little in the way of true privacy. As time went on the idea of the large canopy bed became associated with wealth and luxury. The canopies could be made of rich fabrics such as silk and decorated lavishly. As such they have become something of a necessity for any self-respecting fairytale princess!
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