Sleigh bed - best place to purchase?

EagerLearner

Hello everyone,

Hoping some of you may be able to help, as we have never bought a new bed before (certaonly not an expensive one).
We are considering buying a solid bed that will last us a lifetime, as they say and something that would not date.

I wanted a French sleigh bed, and there are many companies selling these. It's hard to sort the wheat from the chaff, but I think I have found 2 sites that seem to offer quality:

£399.95
http://www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk/furniture/sleigh-solid-mahogany-double-bed-with-high-footboard/1224.html

and

£395.00
http://www.heirloombeds.co.uk/shop/french-sleigh-double-mahogany-p-104.html

Now both are priced quite similarly. Oak Furnitureland are advertised by Phil Spencer, Heirloom beds make the beds themselves.

Also wanted to ensure the bed had decent slats which both of these *seem* to offer real wood slats.

Given that John Lewis charge £1k plus for this sort of thing, what would you recommend?

duckeggblue

http://www.qualityfurnishingsofsussex.co.uk/SearchResults.asp?Search=sleigh&Search.x=13&Search.y=12

They have a 14 day money back guarentee

EagerLearner

Thanks duckegg blue. only thing is they are more expensive and don't do the double size we need...

suisidevw

If you're looking for a bed to last a lifetime, have you considered king? Best purchase and decision EVER!

maypole

I am considering one of these type of beds too, sometime in the future, don't know when it'll happen mind;) but I believe the ones with sprung slats are the best and you have to have the proper type of mattress to go with these slatted beds.

Mrs_justjohn

I know this won't help you much but I got a sleigh bed for my son from a furniture recycling charity!.

When I saw it it was just a pile of wood in the corner and had obviously been used and abused by kids. It had their names and 'Hi' scratched into the headboard:eek:

Anyhow I thought as it was wood there wasn't too much that couldn't be sorted out with a bit of sandpaper, varnish and elbow grease - So I bought it for the princely sum of £15:T

Here is what it looks like now...Well worth it wouldn't you say:j

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/pixie1804/newbuttons016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/pixie1804/newbuttons017.jpg

Saw the same one online for £599:eek:

EagerLearner

Hi all thanks for the comments - suisdevw and maypole only thing is we bought a memory form double matress 2 months ago, hence the bed must fit that. Our room might not cope with a king size mattress *and* king size sleigh bed!
I have not seen any mentioning sprung slats, only that they are wood/mahogany etc.

Mrs_justjohn that looks lovely, so much better and what a bargain! I'd love to come across ome for £15 - will keep fingers crossed and avoid temptation... for now!

maypole

EagerLearner wrote: »

Hi all thanks for the comments - suisdevw and maypole only thing is we bought a memory form double matress 2 months ago, hence the bed must fit that. Our room might not cope with a king size mattress *and* king size sleigh bed!
I have not seen any mentioning sprung slats, only that they are wood/mahogany etc.

Mrs_justjohn that looks lovely, so much better and what a bargain! I'd love to come across ome for £15 - will keep fingers crossed and avoid temptation... for now!

I do believe that a memory foam mattress will work on a slatted bed, as there are no springs to get stuck between the slats. I think I learned about this from someone on here who owns a bed company, if I remember rightly.

maypole

Mrs_justjohn wrote: »

I know this won't help you much but I got a sleigh bed for my son from a furniture recycling charity!.

When I saw it it was just a pile of wood in the corner and had obviously been used and abused by kids. It had their names and 'Hi' scratched into the headboard:eek:

Anyhow I thought as it was wood there wasn't too much that couldn't be sorted out with a bit of sandpaper, varnish and elbow grease - So I bought it for the princely sum of £15:T

Here is what it looks like now...Well worth it wouldn't you say:j

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/pixie1804/newbuttons016.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v645/pixie1804/newbuttons017.jpg

Saw the same one online for £599:eek:

Blimey! money saving at its' best, well done what a bargain:beer:

Tim_Deegan

EagerLearner wrote: »

Hello everyone,

Hoping some of you may be able to help, as we have never bought a new bed before (certaonly not an expensive one).
We are considering buying a solid bed that will last us a lifetime, as they say and something that would not date.

I wanted a French sleigh bed, and there are many companies selling these. It's hard to sort the wheat from the chaff, but I think I have found 2 sites that seem to offer quality:

£399.95
http://www.oakfurnitureland.co.uk/furniture/sleigh-solid-mahogany-double-bed-with-high-footboard/1224.html

and

£395.00
http://www.heirloombeds.co.uk/shop/french-sleigh-double-mahogany-p-104.html

Now both are priced quite similarly. Oak Furnitureland are advertised by Phil Spencer, Heirloom beds make the beds themselves.

Also wanted to ensure the bed had decent slats which both of these *seem* to offer real wood slats.

Given that John Lewis charge £1k plus for this sort of thing, what would you recommend?

I don't know where you read that Heirloom make their own beds. They keep going on about finishing, and about their warehouse, but they don't mention production facilities, or even about manufacturing themselves.

As for Oakfurnitureland. Don't be fooled by a well known TV presenter advertising them. He is just a paid actor, and will probably know nothing about their products. It's just like when companies use the 'as seen on TV' in their adverts. This actually means nothing as there are many big companies who advertise on TV just to rip customers off by making them appear reputable.

At the prices that both of these retailers are selling for, I'd say they are almost certainly imported (probably from China), as there is no way UK made quality beds would be sold at these prices. The quality on furniture imported from the far east is usually lower than furniture manufactured in the UK.

If you want a good quality oak sleigh bed then you need to start googling pine furiture manufacturers (mainly in Yorkshire), as many of them will also make oak beds.

As for the mattress, is it reflex foam with memory foam, or sprung with memory foam?

EagerLearner

Hi Tim thanks for the post, totally see what you mean, however given that other options are around the £1k mark, £395 is more bearable - not affordable but something to aspire to as it'd be nicer than anything we've ever had! Heirloom wood comes from Indonesia I believe, not sure about Oak Furnitureland.

Anyway, as for our matress it's a Hypnia one, reflex foam with 3" memory foam.