Many women just simply love the look of canopy beds. They are certainly a statement piece for a bedroom. From a woodworker’s point of view, wood canopy beds can be a challenging project depending on how intricate the design. I was doing some custom work for a family of 5, all 3 kids are girls. I ended up building a canopy bed for each of them. My little work shop was dubbed “canopy beds central” by my wife. So, now that I have a bit of experience with the subject, I will try to give you all the information on canopy beds off the top of my head.
To start off, we should probably go over a simple definition of this type of wood furniture. A canopy bed should not be confused with bed canopies, I actually did until I started building them. A bed canopy is just something to hang above your bed that drapes down. It is not a part of your bed, more of a bed accessory. More on bed canopies later. A canopy bed is essentially a four poster bed with a top (4 post bed). I also like to think of them as an extended bed frame. A canopy bed frame is really both below the mattress and above your head. Rarely are the top sections of canopy beds solid. I have seen a few that do have a ceiling so to speak that looks like they’re straight out of the Roman Empire. I guess this is a good look for canopy beds if you’re in Las Vegas or something, but a tad, well a lot on the garish side. I would have to say the general rule of less is more in design holds true here, but I will be talking more about canopy bed design in a bit.
As far as history of canopy beds, I know that the first ones were more utilitarian or in other words, were made for a function not for a look. I think we’re all a bit spoiled on how weather proof our homes actually are. I mean we’ve all had a leak here and there, but nothing like it was back in history. The original canopy beds were actually made to act as a second layer of protection and warmth from the elements. Roofs leaked and homes had little if any insulation. So the first canopy beds were essentially stand alone tents around your bed. Then this style of bed slowly became a bed of the upper echelon, again not because how the looked. Back in the day, wealthier noblemen actually had servants that slept in the same room in case they needed anything, the canopy bed served as more of a privacy screen. From there the design elements came into play and the canopy beds evolved into highly decorative pieces of furniture.
a contemporary canopy bed
So we know how they came to be, now the design of these beds can range wildly. As I said earlier, you can still find some really ugly, I mean ornate canopy beds. In general the styles fall into two categories, traditional and contemporary canopy beds. (Modern canopy beds are in the contemporary category.)
Traditional canopy beds are usually on the ornate side. If it is a wood canopy bed, then the posts will usually have some kid of sculptural quality to the posts. The canopy bed frame will also have some more embellishments and use visually heavier materials. The rails making the bed canopy are usually constructed to be more beam like. The most traditional styles will always have canopy bed curtains. A more transitional style would to omit the canopy bed curtains and just have fabric draped across the top. An iron canopy bed can also be made in a traditional style. The iron is usually bent into ornate designs. As this is a wood resource, I don’t have much experience with metal canopy beds. I do know that a wrought iron canopy bed can take a very skilled metal worker months to make the intricate design pattern.
Contemporary canopy beds are very simplistic. The most common look for this is a geometric cube construction. The name of the game with modern canopy beds is clean lines. Rarely do you see a contemporary style with any curved or sweeping parts at all. A wooden canopy bed made with high quality hardwoods can be made with smaller gauge boards making a more simplistic design with the straight clean lines that are needed. Of course metal canopy beds are also very common. I have seen a black powder coated canopy bed that seems to be quite popular. This a with a single breezy piece of white fabric draped over the top is a really clean and modern look. I have also seen an all white canopy bed that looked great
No matter what style you go with you can expect a large piece of furniture, especially with a king canopy bed. King canopy beds can be absolutely massive. If you are looking for this size be sure you have the room size that would look proportional to the bed. Many styles of the king canopy beds will have slightly taller canopies to look more balanced. A vaulted ceiling bedroom is almost a must with a king canopy bed. Even with a queen canopy bed, the room has to be quite large. Queen canopy beds are still quite tall, about 4 feet above the mattress height, which would make the entire dimensions of the piece of wood furniture a minimum of 6 feet tall. If the space is too small, your bedroom can get pretty claustrophobic. With canopy bed covers, it can just be too much visually for the room to handle. If you have a smaller room and like a traditional style, a sleigh bed may be a better option. I have seen a full canopy bed and a twin canopy bed for adults, but they look a little small and not quite right. If you don’t have space for the larger sizes, then maybe your space just isn’t right for a canopy bed.
Now, kids canopy beds are easier to make work in the space. These are of course much smaller and look in proportions. a kid canopy, er more like a girl canopy bed is a big deal. I know that a girls bed canopy can make her feel like a little princess. In fact, when I was building one for the family I mentioned earlier, they gave me a picture of a disney princess bed canopy to draw inspiration from. I hadn’t had to buy pink paint ever, until then. Of course if you don’t want to build a childrens bed canopy, you can find relatively cheap canopy beds on line. Another suggestion especially for kids is to just buy a cheap pine bed and and go with a canopy for it. Canopies for beds are easily changed and we all know how kid’s tastes change fast and often. If they do have an actual full canopy bed, changing out the canopy bed drapes can make it look like a new piece of furniture. A girls bed canopy can be found for less than $40, so you will easily be able make their princess dreams come true.
There are a great deal of canopy beds for sale which can be found with a quick google search. You can also find many different canopy bed plans to build one yourself. The actual construction of the modern or contemporary styles is pretty straight forward. Just be sure to get the standard American and European mattress dimensions before you start, depending on where you live. I would hate you to find out that your mattress doesn’t fit in your new creation. The other thing to look at is to provide plenty of support under the platform, you don’t want to have you mattress taco shaped, a guaranteed horrible night of lack of sleep.
I hope you enjoyed the wonderful world of canopy beds, a statement for sure, just make sure it fits your space!
