And so from Corsica we flew on to India as part of our quest to find gorgeous items to add to our new collection of bedroom furniture we’re working on.
We could have been bowled over by the 45 degree heat (which we loved), but we were instead bowled over by the enthusiasm and positive attitudes of everyone we met: typically Indian! It was totally inspiring to spend several days with all the wonderful craftsmen who painstakingly make all our handmade pieces like these bedside beauties that’ll go down a treat with our French beds.
Our old love affair with India was as strong as ever. And needless to say we’ll be featuring a load of colourful items in our new collection.
Oh the joy of English as a foreign language. Working on our new range of bedroom furniture (coming out late summer) we were sent a photo of some stone samples by one of our wonderful suppliers. A quick glance and you could miss it. Behind these samples are some immortal words emblazoned across the front of her notebook.
We love her tables that will go with our French beds and hope that this will finally bring her the happiness she’s been waiting for!
Sitting in London coming up with ideas for new oak beds, we decided to go for inspiration to an amazing place we’d heard about in Corsica called Murtoli. Check it out here. It’s an enormous nature reserve sandwiched between the mountains and the sea –so you get the best of both worlds.
View from our pad
There are a small number of very secluded and beautifully restored cottages on the estate. Our one looked like Bilbo Baggins’ house from outside, and the inside was decorated with old French beds and furniture, reclaimed Belgian tiles and Indian bed linen. And best of all the kitchen equipment was top notch –nothing like the Ikea stuff you get in most rentals!
Our home!
After a lardy breakfast of croissants and cafe au lait, it was a 25 minute walk down to the mile long private sandy beach –and along the way we always met wild boar, cows, eagles and kites.
This was all a real tonic, but what really caught our eye was the cool driftwood furniture down on the beach.
Inspiration for our new range coming out late summer
Valerie and her husband Paul who own Murtoli have an incredible eye for simplicity. We also noticed that they always sported different brand new Converse trainers every day which went very well with their perfect tans! So it was with a head full of their style that we packed our bags and headed back to Blighty, only just in time to make our connecting flight for a buying trip to India. And we made sure we got ourselves some new Cons too!
Sometimes we like a bit of music in the offices here at The Sleep Room, and sometimes we like a bit of Radio 4. Which means that Desert Island Discs is always a bit of a favourite, and we were all too excited when the notoriously publicity-shy Morrissey made an appearance at the end of last year. But what we weren’t expecting was his choice of luxury. Veggie burgers? Gladioli? Nope – a bed. “Desert island or not, what’s the point in anything without a decent bed?”, he asked lovely Kirsty Young. Well indeed. Who knew he loves beds as much as we do?
Morrissey on a bed. Cosy.
Then we started thinking … he can’t be the only one can he? And we were right. Because the number of celebs who have chosen luxury beds and bedding as their desert island indulgence it quite staggering. Since Roy Plomley created the show in 1942, the great and the good have been queuing up to choose their 8 tracks, favourite book – and a bed.
We will put Suggs to one side. In 2002 he chose to take a nucleus of bees with him. And we like the fact that Kristin Scott Thomas went for a pair of Louboutins. That really is a luxury. But it’s 2004 when the bed-fest kicks off. That year author Diana Athill asked for her own bed, then by 2005 Jarvis Cocker wanted a bed with a mosquito net, Ruby Wax was after a huge bed, and Mario Testino kept it simple by requesting just his pillow.
In 2007 Oliver Postgate, creator of iconic children’s’ TV shows such as The Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Bagpuss, selected a ‘comfortable bed’. (We like to think he’d go with an upholstered bed) and then a year later Diane Abbott went the whole hog with a ‘nice bed, comfortable mattress, sheets and a mosquito net’. Quite right too.
Desert Island Discs presenter Kirsty Young. She looks like she could do with a more comfortable bed there.
We’ve spent some time trying to work out what our luxury would be. While we’re confident that we could never come up with something as gorgeous as our Wiltshire-based craftsmen do, we’re pretty sure that everyone on the team could knock up a wooden bed if pushed. So we’d choose a mattress. It’s a mattress that has smuggled all of our friends and family inside it though.
It’s time for the 2010 Virgin London Marathon: the sporting event of the year which prompts lots of us to stay in our beds, gazing in awe at those going the distance, while vowing that we will do it one day. “Just let me finish this bacon buttie, and then I’ll sign up, yeah?”
This year the range of celebrities running is as strong – and well, um, random as ever. Of course it’s to be expected that new sponsor and Virgin chief Richard Branson is running, as is ITV’s Jenni Falconer, singer Michelle Heaton and a host of others. Oh how we’ll chuckle as we see them struggle to the finish line, drenched in sweat…
But some of the team here at The Sleep Room have run the London Marathon in the past, and we know it’s no mean feat … tired isn’t even the word. Bone-achingly exhausted is a little closer to the mark. As such, we’d like to prescribe some R&R tips for this year’s celeb runners…
Sir Richard is running with his two children and a team of 100 others for the Virgin Unite charity. Ideally we’d like to see the lot of them take their post-run rest in a massive Charlie & the Chocolate Factory-style wooden bed. Wonka bars for all, and everyone in together to celebrate!
The Branson family could have a wonderful time relaxing in one of these
Jenni Falconer is both tall and athletic – she’s even won sporty reality shows in the past – so we’re guessing she will make the finishing line faster than many. She seems like a level-headed lady so we reckon she’ll be heading for some healthy food rather than a bucket of left-over Easter eggs, and we’d suggest a chic upholstered bed would be best for her. Perhaps something with a little tartan fabric.
As for Michelle Heaton, well, she’s Jordan’s bezzie mate, so we’re reckoning she’s quite fancy. We’d recommend the girliest of meals – fondue and marshmallows perhaps – and then a decent night’s kip on some kind of fantastical bed. A pink bed? A French bed? Oh no hold on, we think she’d like this Disney Fantasy Carriage Bed.
A fantastical bed for fancy Michelle Heaton
Whatever their times, we salute this year’s runners – celebrity or otherwise – and hope that you all get a well-deserved good night’s sleep on 25th April!
One of Charlie’s sisters recently visited a farm just outside London and was most impressed by their …”shigs”. They look like a cross between a pig and a sheep, hence their name.
But whilst taking a break from selling our lovely upholstered beds all day we couldn’t help but notice the similarity between these wonderful beasts and the even more wonderful Uncle Monty from the film Withnail and I.
The common shig
Uncle "my boys, my boys" Monty
Does anyone else agree with us that the resemblance is uncanny?
1) Sleigh beds are often referred to as French beds as it was Napoleon who popularised this style of bed at his court in the French Empire period (from 1795 – 1820). These French originals were designed for one. Although they had the classic old-fashioned sleigh shape, there were usually slimmer than our current double ones, and had more of a day-bed vibe. Used less for curling up with cocoa and soothing novels, they were used more for flouncing about on and socialising.
2) However, the French weren’t the first to buy beds in this distinctive shape: courtesans in Napoleon’s day actually got their inspiration from the shapes and styles of antique Roman beds that were often discovered throughout Europe in those days. The French, getting into the swing of their own empire, clearly fancied a taste of the Roman bedroom style. We’re not sure if the Romans had sleighs, and they certainly won’t have called them French beds, so we’re guessing they just used good old ‘lectus’.
We hope the French and Romans would approve of the workshop where our Sleigh Beds are made
3) By 1815 the sleigh bed had made its way to the US, where almost every town with a decent craftsman was seeing a flurry of them being made. Initially they weren’t entirely wooden beds but had simple wooden veneers. Later, they were made from solid cherry, oak or pine wood. They became particularly popular in the Southeast – east of the Mississippi river. Charles Platt Rogers was one of the early bed magnates, and his store – opened in 1855 – is still trading in the US.
4) One thing that’s always been a constant about sleigh beds is that they have been luxury beds. French cabinet makers were highly competitive with their rolled-out tops at both the head and foot end, trying to make the finished article as fancy as possible. The American versions increasingly became status symbols, seen in the fanciest homes and in the very smartest guesthouses. These days they aren’t even always made of wood, with designers branching out into all kinds of swanky leather and metal combinations.
Crafty work! Another shot of our Sleigh Beds being created
5) We’re sure the ancient Romans, the flouncing French and the empire-building Americans of yesteryear enjoyed their sleigh beds. The feeling of snuggliness and security is second to none when you’re tucked up in one. But we can’t help but think it must have been a right hassle to get hold of one. We’d quite like our own vineyard, our own French maid or our own plantation. But we also like the idea of online beds too. Here’s to the pioneers!
Well we haven’t, but Charlie’s sister Lou has! She’s just given birth to the lovely Ordi. Rather than going to hospital like most normal people, she decided to stay at home and flit between her bathroom and Antoinette French bed!
Luckily everything went according to plan and they are now looking more healthy than most of us. Fake tan anyone?
So big shout to Lou, Rufus, Esme and Cas. And a huge welcome to this wonderful world to Ordi. We’re now busy working on all our new kids beds and bunk beds for launch later this summer. So we promise to let you test them first! x
Everyone wants the ultimate bed. The one that will cure ills, solve disputes and promise everlasting love.
We do our best at The Sleep Room, and we are of course proud of our own luxury beds. But even we are prepared to concede that the ultimate luxury bed is no longer available – as it belonged to Odysseus.
Odysseus was one of Greek epic poet Homer’s greatest creations. A brave and honourable soldier, he put in ten years of sterling service during the Trojan War, as told in The Iliad. Once he’d played his part in ensuring his side won, it then took him a further ten years to get back home. Yes, that’s ten years people – twenty years away from home. See The Odyssey for details. So you can imagine that his reunion with faithful wife Penelope would be one fraught with anxiety and potential heartache.
Having turned down an offer of immortality from the goddess Calypso to make it home to Penelope, Odysseus finally made it back on April 16th 1178BC. He was understandably keen to test if she had been faithful herself. So he turned up, slaughtered all of her 100 potential suitors in a bow contest and then shook off his disguise, ready to reclaim his long lost wife.
Odysseys makes swift work of getting rid of the competition
Pen, something of a feisty bird, who had been fending off marital wannabes for twenty years, was just as keen to make absolutely sure that Odysseus was who he claimed to be. So she played a trick: she asked her servant Euryclea to quickly move their wedding bed for him to rest in. No biggie, you might think. But Odysseus righteously freaked out. Because he knew that of all the wooden beds on earth, theirs was the finest – and the least moveable. For it was carved from the stump of an olive tree. No human being could possibly move it.
Of course, Penelope quickly realised that she finally had her man back and the pair were reunited. What more powerful symbol of love could there be than a marital bed so rooted on earth that it literally cannot be shifted? It might not be practical if you’re planning a home move, but that’s one hell of a wooden bed, and it’s certainly the most romantic story we’ve ever heard.
You needn’t take The Sleep Room’s word for it, as the goddess of love herself agrees: that evening Athena extended the night for the reunited pair, giving them extra time to catch up and rest. Now if only we could invent a luxury bed that did that for us…
Odysseus and Penelope, as imagined by Francesco Primaticcio
Yes, we know you know, but here at The Sleep Room we never tire of new reasons to love beds. In fact, we thought we had thought of them all but recently we thought of a humdinger: they are nesting point of some of the best belly laughs we’ve ever had.
It began with a quick look at a classic Morecambe & Wise sketch featuring them in their natty little pyjamas sharing a snug wooden bed, and then we couldn’t stop thinking of examples.
It seems to have begun with Laurel & Hardy, who frequently shared a large French sleigh bed in their comedy capers, and were further immortalised in this shot, which hung on the wall of Joey & Chander’s apartment in Friends.
Laurel & Hardy in bed in 'Leave 'em Laughing'
In 1920s and 1930s, it wasn’t uncommon for less wealthy adults to bunk up, but by Eric & Ernie’s day it was definitely being used as a comedy trope – especially as they mention their wives on some occasions! It turns out it was their writer Eddie Braben whose idea the situation was, and apparently Eric Morecambe was initially so uncomfortable with the idea that he insisted on being able to smoke his pipe during those scenes. Word is, this important detail would make sure his ‘masculinity’ was emphasised.
And, just as Eric & Ernie has been inspired, they went on to inspire others … especially some puppets. First there were Bert & Ernie, eternal flatmates and stalwarts of the Sesame Street scene. They didn’t actually share a bed, but had a pair of nice wooden beds in their shared room. (Fact fans alert – that set first appeared in 1970, the opening episode of Season 2). The iconic decor remained and the bedtime chats were the bedrock of their relationship and a source of much loved comedy gold.
Bert & Ernie in their lovely bedroom
Into the 1980s we had Rainbow, and once again it was bedtime the provided the backdrop for comedy: the effervescent craziness of Zippy and the dopey musings George. They didn’t really have a luxury bed, but there was space for Bungle to squeeze in from time to time.
At this point in our musings The Sleep Room seemed to have reached the end of comedic duos in the bedroom. Then came Sports Relief, which gave us Smithy and Beckham enjoying a bit of Neighbours wearing their his’n’his pyjamas. Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems that the contemporary bed is just as much a birthplace for comedy as it ever was…
