Many years ago a young boy walking past old shed noticed some old beds inside the door. He asked the owner, “the local publican”, what was happening with them. He was told that the shed was about to be demolished, and he could have the beds if he removed them all by the next day. So the boy went home, to return with his only mode of transport – his pushbike to set about the task of removing the beds and bed pieces....... pedalling between the shed and his home – as you can imagine quite a sight in a small country town. This was only the beginning of a lifetime passion.

An old shed, as any young boy or antique lover knows, is a treasure chest waiting to be explored and luckily for some, they find more than dust and cobwebs. Old furniture including beds has emerged from dark corners, some in better condition than others. Whilst many have been restored or awaiting restoration, others have found new roles in life; most of these “new job descriptions” happened from the 1940’s on, as timber furniture became a more popular bed option (plus they didn’t rattle like the old iron bed or require the polishing) and still unfortunately to this day people are finding new ways to use them.

Our clients often have an interesting “bed tale” to tell. Old beds in the country seem to have as many uses as “No. 8 fencing wire”. As any old farmer would know, the good old No. 8 can fix anything from the farm ute or tractor to holding up his trousers after his belt broke. Brass and Iron beds have been used in animal pens of all sizes (chickens, pigs, sheep....), old iron posts were a good fence substitute when things were tough. We even had one family tell us that the old family cot had made a wonderful “Cockatoo Cage”. Then there was the Double Brass and Porcelain Bow Front used as a sweet pea trellis, in the farmer’s wife’s garden (complete with porcelains) – “Looked good she said, even when they weren’t in bloom”. Luckily we rescued that one. Now we are not saying our country folk were more creative, oh no, city people were equally creative:- iron ends used as garden gates, porcelains as candleholders, stage props and dog gates. One particularly creative fellow in the 1970’s (“an electrician”) wired up his bed and placed four coloured globes to replace the usual bed knobs. He now has a bed and breakfast, and had the beds restored by us. To his embarrassment it was his wife who delighted in telling us that story of his youth. Then there are the others..........old beds have been found in local cemeteries used to fence the graves of loved ones or the bed springs used to sift sand for concreting (after using the bed as reinforcing). Another sight we have seen is a bed that was allowed to grow up a tree. The original owner had taken us to the back of his property and said, “I leant it against this tree years ago”. We looked up and there it was 2 metres above the ground: a pair of matching iron ends. The angle irons were nearby embedded in the soil and grass; amazingly the only casualty were the wooden wheels, which had rotted away – these beds were certainly built to last the test of time.

However, just when we thought we had seen and heard them all........during May we travelled to the Goondiwindi, St George and Roma Shows. Of particular note was the Roma Show visit. Our first visit there in 2002 introduced us to a local gentleman who talked about his “bed bicycle”. We had a great talk and he said he had a photo and would give us a copy. We were not able to visit in 2003, so in 2004 during our visit, he came to see us again, saying he had heard we were back and true to his word, brought us a copy of his Bed Bicycle. By far this must be the most unique “Bed Re-cycling” (Ha Ha). It was in Brisbane’s Warana Festival in the late 1950’s and received a lot of attention; however, he also told us it was not made for comfortable riding, his seat being placed on top of a bed post. The unique “Bed-cycle” came complete with steering; however the tram tracks of the day proved challenging for the narrow wheels, and were ultimately his undoing, with the wheel becoming trapped and no supports to hold on to, he fell into the crowd. He particularly remembers a lady and her umbrella, the lady was OK but the same could not be said for the umbrella. He told us, “Once I was up and riding, it was great – it was the stopping that was the challenge”. We told him the story of how Mark became involved with brass bed restoration as a young boy with his pushbike; it is unfortunate he cannot remember the fate of the “Bed-cycle”, as he then told us that he would have given it to us to display at our shop. Imagination is a wonderful thing however we continually refer to our old reference of the time, the Mail Order Catalogue, to retain their originality and character in our restoration work. We would appreciate any assistance from our readers, if you can help us source original mail order catalogues, and would love to hear your stories or see photos of other “Bed-Recycling”.