Featured What kind of wood is this?

I have searched everywhere I know of but I can't find anything like the wood this bed is made of. Any ideas? Also, I bought this at a second hand store and have no idea as to the age of this bed, but it creaks a lot so I'm thinking it probably pretty old! If anyone can help date this piece that would be great!

 

nice bed....unusual laminate....

 

It most likely is not solid wood, but veneered.

It's from the early 1900s. The veneer was often painted to resemble wood grain and that is why you can't id the wood.

Wait for confirmation on this.

@verybrad
@James Conrad

Adding:
The style is called a Sleigh Bed.

 

There is some similarity to this:

https://www.harpgallery.com/shop/item26445.html

 

http://www.vendio.com/stores/stanto...0/spectacular-antique-empire-tig/lid=34641067

 

Mm. Copying tiger wood.

 

Not a clue on wood species, are you sure it's wood? Sleigh bed style but never seen a wood like this.

 

Of course not! Mercy! It is veneered, in a bad imitation of the mahogany set shown by Bronwen. And though it is almost, it is not quite a real sleigh bed. (The real one has small side pieces which make bed-making VERY annoying!)

However, the good thing about it, is that (much as I love the way it is presently dressed) it can be made to look warm from the pages of our favorite magazines: "Irish Whisky Furnishings," "Scottish Tarns in Tartan," "Decorating with Tweed."

OK. I get carried away. However, I remember a bed similarly veneered that I had in school. A brown tweed comforter, some Irish (sweater) knit pillows and a plaid blanket....

 

Well, it may be a bad imitation but it is an exact replica of the bed on vendio.com with only 1 minor difference. The bottom of the foot of the bed on mine is rounded and the one on vendio.com has a flat panel on the bottom. Otherwise an exact twin, right down to the feet and the horizontal strips across the head and foot boards. So I don't know what kind of wood my bed is (I'm assuming it's wood!) but it appears to have a tiger oak veneer, just like the one on vendio.com. I am also assuming that the style of my bed is also Empire style? Thank you all for the input.

 

Could you explain about the "side pieces"? The bed had big wide rails running from the head board to the foot board. What other side pieces are there? Thanks for your input!

 

Oh, are you talking about the rounded part on the sides? Yeah, that would make bedmaking torture.

 

Circa 1910 empire revival with inked grain imitating quartersawn oak.

 

I am very curious why you leave such a small gap between the wall and bed? It's too small for a person to walk through. Why not simply put it against the wall or leave the gap a little bit bigger?

 

And here is the gap which is not necessary

 

maybe only 1 person sleeps there.... and a gap is needed to make up the bed..

 

OK, that makes sense! Very weird/strange look!

 

Beautiful bed, caroln. Am I the only one who likes the inked effect? A bit Rohrschach, but in a nice way.

To get near the wall socket? Make up the bed, as komo said? Air circulation?
Space for all the angels who watch over you as you sleep? (Nobody ever thinks of them, and they need their space as well.)

 

Well, i dunno, i have never seen inked pieces before but i suspect it wasn't a big hit back in 1910 as not many of them around. It's not doing much for me, count me out.
I wonder if they are valuable today? That should tell how popular they are, I am guessing they are fairly rare.

 

What does something like this sell for today @verybrad ?

 

Small gap for a couple reasons. I need the space big enough to make the bed and have access to the outlet but small enough so my very large dog can't get back there to sleep in the corner. (I try to keep him out of the guest room so there's at least one room in the house that's dog hair free!)


The table is a little bit away from the bed but not excessively so, I don't think. There are some breakables on the table so I thought placing it just a few inches away from the bed would be prudent. Plus I need a little space to get to the window. I could always remove the breakables when I have guests I suppose but they're kind of part of the whole tableau.

Anyway, getting back to my original question...forgot what it is now... Oh, yeah. So the final consensus is the bed is an imitation of a sleigh bed, circa 1910, that's empire style, made out of some sort of unknown wood with a veneer that's supposed to look like quarter sawn oak or tiger oak? That's more than I knew before! Thank you all for responding. This was fun!