These started as common practice for lords and ladies but became more commonplace in later years. Curtains also provided privacy as it was common for multiple people to sleep in the same room. Even the wealthy tended to share bedrooms with their servants. Beds became increasingly ornate through the Renaissance.
By the 15th century, beds in western Europe usually had a wood-panelled headboard and two columns at the foot of the bed that supported a tester, or canopy. These beds were very large, often eight feet by seven feet, so that several people could sleep in them. Curtains typically enclosed all four sides of the bed. In the 16th century, beds became even more decorative. One especially famous English Elizabethan bed is the Great Bed of Ware , which measures 10 feet 11 inches square.
The 17th and 18th centuries saw the peak of ornate beds. For the wealthy, these were draped in elaborate, expensive curtains and served as a status symbol. King Louis XIV was known to have beds , and it was thought to be an honor to visit him in his bedroom.
Prosperous Americans even slept on four-poster bedsteads with curtains. Beds became simpler in the 19th century, with four-posters falling out of style. Mattresses were transformed when coil springs were introduced in the s, and metal frames became more common.
At the beginning of the 20th century, beds and mattresses could be mass produced for the first time, making them more accessible. As more companies began making mattresses, buying a mattress became much more about comfort and preference, which remains the case today. The innerspring mattress was the first modern mattress type and replaced those stuffed with hay, wool, down and other materials. It was invented by Berliner Heinrich Westphal in the early s. He used metal coils, originally designed for the seats of horse-drawn carriages, to make a new kind of mattress.
It provided sleepers with a firm, springy sleep surface that was supportive and could withstand compression. They remain popular today, though they face increasing competition from other mattress types. General construction remains the same, but innerspring mattresses have evolved over the years. Current innerspring mattresses vary in coil type and comfort laye r material.
No longer did royalty or the wealthy receive visitors in their bedroom, and it was no longer typical to have servants sleeping on the bedroom floor.
This is a typical middle-class colonial bedroom. The heavy curtains of earlier centuries faded away, although four-poster beds were still very popular. By the late s, however, the posts were typically much smaller, and headboards and footboards also shrunk accordingly. One striking advance to the bed during this time was the invention of metal bedsprings to support the mattress, instead of ropes or wool straps.
While these gave more support and stability to the mattress, they were also annoyingly squeaky. This Victorian-era bedroom shows off the fussy style typical of the period. The 20th century was a busy time for bed innovations: the Murphy bed and the waterbed were both invented and rose in popularity during this era. This ushered in the use of box-spring platforms to hold the mattress, creating a far more comfortable and supportive bed than those used in earlier times.
By the s, mattresses and pillows were often made of foam instead of cotton or wool. Tempur-Pedic sold the first memory foam mattress in the U. Memory foam mattresses have high rates of customer satisfaction. The picture here shows a typical middle-class s bedroom. Today, you have more choices than ever before when it comes to your mattress and style of bed.
Innerspring, memory foam , hybrids , latex , and air are just some of the mattress types available. While platform beds and four-posters are still very popular styles, there are many other types of bed: wrought iron, sleigh, bunk, loft, and futon, to name a few.
The bed has come a long way since the earliest grass-lined pits, but the basic concept is unchanged: a comfortable, safe and cozy spot to sleep and restore your energies through the night.
Owen, James. National Geographic, Consumer Reports. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. From Neolithic times people used stones covered with grass, straw, and animal skin to sleep on. The idea of using stuffing inside mattresses evolved around 3, BC. Goat skins filled with water were used in Persia for bedding purposes.
People in Egypt took a course to palm leaves and branches for filling their mattresses. It later saw many changes through time including throughout the Dark Ages. During Renaissance of 15 century, the present form of mattresses was introduced where long thin sacks or pouches stuffed with cotton, feather, leaves were created. Material like silk and velvet was used as the coverings and the items were quite luxurious. The use of wooden platforms resembling beds came into existence in the 16th century.
The soft stuffing was used inside the mattresses used during this time. Latex rubber mattresses were the most expensive type of mattresses that came into the market in This time also witnessed the use of pocket and innerspring mattresses. Finally, the latest mattress innovation occurred during the space race when NASA commissioned the design of an advanced support material for its astronauts.
During the s and s this material was repurposed as memory foam, marking the latest and greatest milestone in mattress history. Mattresses have a long and fascinating history that shows humans have spent millennia perfecting their beds and the way they sleep.
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