I ended up recruiting my parents to accompany me to the Cape this past weekend. Rich wasn't going to be able to get down there at all either day and I needed assistance in moving mattresses so I could clean. There was a Mother's Day luncheon with Rich's mom on Sunday, and for Saturday, Rich needed to be at a community event his bank was sponsoring. Also, Allie was serving at the 4:00 mass Saturday afternoon. The good news was that the community event was a family one so the girls were able to go with Rich and help hand out granola bars.
A few weeks ago, after I had removed the old mattresses from the beds, I realized how much easier it would be to clean the floors without mattresses on the beds. Unfortunately, there was no (clean) place to store the new mattresses besides the beds so I vacuumed as best I could at the time. The wooden bed frames also needed a good scrub down. After I began working on Saturday, it became apparent that cleaning half of the room at time would be the easiest approach. There are three bedrooms in total. Two of the rooms have two twin beds each. Grammy helped me flip the mattresses from one of the beds onto the other bed in both of those bedrooms. The other bedroom has a full bed.
I have a thing for old houses and antique furniture so I was super excited when the sellers left a slew of antique-looking furniture in the cottage. I've been curious (or obsessed) as to the origins of the beds and this weekend, I finally found some clues.
I started cleaning this bedroom first. With the mattresses off, there are some sections of unfinished wood on the inside of the beds. It looks like either walnut or mahogany. There were some painted numbers also but they were nonsensical and I assume refer to a lot or some other type of identification. When I pulled the first bed away from the wall, I found this stamp on the backside of the headboard.
I've quickly researched Paine Furniture Company but I am unable to determine exactly when the beds were made. Paine opened a large store in Boston in 1872. Their Paine Furniture Company tags changed over the years and from what I've read, I believe this is the first type used. Best guesstimate is that these beds were made in the late 1800s/early 1900s.
Grammy was able to remove about two-thirds of the wallpaper. See how much darker the room looks. Paint!
The beds in the second bedroom are definitely newer.
This is what I found on the back of the headboard when I pulled the bed away from the wall to clean.
1870 must be a lot number. From my research, these beds are most likely from the 1950s, maybe the early '60s. Unlike the beds in the first bedroom, the wood used on these is lighter. I'm not going to paint any of the twin beds now. I wouldn't feel too bad painting these ones. Up close, they are sort of beat up in several areas. I'd say that the finish on the dark wood beds is in fair to good condition. I'm sure that all these years of humidity and salt air have contributed to the shape they're in now. The only thing I would do with those beds, and it definitely wouldn't be anytime soon, is strip the finish and put a new one on. I wouldn't paint over that beautiful dark wood though.
The master bedroom, the smallest bedroom in the cottage, has a "pineapple" bed, which has been painted white. You can see the dark wood through the paint though. I've been concentrating on cleaning the girls' rooms first so I haven't really had a chance to really check out the pineapple bed but if it looks like it's a dark wood, I'm tempted to strip the paint off. At some point.
We explored a bit before heading home. It was about to rain and very chilly, especially right on the beach, but that's all changed this week! What a difference a few days can make.
(Lobster BLT with sweet potato fries. Shared, because there's no way I would ever be able to eat all that.)
1 comment:
Wow! Those antique beds definitely are antique.
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