Since even before recorded history, people have gone to great effort to find or engineer a comfortable place to sleep. Evidence of rudimentary beds have been found from as long as 10,000 years ago. The Neolithic settlement at Skara Brae, off the coast of Scotland, has box beds that date to about 3,200 BC.

At about the same time in history, the ancient Egyptians developed beds that stood off the ground. These beds were elaborately decorated works of art as well as functional furniture. The odd, U-shaped headrest favored by the Pharaohs, though, appears awkward and uncomfortable to a modern audience. And while the Pharaohs enjoyed these comfortable pallets, common folk had to rely on piles of palm fronds on the floor.

Even the waterbed dates back into ancient times. About 3,600 years ago, ancient Persians slept on goatskins filled with water. In ancient Rome, falling asleep in a tub of water was also favored. The Romans also liked their beds to be beautiful, featuring decorations of precious metals. Their mattresses were stuffed with hay, reeds, feathers, or wool for luxury comfort.

By the 1600′s, mattresses stuffed with straw, feathers, or other readily available materials were suspended on a lattice of rope, approximating today’s springs. The actual coiled spring mattress arrived in 1865, adding yet another layer of comfort.

Today, the choices are almost limitless, from spring mattresses to water beds to air beds to adjustable mattresses that can be set to fit your exact needs. The idea of the bed as a work of art, though, hasn’t changed since ancient Egyptian times. Bed frames come in an infinite variety, from rustic to modern, giving consumers the option of not only precision comfort, but a bed that will express their personality in their bedroom decor.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 2:58 am and is filed under Furniture Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.