Flour Sack Bed.

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There was a time when sack cloth was a sign of penitence. But there’s nothing remotely punitive as far as I’m concerned about my latest makeover, quite the opposite in fact, and now I look forward to the end of the day when I can enjoy the comfort of it.

Sadly, a while ago, an American friend sold up and headed back to the USA and in consequence was trying to find homes for some of her larger pieces of furniture. I was only to happy to take her bed off her hands.

The old upholstery on her Louis XVI bed had a few large watermarks and we both agreed that it needed recovering, and I promised myself that I would do it when I could. It’s taken a while but finally during this years downtime from the tourist season I seized my chance.

Here it is in its original state, with its dark wood and faintly floral yellow cloth.And below with a the inner face of the foot of the bed half done and an ( unfinished) quick coat of Little Green Company “Slaked Lime Dark”.

I was really fortunate that the structure and basic padding underneath was in very good condition and only the top upholstery needed changing.

Choosing a hardwearing fabric was quite a problem because my black and linen toile curtains were difficult to coordinate with, but I love old grain sacks, so you can imagine how happy I was when I fell upon this old french black and natural flour-sack cloth, (even if “Husband Chez Nous” says it looks as if the bed has been run over by a tractor). Grain sack has too loose a weave, but flour sack is altogether softer and closer weft, which also means it isn’t scratchy when leaning against it. And that’s important considering how much I like to read in bed.

The greatest difficulty has been the thickness of the cloth, especially when it gathers up on the inward curves of the frame. But all things considered I’m pleased with the result.I was lucky to find a very good colour match for the edge detail to hide the tacks. I spent a while trying to find the french word for this kind of edging “ribbon”. “Double cord”, pronounced “doo- bluh cord”, who’d have thought!

Pleasant dreams everyone!

9 thoughts on “Flour Sack Bed.”

  1. I think you’ve done a very smart job of the bed rejuvenation. I have done quite a lot of this kind of thing myself, only with chairs, over the years, and it’s rather satisfying isn’t it. It has the added bonus of extending the life of furniture and recycling as well.
    This is only the second time I’ve looked at your blog, which I found recently, and I’m very much enjoying reading about your life in France.

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    • Thanks Jane. I’m always interested to see who finds my blog and where they’ve come from. I had a look at yours last week as I love gardening and garden design. It’s always really interesting to see the differences between countries. I meet a lot of Australians through my job, and they frequently complain about being unable to grow certain plants, and not being able to bake certain desserts due to climate, humidity and heat and so on.
      I’m sorry I don’t get to see your chairs! Thanks for reading.

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    • Thanks Catherine. Luckily this bed is long enough but I am considering recuperating just the head of another one for my daughter to fix to the wall with a standard footless bed base. I shall go to your blog and see what you’ve been up to. It is funny how blogs often end up on the same themes. I did one on Yart aux Pommes a while back and two of the other blogs I follow did exactly the same in the same day! Have a great weekend.

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