How Did Beds Evolve? Why Do We Say "Sleep Tight?" Do Bed Bugs Bite? And Other Fun Bed Facts!

Furniture World Magazine

The first beds we know of were very primitive and made during the Neolithic period more than 10,000 years ago. In 3400 BC, Egyptian pharaohs had raised beds or pallets. King Tutankahmen slept on a raised pallet made of ebony and gold while the commoners of Egypt slept on palm boughs piled in a comer of their homes. The Lap of Luxury Hardly surprising, the Romans of the early Roman Empire introduced the first luxury beds featuring mattresses stuffed with reeds, hay, wool or feathers. They also would recline extravagantly in a cradle of warm water until they became drowsy. Then they would be lifted onto an adjacent cradle with a mattress where they would be rocked to sleep. (Modern waterbeds were invented in the 1960s.) On His Throne King Louis XIV enjoyed staying in bed so much that he often held court in the royal bedroom. It is believed he owned 413 beds. "Sleep Tight" Renaissance mattresses were usually stuffed with straw or down. In the 16th and 17th centuries, mattresses were housed atop a lacework of rope. The ropes needed to be tightened regularly because they would grow slack with the weight of the sleepers. The expression "sleep tight" comes from tightening the ropes beneath the mattress with a bed key to increase support and comfort. During the Revolutionary War, bed slats started replacing ropes. Watch Out For The Bed Bugs! "Don't let the bed bugs bite" was a popular saying because mattresses often hid bugs that would bite due to the mattress's stuffing, which included things like corn husks and pea shucks that attracted bugs. It was not until the late l8th century when cast iron beds and cotton mattresses, which were not a fit home for bugs, were introduced. In 1865, the first coil spring mattress was introduced, getting rid of most of the bed bugs for good. The modem mattresses gained popularity in the 1930s. A Little Privacy Please! Dating back to the early 1700s, the first American bed was the pencil post bed, considered the most reproduced bed anywhere. The simplistic beds were functionally designed to hold bed hangings so sleepers could close themselves in for the night and keep out the cold, the bugs, and unwanted eyes. These beds also sat up higher to avoid drafts and stop animals from crawling into bed. Modern Beds What do the Murphy bed, futon and rubber mattresses all have in common? They were introduced in the United States before the 1950s.