Reclaimed Slab Wood: A Bed To Really Help You Sleep At Night

Have Americans gotten over thinking that ‘bigger is better?’  Yes, we still like to put loud speakers in our big trucks from time to time, but we also keep a smart car in the shared garage beneath our townhouse, for days when our ankles just aren’t up for a cycling commute.  

The correlation between downsizing and eco-friendliness has resulted in smaller cars and houses, which often means smaller, simpler furniture.  The only problem is that we don’t have smaller sleeps.

Let’s face it.  Big beds are best.  Big, soft, and luxurious—but also level and firm.  I don’t speak for every adventurous soul out there, of course, but I personally like to know that when I roll over to whichever side seems more comfortable, I won’t end up on the floor.  As it happens, size matters when it comes to the furniture we spend a third of our lives on.

Reclaimed Is Refreshing

Something perhaps less seldom counted as criteria for being a quality shut-eye machine is the environmental sensibility of a bed’s construction.  

For whatever reasons, most people’s concern with the planet’s dwindling resources doesn’t extend to the support of their spinal column at night, and to be honest, I’m not surprised.  While the streamlined drawers and ultra-modern font of the Bedgami cardboard bed do pique a browser’s interest, it’s still not perhaps the first place I’d think of resting my head after a long day up and about.  At least sofas are decently upholstered.

This is where reclaimed slab wood comes in, and truthfully, it’s hard to find a problem with the size or the ingredients of a bed hewn from the entire trunk of a discarded tree.  Reclaimed Slab wood furniture is quickly moving from a passing fad into its rightful place as a staple in modern homes and businesses, and it’s easy to see why.  

Eco-friendly Feng Shui

Quiet, stately, and relaxed (without being solemn), a bed whose key component is unshapen, undivided, reclaimed elm, cherry, or walnut doesn’t just look great—it feels great.  

Taken from ditches and dumpsters, many of these slabs don’t make it into your living room without someone acting ecologically, either (or at least economically).  Furniture makers like myself, take wood left to rot, and apply our craft to perform a whole new way of ‘saving the trees.’

There’s just something magical about finding a tree that was doomed for the dumpster and turning it into a functional work of art. The bed above was built with solid wood slabs from a tree that used to live in Denver, CO until it blew down in a storm. Rather than being hauled off to the dumpster, it will live on as a unique solid wood platform bed.

About the Author

Paul Dumond is a friend of Platform Beds Online and is the owner/operator of Dumonds Furniture in Montana. Be sure to check out their awesome handcrafted furniture at Dumonds.com!