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Obamas Buy Antique Bed from Local Store Owner
By Jenna Gaillard - Published in Westport News
jgaillard@bcnnevy.com
Jeff Jenkins, the owner of Leonards New England, received the call of a lifetime last Thursday when Obama decorator Michael Smith phoned him to finalize the purchase of an antique king-size bed for the White House.
“We’re proud of the fact that one of our beds is going to the White House,” said Patty Jaumin, store manager of Leonards New England in Westport. “We’re thrilled.”
The antique bed acquired by Smith was delivered last Friday and was purchased from the Leonards New England store in Seekonk Mass. According to Jaumin, the Leonards New England store in Westport has beds similar to the one Smith purchased for the Obamas in their inventory. Jaumin said she couldn’t reveal how much the bed cost and she doesn’t know where it will go in the White House or who it’s for.
According to a press release, the American antique tall post bed was “adapted to king-size from bedposts that were fashioned from tiger maple in New Jersey or Pennsylvania in the early 19th century,” All bf the work done on the bed was completed in a workshop in Massachusetts. That work done included making the bed wider and longer, as well as creating a new headboard and new side rails. Now, according to Jaumin, the bed is a “standard king-size bed.”
“We’re known for a variety of antiques and specifically our beds and our full line of reproduction furniture,” said Jaumin.
According to the store’s catalog, it’s also known for its ability to “customize pre-1850 antique beds., making them comfortable for modern-day use.” In order to transforn1 a bed, the firm’s craftsmen “take the side rails with peg or rope holes and refit them as cross rails, running east and west,” and try to save as much of the old bed as possible. Finally, a headboard is created using ,wood that matches the posts.
“We have skilled craftsmen who make the reproduction beds and resize the ,antique beds,” said Jaumin.
Leonards New England has been around for 75 years. Soon after the store’s opening in 1933, it gained a reputation as a workshop that could restore different types of antique furniture and resize beds. The store first opened in seekonk. In 1990, Jenkins opened a second store in Westport.
According to Jaumin, Leonards New England has had some famous clients purchase items through a decorator from the store, including Steven Spielberg, Julia Roberts and Bill Cosby.
Leonards New England is located at 1026 Post Road E. in Westport.
A Fine American, White House-Bound
“We know it’s going into the private residence of the White House,” said Jeff Jenkins, owner of Leonards New England, a 75-year-old antique furniture business. He was referring to the king-size four-poster bed made from tiger’s eye maple that he delivered to a warehouse in Maryland last week. Leonards, which has stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts, sells American antique beds, along with reproductions and “adaptations” like this one, above, which was created from early-19th-century bedposts, left.
Mr. Jenkins reported that the bed was ordered by Michael Smith, the decorator hired by the Obamas to put their mark on the president’s house. “He asked for something light — casual but sophisticated,” Mr. Jenkins said. “He said it’s for the residence at the White House, but he didn’t say specifically” if it was for the Obamas themselves. “I can’t speculate,” Mr. Jenkins added. “That wouldn’t be cool.” He did not disclose the price, but said his beds range from $1,000 to $10,000.
After examining an image of the bed, above, that Mr. Jenkins sent, Leslie Keno, director of the American Furniture and Decorative Arts Department at Sotheby’s, noted that “it’s hard to appraise just from a picture,” but added, “It’s a Pennsylvania-style bed, so I’m really excited to see that the Obamas appreciate American craftsmanship.”
Mr. Smith’s office would not confirm the bed’s purchase, and the White House did not respond to queries.
Leonards Goes to Washington
We had our share of excitement this week when California decorator Michael Smith called us on Thursday to finalize the purchase of a beautiful king sized 1820’s tall post tiger maple antique bed to be delivered to the White House Friday morning. This was not our first job with the famous designer, but it has been the most exciting. We are delighted to do our share for the new First Family and thought our other customers might enjoy knowing that the Obamas had joined their ranks!
Here are links to a piece from the Today Show about Michael Smith and this newest commission and our local news station, WJAR, covering our contribution to this national story.
We have many beautiful beds to grace your home and will be happy to find one that fits your needs just as well. Give us a call!
Resizing an Antique Bed
When you climb into an antique bed for the night, you wrap yourself in a bit of history. You imagine the many people it’s nurtured, the whispers it’s heard, the romance it’s seen. And you can’t help but imagine how much more comfortable you’d be if your feet weren’t colliding with the footboard, if your arm wasn’t dangling over the side.
So antique beds aren’t perfect. Sizes weren’t standardized until this century, and old beds - commonly three-quarter size - are usually too short or narrow for modern mattresses; they don’t take a box spring. And they’re usually a little rickety from decades of use. “A bed could have gone through five different lives before it comes to us,” says Jeff Jenkins. Nineteenth-century four-poster beds are our specialty and our staff resizes almost all of them to conform to modern standards, before putting them on the showroom floor. You can also bring your own bed to us for restoration. We work wonders with old wooden beds, making them wider and longer, turning three-quarter-size beds into doubles, doubles into queens, and joining twins to make a king.
This might sound like it contradicts what you’ve always heard about antiques - that you shouldn’t alter them in any way, that doing so will make their value plummet - but many experts agree that beds are an exception to that rule. This is because a bed, unlike a table or bureau, can’t be readily enjoyed without these changes. In fact, according to Bruce Newman, president of Newel Art Galleries, an antiques emporium in New York City with about two hundred and fifty beds in stock, resizing can even enhance the bed’s value. “A bed is a functional object, and if it’s not adapted, it can’t be used”. There are, of course, exceptions to the exception. Newman says any bed worth more than $15,000 or $20,000 probably shouldn’t be altered. At the other end of the spectrum, every flea-market bargain may not justify the effort (you should start with a good quality piece of furniture) or the expense (costs range from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the extent of the work).
Some designs lend themselves to resizing better than others. Wooden four-posters similar to the ones pictured on our website are particularly good candidates. Their most decorative elements are the turned posts, which needn’t be altered when enlarging the bed. The headboards are flat, not elaborately carved or embellished, making them easy to replace or extend. The side rails and cross rails were purely structural, not ornamental; the large evenly spaced holes you see were for the ropes that were woven between the rails, forming a support for a mattress of straw, horsehair, or feathers.
Beds with curved headboards or footboards (as on sleigh beds), curved moldings, or intricate carved work are more of a challenge, since it’s difficult to match these parts or make unobtrusive additions. But don’t lose heart; “never say never”, says Lois MacDonald, vice president of Sales and Marketing at Leonards, explaining that there may be elements from the footboard, for example, that can be taken and inserted on either side of the headboard. And with many beds it’s possible to eke out a few more inches, allowing a three-quarter-size bed to take a double mattress without making any significant structural changes.
There are several ways Leonards resizes beds, depending on the bed itself and the result the owner wants. Each piece is approached individually, but there are basic techniques that we follow. When you’re considering adapting an antique bed - or buying one in the first place - it’s useful to know today’s standard mattress sizes. A twin is 39 by 75 inches; double, or full, is 54 by 75 inches; queen is 60 by 80 inches; and king is 76 by 80 inches. Three-quarter-size mattresses, 48 by 75 inches, are still available, but not very popular today.
They were popular in the last century, though, and the conversion from a three-quarter-size bed to a double can be an easy one. In general, a mattress should fit within the side rails, but an alteration like this one, it can actually rest on top. If you measure from the outside of one of the side rails on a three-quarter bed across to the opposite rail, you’ll often gain the extra inches you need for the width of a double mattress; however, the bed is likely to be too short. To fix this, the length of the side rails is extended, a minor change: a new piece of wood is added at one end or in the center and stained to match. Then a wood lip is added inside the rails all the way around, just below the top; this supports a plywood platform flush with the tops of the rails. Now you can lay a double mattress on the plywood (but you can’t use a box spring). This is one of the least intrusive - and least expensive - ways to resize a bed, but it’s not perfect: the mattress may overhang the edge a bit - fine for a guest room, but maybe not for sleeping on every night.
For a queen- or king-size mattress, the work is more elaborate. When a bed is made larger, new pieces need to be added, which may also mean losing some of the old pieces, but it is a Jenkins’s philosophy to keep as much of the original wood as possible. And when adding new parts, we may actually use old wood, culled from our vast collection of antique bed parts. The beds are always reassembled using the original method of mortise and tenon joinery.
Pairs of twins can be transformed into a king-size bed. The technique is appropriate even for the most ornate beds, since you’re not adding new pieces, but make sure your twins look great when placed side by side. The beds’ design dictates how they will be joined, but the process often involves losing one of the headposts and footposts so that there aren’t two butting clumsily in the center of the new bed. And in most cases, the side rails will need to be replaced or extended.
When you’re looking for an old bed, antiques stores may not actually be your best sources. Many dealers don’t carry beds at all because they take up too much room and because the market for beds just isn’t as strong as for other furniture. In addition to specialty stores, estate sales and auctions are well worth combing for beds (and don’t forget to check relatives’ attics and basements). When you find one you love, you may pleasantly surprised by the price tag. Antique beds can even cost less than a good reproduction; they start at about $3,500 and many are less than $5,000.
And if you have it resized, it won’t just be more comfortable to stretch out in, but it will probably be sturdier, as well; during the restoration process, Leonards makes sure the piece is ready for several more generations of use. “A bed has to be sound. It can’t squeak or creak”, says Jenkins, who guarantees his beds for as long as you own them. “I figure that’s safe”, he says, “because they’re already been around for a couple hundred years.”
Originally published in Martha Stewart Living, October 1998.
Buyer’s Market!
Take this opportunity to shop for the upcoming holidays!
Buyers market…Take advantage of the current economic climate. I recently did. I just returned from a long buying trip. Take it from me, now is the time to buy. Values are better than I can ever remember. Visit us and see for yourself. - Jeff Jenkins, Owner
Stop in to view the latest English shipment that arrived in October. Brass bound camphor wood boxes, wooden bellows, carved Black Forest bears, brass and wooden barley twist candlesticks, unusual and decorative objects such as steel lock sets, grape hods, peat buckets, wine measures, coat racks, document boxes, globes, sets of English Mahogany dining chairs, farmhouse tables in Cherry, Mahogany bowfront chests are just a few of the treasures in our showrooms.
Please be sure to visit our website often for updated antique and reproduction merchandise and to learn about upcoming events.
Antique Cupboards & Wardrobes
We currently have some really outstanding cupboards and wardrobes here at Leonards New England. If you are considering adding to your collection, please check our website to see the wide array we have to offer, many of them at great prices just in time for the holidays!
Just a few are pictured here…
Welsh Dresser in Oak CA 1790-1810
Open shelving and a distinctive rich finish give this Welsh Dresser in Oak a great presence in the room. Ivory escutcheons are found on all of the drawer fronts.Round wooden pulls adorn the generous drawers. Three shelves allow for display of dishes, serving pieces. Originally priced at $18,500, this cupboard is offered at $14,500.
Stunning matched Yew Wood makes this tall French cupboard an impressive piece. This would work well in a large bedroom for storage of clothing or linens or perhaps to house a flat screen tv in your living or family room. Originally priced at $5,500, this wardrobe is offered at $3,850.
French Wardrobe in Yew Wood CA 1840
A handsome French Oak buffet - the upper section has a molded cornice above a decorative, carved frieze of fruit, floral bouquets, swags and tassels. Originally offered at $14,000, this buffet is offered at $8,400.