BH | Studio Alnwick Spindle King Bed

Turned wood, rods shaped on the lathe into rows of beads and bobbins, is an old English craft, and turners were making bobbin-turned chairs and stools in seventeenth-century England. In America, once steam-powered lathes could turn long runs of beads cheaply from the 1840s, the spindle bed became so linked with Jenny Lind, the Swedish soprano whose 1850 American tour was a sensation, that the style still bears her name.

Sized for a standard king mattress, this frame is solid hardwood, with a wide headboard and a lower footboard each filled with a long run of beaded turned spindles between rounded posts. At king width the rhythm of the turning becomes the pattern of the whole wall. The headboard stands a little over 39 inches, comfortable for sitting up in bed with morning coffee. Wood slats support the mattress on their own, so no box spring is needed. Assembly is required.

It gives a large primary bedroom an heirloom feel without heaviness, since the open spindles let light and wall colour show through. Either finish looks striking in a white-walled farmhouse, a coastal cottage or a traditional bedroom with dark wood floors. Make the bed with layered white linen, a toile or floral quilt and a stack of square pillows, and flank it with mismatched painted nightstands and pleated lampshades. This listing is for the bed frame only; mattress and bedding are not included.