Wooden beds provide a different ambiance to a bedroom than other materials. The solidity of wood implies that the bed will not move, and the natural material gives a more organic feeling than upholstered or metal beds. Whether the wood is dark or light, highly finished or rustic, it brings just a hint of the outdoors with it. The same style of bed, say a head and foot board of a basic rectangle with spaced uprights, feels different if made from wood rather than metal. Such a brass bed may add sparkle and light to the room, the wood adds quiet luxury.

Wooden bed frames include the head and foot boards, which provide the legs that hold the whole bed up from the floor. The side rails should incorporate metal angle iron and solid metal hooks to attach them to the head and foot boards. Otherwise, the bed frame is a four sided metal angle-iron entity, to which the wooden head board, and wooden foot board, if there is one, are attached. The span of the side of the bed requires metal for long-term use.

The wooden head and foot boards can take many forms. Solid pieces of wood, carved or plain, make beautiful beds. An outward curl on the top of the vertical head and foot board make the bed a sleigh bed, although head and foot boards with just the slightest flair out from the vertical are also called sleigh beds. Wooden beds with vertical railings with the frame of the head and foot boards have a lighter effect in a room because they are not solid pieces. Canopy beds and four poster beds extend the wooden head and foot boards above the standard height to give vertical lift to the room and provide the romantic canopy or antique feel.

It is common to buy a wooden bed in suite with the dresser, chest of drawers and bed side tables. Many people consider this the only appropriate way to furnish a bed room. But, if you are more open to variation, or want your bed rooms to look less like a furniture store showroom, consider buying individual pieces. This way you can have pieces in several styles that you like without having to have a hotel. Matching bedroom sets are all well and good, but they tend to be boring. You have to liven up the room with the soft furnishings: curtains, bedspread, sheets. With more interesting furniture, the linens, coverlet and curtains can be basic colors and patterns and the room still looks good.

One of the best features of a wooden bed is the choices in color you have when originally purchased. Light, dark or in between, the wood color sets the tone for the room. Later, for a change of pace, you can refinish the wooden bed in a new shade. This is easier if you are going form a light tone to a darker tone, and you cannot get lighter than the intrinsic color of the wood without involving paint. But a change in the amount of red in the wood tone is an easy change. And if all else fails, you can pain the head board and foot board and let someone else worry about refinishing the bed later.

Given a little consideration and care, wooden beds will last not only your lifetime, but that of your hairs as well. Well made wooden beds will survive as well as brass beds, and better than upholstered head and foot boards. For that reason, buy one you really like, because you will have it forever.

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