The Four Poster Bed.

Do you want one? Do you drool at the very thought of how utterly wonderful one of these big beds would look in your master bedroom? Lots of people love the very idea of sleeping in one of these.

Me? I'm not sure that I do. My one experience of trying to sleep under the fabric ceiling of the four poster bed that belonged to my second cousin, made me feel claustrophobic! And, for most of the night I had my eyes closed!
I now realize, that the fabric ceiling was only about four feet above me - lying down -and the four poster was situated in a regular height (8 foot) room.

Four poster beds need, in my opinion, ceiling heights of at least 12 feet.  That's when a four poster comes in handy (if you have attached bed curtains which close right round the bed) for keeping out those pesky draughts from less than perfectly insulated bedroom walls or are cursed with leaky windows.

Here are a few four poster beds that I find beautiful to behold, I'm just not sure that I would want to try to sleep in one.

This four poster is situated in a rarefied room - but just imagine how high that inner fabric ceiling is - it must be at least 8 feet high! Love it! Plenty of room to get my bearings should I half wake up in the middle of the night: I won't mistaken the fabric ceiling for the bed clothes and become so thoroughly confused as to which way is up and which down that I fall out of bed or something. Can't have that.

Lots of space in the room and under that fabric ceiling. The room's ceiling is the centre of interest here, therefore everything, including the bed which is the usual centre of attention, has been kept neutral in colour.

This four poster has the best remedy: no fabric ceiling at all. This is a remedy that  works for me. Now all I need is to find myself an apartment that has a ceiling height of at least 12 feet and then go shopping.

The House & Garden Book of Bedrooms and Bathrooms, 1995. by Leonie Highton. Photography by The Interior Archive, Mark Fiennes, and Simon Upton.