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Homeowners today would rather go for the contemporary look. The 20th century style is an amalgam of many different styles brought together by a single defining characteristic. A simple and clean design that can go well with most anything is the contemporary ideal. The discovery of different materials has defined the direction of furniture design. Striking colors and abstract forms are another staple of the contemporary look.
In the bedroom, a contemporary canopy bed is ideal for a minimalist interior. Wide spaces and white walls are the perfect background for a unique furniture accent such as a contemporary canopy bed. Interestingly, this bed also works well in small spaces. Aside from the desire to be modern and contemporaneous, a more practical reason to go contemporary is that it is conveniently affordable.
A canopy bed is a kind of four poster bed. It has a top frame and four corner posts. The bed, the beddings, and the canopy curtains complete the set of a contemporary canopy bed. The frame and posts are mostly made of hardwood. Sometimes they are made of iron, or steel. Sometimes you see beds that are a combination of all these materials. There have also been interesting explorations into wicker and bamboo. The canopy fabric in a contemporary canopy bed, as opposed to the heavily ornate traditional Victorian style, has the characteristics of lightness, softness, and sheerness. The ideal fabric for this is either silk, cotton, or polyester. Mosquito net fabrics are sometimes made out of sheer chiffon, tulle, or cheesecloth. The colors of the bed itself and its drapery could be selected according to preferences and to the overall interior design of the bedroom. Thus you could have a white canopy bed if you so choose. For variety, the fabric could also be printed, tie dyed, or in bright and striking colors.
Variations in modern design give us a contemporary canopy bed that is specifically designed for small spaces. Some are outfitted with trundle beds. Others have storage drawers at the space under the bed. There is a version for children, with appropriately scaled down measurements. For affordable alternatives, a DIY contemporary canopy bed is easy to make. This is done with steel rings or hoops placed on the ceiling over an ordinary bed, or with poles and rods that easily attach directly to the beds or to the wall, functioning as posts. Swathes of fabric are then draped over these DIY attachments.
The contemporary canopy bed has gone a long way away from its ornately decorated cousin, the traditional canopy bed. The history of this unique canopy design has gone full circle. We can trace it to its utilitarian origins before the 16th century, then to its development as a symbol of royalty and upper class opulence in Queen Victoria’s time, and see it here coming back to a functional simplicity borne of the contemporary aesthetic.
The traditional canopy bed, a design ancestor of the modern contemporary canopy bed, is still around today. As such, a conscientious home owner and decorator will be able to choose among these opposing designs for the best one for his home. He can decide whether he prefers the opulent to the functional, the historical to the modern, the grand and traditional to the simple, sleek, contemporary canopy bed.