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My wife has fallen in love with the sleigh bed. Pretty much any time she sees one, whatever the material or configuration, she "oohs and ahs" and reminds me that she wants one.
Given that Stephen Plaud doesn't make them, what are we looking at? Councill makes a couple of pretty ones (here and here), but I'm thinking more along the lines of solid cherry. Any thoughts on Harden, or other sources?
Sleigh beds are the tricky wickets in the art of bedmaking, because to do them right they eat up LOTS of lumber, which makes the price high. Big lumber, too...not the 4/4 (7/8"s) stuff. Stephen Plaud makes them by quote, and they tend to run in the $ 8K or higher range as they're made of solids, not veneers - and of course done right.
The trouble with less expensive ones is they are made so poorly to keep the cost down. Laminates or plywoods, or engineered wood, and the rails sometimes have poor fastening systems. Granted, when they are done right, they are beautiful beds...bet I only get an order for one about every 5 years though because of the prices to do them right.
BTW, the Councill price is much less than the MSRP on the web site.
That helps me understand why the Thos. Moser sleigh bed seems (at least in my opinion) a bit lightweight as compared to most other sleigh beds. I can only imagine what they would charge for a bed made the Plaud way. ;)
Consistent with what you were saying, the Harden bed pictured above (with headboard and footboard, solid cherry) has an MSRP of about $9,300. As with any "name brand" piece, nobody sells for retail; typical discounts seem to be 30-40%, and my local dealer suggests waiting for Harden's biannual sales where they offer another 10% off (one's coming up in October).
Does Stephen Plaud have any pictures of sleigh beds he's made? (Ideally larger than his design-protecting thumbnail size, but even that would help.)
I've had a couple of Harden chests for about 20 years and have been happy with them. The quality of wood is getting worse with each passing year, so I don't known whether Harden is still decent or not.
A couple of thoughts about sleigh beds:
You'll need a lot more space for the length of the bed. I know that's obvious, but when you're in love it's easy to buy furniture that doesn't fit the room.
A tall footboard can make changing sheets a pain, especially if you're short and have a wide bed.