King Beds are Comfortable Upgrades
When a guest (or our family) stays in Savannah at the Broughton Street House, it’s definitely about what Savannah has to offer. The city is full of amazing things to see, and incredible food and entertainment options. But at the end of the day (and sometimes in the middle of the day) you really want a place to recover. Comfort really matters, and the right bed is essential for maximum enjoyment of Savannah and The Broughton Street House. A comfortable king bed is the answer.
Daniel O’Connor built the Broughton Street House in 1883
, and the previous owners furnished this home in period furniture that perfectly captures the luxury of Victorian-Era Savannah. However, in 1883 there was no such thing as a “king” bed as we know it today. There were ‘big” beds, but these were custom.
King Beds
The popularity of king and queen beds really didn’t take off in the US until after World War II. Even today, a king is a king only insomuch as you know what country you’re talking about:
150 cm × 200 cm (59 in × 79 in) in the UK.
165 cm × 203 cm (65 in × 80 in) in New Zealand.
183 cm × 203 cm (72 in × 80 in) in Australia.
193 cm × 202 cm (76 in × 80 in) in the US.
We find king beds to be essential and incredibly comfortable. When we bought The Broughton Street House all beds were queen
, for good reason. Large beds aren’t historically accurate , and king beds are harder to fit into rooms when every room has a fireplace! Despite these very good reasons, we’re upgrading our beds to a comfortable king wherever we have the option.The Broughton Street Carriage House gets a Comfortable King Bed
First up is the Carriage House. This structure is actually *not* historical, built in the 2000’s as an addition to the original structure of the Broughton Street House. If you check the history page, you’ll see there’s strong evidence that there was a prior structure in the back of the house, but it was removed in the 1970’s.
The original bed was a lovely bed.
The style is appropriate, it fits the room perfectly, but it’s not a comfortable king. The nightstands roughly matched the bed, and they definitely don’t fit once we got a nice comfortable king in there, so we had to change those, too.
We found the first king bed we wanted at Restoration Hardware in Atlanta, so we had to haul it to Savannah to get it to the Broughton Street House. We picked up a nightstand from a local place that resells vintage and antique items, and while I wasn’t super happy with it, it works for now. The other side we used a table from another room in the house. Overall, we had to change the look a little, but the comfort is outstanding!
I hope our guests appreciate a comfortable king bed as much as we do!
The Broughton Street House Master Bedroom gets a Comfortable King Bed
Later we found a great deal on a Pottery Barn king bed that we think is perfect for the master bedroom, bringing that same comfortable king experience to another room. Below is the original queen bed. Definitely a great bed! Just not quite a king.
This is the new bed set up at our primary home, making sure everything checked out before transport to the Broughton Street House:
And finally, placed in the master bedroom to welcome our next guests.
In the second photo you can see that the bed has 4 large storage drawers underneath (two on each side). Those will be very useful for extra pillows and blankets for our guests.
It’s unlikely we’ll be able to add king beds to the other two bedrooms. There really just isn’t enough space for the larger bed in those bedrooms, and both have work surfaces we value and wouldn’t want to give up.
The Carriage House Sleeper Sofa
While we were working on getting that new king for the master bedroom, we also got a review for the Carriage House that said the Queen Sleeper Sofa was uncomfortable because you could feel the bars. Comfort is a priority, and sleeper sofas are a real challenge – we want to provide the additional sleeping, but honestly, most adults don’t enjoy sleeping on them. Still, if we can do better, we want to do better, so:
5 inches of high-quality memory foam will increase the comfort and hopefully make this the best possible experience for our Broughton Street House guests that choose to use the sleeper sofas.