French Corbeille Beds – Brackets & Cross Bars
This blog looks at how to fit a an adjustable bed base to an antique French Corbeille bed.
All our photos and beds below show our 188cm long adjustable bed base on beds measuring 140cm wide by aprox 190cm in length. Further details on this base can be found here.
French Corbeille beds usually have L-shaped metal brackets on the sides of the bed. These would have held a fixed width, divan type base in place originally.
In order to use the adjustable bed base you need to add cross bars.
Providing the original metal bracket is still screwed into the sides tightly, you can use it to support a wooden block and then add cross bars.
You can remove or ignore the metal brackets and just add wooden blocks to take the cross bars.
Sometimes the fixed cross bar spanning the curve is lower than it is possible to add a cross bar at the top of the bed. You must then add a second cross bar at the bottom as shown.
Consider the height you want your base to be, and choose the appropriate location for your cross bars.
We always advise you to add a ‘foot’ in the centre of the cross bar. Cut it slightly shorter to allow the cross bar to lean down onto it.
Once this is complete, the base will sit on the cross bars provided, either 2 or 3 cross bars, whichever you think is necessary.
The base will not sit squarely on a 4 ft 6 Corbeille bed due to the curve at the bottom, you will have a gap at the bottom, and a steadily decreasing one at the sides.
It will tend to look like the photo below.
Here are a few finished Corbeille bed examples.
If you have any questions about fitting a base to this type of bed or any other bed, please contact us.
