At no time since the days of the Renaissance has interest been so keen in interior decoration as it is at the present day, not only as regards the main living rooms of the home, but the sleeping apartments as well. This has resulted in a revival of old-time features, and the chamber fittings of the present in many cases are similar in type to those of early times, when purely classical designs were in vogue,--models that have never been surpassed in beauty by later designers, though many a fine piece of furniture has been made since then by expert cabinet-makers. Early specimens showed a delicacy of touch and a mastery of thought that gave to them a lasting place in the world of architecture, and while the coming historian may dilate upon twentieth-century models, he cannot make any comparison that will in any way be derogatory to these wonderfully fine old pieces. In early days, labor was a very different problem from what it is to-day, years being often spent in the making of a single specimen of furniture, and, indeed, in some countries, a workman has been known to have spent his whole life in the fashioning of a single piece. Taking these points into consideration, one cannot wonder that early century pieces are still as perfect as they were the day that they left the makers' hands, and it is with regret that he views the hurry and rush of modern times resulting in the practical abolition of hand carving, and the introduction of machinery that has helped in the deterioration of the art. Reproductions, as they are made to-day, while in many cases very beautiful, cannot equal in finish the originals fashioned at a time when art was the first consideration. Fortunately, many genuine antiques are still in existence, and present interest for the most part centers in their types and periods of manufacture. With so many periods and so many makers, it is not surprising that mistakes in these respects are sometimes made, especially as regards the bedstead. For the best of these, one need not search farther back than the seventeenth century, for the most valuable specimens were made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, many of these to-day bringing from two to three hundred dollars apiece. Of course, these fine beds were not the first beds used here, though no doubt the earlier types, as well as these later specimens, were imported from England, along with the other household furnishings. If any bedsteads were made here, they were undoubtedly simple and unpretentious, along the lines of the settle and board tables.