About Us - Custom Beds & Furniture

You may not know the Stephen Plaud name but you’ve probably seen our beds. For over 30 years we’ve been producing custom beds for Architects, Decorators and Interior Designers.

We’ve sold almost 10,000 beds across the country, shipping to every state in the union. We believe the reason we’ve been the ‘bed-maker of choice’ for so many is because we will make any style four poster bed – from museum-level antique reproductions to contemporary designs with a myriad of custom options in-between.

Our Heirloom Guarantee offers a 100% Guarantee on the craftsmanship for any standard or custom built bed we produce.Our beds are built to last – if we could, we’d guarantee our beds for 200 years.

At Stephen Plaud, we are all about “Custom.”  We offer Unlimited Options on our beds.   Because our master craftsmen make each bed to order, we can change any element on any bed in our line beyond the wood, size and finish.

You can customize any or all of the following:

• Post Height
• Sleeping Height – If you have an extra thick mattress, you don’t have to have the bed higher than desired.
• Headboard – Like one on another bed better? No problem
• Rails – if you want the rails to show, we have many exquisite options
• Finials – We have a wide selection but we can craft anything
• Canopies and Valances – from Quarter Testers to Full Architectural Valances and everything in between
• Eliminate or add a Footboard
• Eliminate the posts at the foot of the bed– sometimes the foot posts are not desirable
• Accommodate non-standard mattresses – length or width

We can even create an entirely new bed and complimentary custom pieces of your own design. Just ask

In our workshop, we combine the advantages of computer-driven precision with the hand skills of dedicated master craftsmen.  The crisp, delicate hand carved details you see are the result of using finely honed knives, chisels and gouges and years of training. The gentle or intricate curves feel smooth because of our wood-turners’ lathe expertise.

We can duplicate any type of post as well as add custom hand-carved details. Bring us a picture or drawing of the design you wish to incorporate into the final piece. We welcome the opportunity to create an original one-of-a-kind bed for your client.

Our fine custom beds and furniture starts with the best wood and materials available. Our products are all sourced and made in the USA! We source only from mature trees grown in managed forests. The hardwoods are carefully sawn to produce the prized wider and thicker fine furniture-grade lumber. Each piece is evaluated for strength, color and grain matching and properly seasoned so it will work in all types of climates.

We work primarily in Maple, Tiger Maple (also known as Curly Maple), Mahogany, Cherry, Walnut, Oak, Ash and Poplar. We will procure exotic and unusual domestic or foreign woods by request.

We use only top quality hardware for our bolts, bed wrenches, brackets and bolt-covers. We have these custom-made for us to match our exacting requirements.

We embrace the high standards set by craftsmen who gave New England its reputation for fine furniture making. So the parts you don’t see on our beds are as high quality as the parts you do.

We use only time-proven methods such as true hand-fitted mortise & tenon joinery to give our beds structural strength. This type of joinery creates tremendous stability not found in assembly line beds with less exacting standards.  Poorly done or worn out joinery is the major cause of squeaking.

Our beds don’t squeak because of our hidden eight-way through-bolting system whereby the posts are bolted to the rails. (You don’t see the bolts because they are hidden behind attractive bolt-covers made especially for us.) Plus, our traditional approach to construction allows for seasonal wood movement that always occurs with temperature and humidity fluctuations.

Finally, we provide special tools so that it only takes two people about 15 minutes to assemble one of our beds.

Our highly skilled artisans build each finish layer by layer. Be it a traditional or contemporary look, We offer a silky-smooth finish or hand-planed texture, two levels of distressing (gentle or generous) and any combination of oils, sealers, stains, paints, glazes, varnishes, waxes or lacquers.  Our color options include standard paints, stains and glazes or custom matched colors to achieve just the right look.