Making the Bed at Rouse Hill Estate
While Rouse Hill Estate is temporarily closed to visitors, we are busy behind the scenes inspecting, cleaning and caring for the collection. Recently, we removed the covers on the principal bed so that we could clean the frame below. This was also a good opportunity to peel back the bedding layer by layer and inspect the covers for dust and pests.
In contrast to Elizabeth Farm, where the main bed is a high quality replica with reproduction bedding to match, the bed and bedding at Rouse Hill are original. The four post bed dates to the 1820s , making it one of the oldest pieces of furniture in the house. The bed hanging dates from the late nineteenth century. The bed covers are more recent, and include a yellow and white acrylic wool bed cover. This layering of objects from different periods is typical of the collection kept in the house.
The removal and reinstatement of the bedcovers is a delicate operation. Each layer is carefully removed and laid flat, taking care around the fragile bed hangings. The bed frame is cleaned by directing dust into the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner with a soft paint brush. And the bed covers are gently lifted back into place once the cleaning has been done.
Published on
Related
![Jar of jam / preserve with spoon and rustic bread on wooden board in kitchen at Vaucluse House](https://images.mhnsw.au/fotoweb/embed/2024/08/e1b086dd096c4e4f918fadbe23e8f8e3.jpg)
History with flavour
Good food and generous hospitality were part of the rhythms of domestic life at Rouse Hill House. A collection of cookbooks and handwritten recipes accumulated over more than a hundred years remains in the house, and provides a taste of the family’s culinary repertoire through times of boom and bust
![Chenille curtain sunburst design](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2023/03/e026d1495be64c3a9c117d0cd340d156.jpg)
Furnishing textiles in Australia: 1850-1920
The Caroline Simpson Library holds numerous examples of textile furnishings provenanced to NSW homes dating back to the 1850s
![Tents in bush setting.](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/12/a4f709a1b4a2450b85d6242b628fb59b.jpg)
When masks were compulsory
When thinking about the impact of COVID-19, it’s timely to reflect on an earlier pandemic that affected every aspect of life, including at our places
![](https://images.slm.com.au/fotoweb/embed/2022/12/b2b4eca727ac4cba95553ca1bda827d9.jpg)
A Gothic Angel
In the drawing room at Rouse Hill your eye is instantly drawn to a small painting on the far wall; a figure of an angel in a shining gilt frame, acquired in the 1870s.