A magnificent 400-year old English oak Tester Bed now stands fully restored and perfectly installed in a humble Vancouver home – thanks to Ron Rygus! Purchased on a whim and unseen from an auction in Victoria, the bed arrived in seven pieces and in poor condition (dry rot, worm holes and distorted timbers). Also, turned out that the mattress had been cut-down and the corners removed to fit the bed and, even worse, the beautiful but very fragile wooden canopy was too large to fit up the stairs leading into the bedroom. Three professional restorers declined to assist and I was resigned to live with the unassembled pieces as a perpetual reminder of a stupid mistake.
Bringing in Ron and his team was the saving grace; not only did he accept the task at a fair rate but encouraged me that the restoration would be more than worth the effort. Each of the complex challenges (disassembling and stabilizing the canopy, lengthening the stretchers, sympathetically modifying the frame to accommodate a queen-sized mattress without impinging on the original woodwork, transporting the canopy into the bedroom in pieces, reassembly etc etc) were overcome in carefully managed stages and – yes – the finished bed is worth far, far more than the effort! Thanks to Ron’s exceptional craftmanship, experience and enthusiasm for his calling, the rare historical bed is resurrected and returned to its original use. Sleep tight…
Dr. Robert Elner
