Over the years our workshop in Mid Wales has carved Viking thrones for weddings and storytellers, a three-seater Viking bench for Drayton Manor, and a Norse oak arbour for a Danish family in London. Every one of them started with someone saying “could you make…?”
So here's ours, the other way round: we'd love to make a Viking bed. A proper one — solid oak, hand-carved, built to be slept in for a lifetime and handed down. This post is our sketchbook of ideas, and an open invitation.
Where a Viking bed starts: the Flame Bed
The closest thing we make to a Viking bed today is our Wooden Flame Bed. Its uprights curve and twist like tendrils of fire, built from Welsh oak, ash, Douglas fir and beech, and it's made in every size from single to super king. It has the drama, the scale and the hand-shaped timber — add carved dragons, knotwork and runes, and it becomes a Viking bed.
Our Rustic Yew Oak Bed is another way in: driftwood posts from the Welsh coast with a carved yew headboard and tailboard — the raw, sea-worn character of a longhouse bed.
What we've already carved in the Viking style
Everything we'd put into a Viking bed, we've already cut into oak somewhere else.
The Norse garden arbour. Jens came to us from Denmark wanting something genuinely Norse for his London garden. The four oak posts carry Viking knotwork for their full height, the overhead beam runs a continuous braid, and crossed swords sit at the apex. Swap the swing seat for a mattress and you have a Viking four-poster bed.
The Viking Legend Bench Throne. Made for Drayton Manor, it seats three inside a carved frame nearly two metres tall, with gods and warriors emerging from the oak. That's the scale and story-telling a Viking headboard deserves.
The Viking thrones. Our Viking Norse Throne began life as a wedding throne. The Yggdrasil throne carries the Norse Tree of Life between twin dragon totems. And the throne we've just sent to Cornwall has four dragon heads, runes and the family name carved in the back — it now lives at a farmhouse kitchen table.
Six Viking bed ideas we'd love to make
1. The Longship Bed
A headboard that rises into a carved dragon prow, a footboard shaped as the stern, and side rails built up in overlapping planks like a clinker-built hull. You'd fall asleep on a ship.
2. The Yggdrasil Bed
The World Tree spread across the full width of the headboard, its branches reaching up and its roots running down the bed posts to the floor. Deer, eagle and serpent hidden in the carving for children to find.
3. The Knotwork Four-Poster
Four oak posts carved top to bottom in Viking knotwork, joined by a braided canopy beam — the arbour brought indoors. Finish the posts with dragon heads, crossed swords or ravens.
4. The Rune Bed
A band of runes along the footboard spelling your names, a wedding date or a family saying. Like the date carved under Eric's throne, it can be a secret only you know is there.
5. The Shield-Wall Headboard
A row of round carved shields across the headboard, each with its own knot or beast — one for each member of the family.
6. The Viking Flame Bed
Our Flame Bed as it is, with dragons carved rising out of the flames on the headboard posts. The quickest route to a Viking bed, built on a design we already know inside out.
Viking beds for children
A single Viking bed — a little longship or a dragon headboard — makes the kind of bedroom a child remembers forever. We've made storytelling chairs for hundreds of schools; a bed is the same magic, every night.
How a Viking bed is made
- Timber: solid oak, with ash, Douglas fir, beech, yew or Welsh driftwood where it suits the design.
- Sizes: single, double, king and super king — or built around an unusual mattress.
- Design: tell us your idea and we send a drawing for approval before anything is cut.
- Ordering: 50% deposit, built in our Mid Wales workshop, photos before dispatch, balance, then pallet delivery.
- Price: the Flame Bed starts at £2,070 for a single; a carved Viking bed is quoted from your drawing.
Let's make the first one
If you've ever wanted to sleep in a Viking bed, this is your chance to have one made — carved by hand, and designed around you. Get in touch with a sketch, a picture, or just an idea, and we'll draw it up. You can also browse our Viking furniture for more inspiration.
