the french upholstered bed - your opinion please

In my barn, alongside a whole ton of stuff, I have a couple of French upholstered beds that I bought to renovate

 .... you know how it goes .... 

you see this great bed in a summer fair, give it the quick once over, check the joints, check for cracks in the wood, check the size ... then you say to yourself, " yeah, I can do that, easy... I've done it before, it will be a quick project".  Home comes the bed, into the barn,  "I'll do it in the winter when things are quieter"

But winter comes, and actually the barn is freezing cold, so the last thing you want to do is to renovate a bed out there.  So then you make space in the guest bedroom, and suddenly the project becomes urgent ...

And that my friends is where I am today, except that there are two beds, not one..... hmmm

My initial plan was to go for neutral colours, as I did for the bed that is in our guest cottage; you may remember that I showed how I reupholstered that one and took photos of it in the garden!

But as I have been surfing Pinterest this week searching for inspiration, there are other subtle colours for the textile and even gold leaf on the wood that are looking increasingly appealing.

So what do I do when I can't make my mind up?  Ask you for help of course!

What do you think of these ideas:

colourful and flowery, probably not what I would normally go for 

but I have to admit that the overall effect is rather pretty ...

gold on the frame, a more formal fabric for the upholstery, 

with a contrasting curtain hanging down behind ...

wow!  the whole treatment ... not sure I have the strength for this, and certainly 

not the patience to pile up all those pillows each morning, but it's an amusing idea to toy with ...

pretty, calm, elegant and my sort of colours ...

checks are very sweet against the frame outline

here is a more unstructured look, the padding has either been removed from this bed, or fabric has been attached over a caned frame - not totally convinced, but there is a definite charm, especially in this bright white, high-ceilinged setting

I have never slept with my head to a large window like this, I think I may feel back to front all night .... whatever .... the pale grey-blue treatment of the bed is quite calming

a spin off from this theme is tempting, especially as I know a dealer locally who has an old 'ciel-de-lit' frame just like this to hang over the bed...

So what do you think, jazz it up or keep it calm?

strip the wooden frame, or paint, or gold leaf?

one things for sure:  the next time I see an upholstered bed in a fair, I'll tell myself to

 hold back and wait for the caned variety ... just as pretty, but a lot less work!

thanks to pinterest for all pictures except for my one  of the bed in the garden