With the right mattress, you won’t have to choose sides. Discover unparalleled comfort after you’ve found your perfect fit with your perfect mattress. If you’re not sure which size is best for you, read on! Learn about sizes from twin xl to California King, and how to pair them with the perfect foundation or adjustable base. If you have trouble falling asleep, you're not alone. From neck pain to snoring, our Mattress Professionals have identified five of the most common sleep problems and their solutions. The right mattress calls for the right care. To assure your mattress stays protected, follow the mattress care instructions and keep these tips in mind. Sleep technology is constantly evolving. Our Mattress Professionals make it a priority to stay up-to-date on all the latest sleep innovations and products. See what's changed since your last mattress purchase. Shop all the top mattress brands from A-Z. And everything in between.For years, Consumer Reports – which recommends everything from what type of coffee you should drink to the safest cars – had made a conscious decision not to rate mattresses.
The non-profit firm said its just impossible to compare mattresses because retailers each have their own brand names so the ones at Sleepy’s can’t be compared to the ones sold at Bedding Barn. However, Consumer Reports did the next best thing, asking its readers to rate their mattresses. And loyal readers came to the rescue, with 17,000 responding in October’s issue. Based on the responses Consumer Reports rated 10 mattress and 14 stores. The $2,400 Tempur-pedic came on top with a reader score of 83 while Spring Air, selling for $1,100 came in 10th place with a 66 rating. Original Mattress, selling for $890, came in second with a 52 rating. The Original Mattress Factory came in as the best retailer with a score of 88, (my favorite company, Costco came in 2nd) and at the end of the line was Sleepy’s, the nation’s largest mattress retailer. Of course you won’t find this in The Courant because Sleepy’s is one of the largest advertisers at the oldest newspaper of continuous circulation in the nation, and we know how the new Courant management likes to protect its prime advertisers from unfavorable publicity.
JOHANNESBURG—Steinhoff International Holdings NV, Africa’s retailing giant but little-known outside the continent, has made its first foray into the U.S., agreeing to pay $2.4 billion for Sleepy’s owner Mattress Firm Holding Corp. Steinhoff, a family-owned furniture seller based outside Cape Town, South Africa, is called “Africa’s IKEA” for its home furnishing retail chains. Until recently, it had trained its sights on expansion in Europe, from Germany and Switzerland to Poland and Bulgaria, and Australasia. Alligator Takes a Stroll With a Fish in Its Mouth Drowning in Charging Cables? Trump, Without Evidence, Accuses Obama of Wiretapping Him An Architect's Personal Retreat on Puget Sound Land Rover Performs ‘The Hatch Trick’ After my post about mattress shopping the other day, Garrison contacted me. “My home just flooded and due to renters insurance I was thrown into the market for a new mattress,” he said.
“I called up my long-time best friend whose entire family is in the mattress business. I used his advice in my purchase and I’ve been completely satisfied.” Here’s what Garrison’s friend, Justin, had to say. I’ve written a lot here to help you buy a mattress. Once I started thinking about this, all sorts of information came back to me. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Make sure there is at least a 30-day trial period. This is a deal-breaker and you should absolutely not purchase a bed without this guaranty, no matter what else they are offering. Most beds take 4-6 weeks of sleep to really break in and feel how they are going to feel long-term. Don’t give up on a bed after a few bad nights right away. Your body will have to adjust to the new bed. You should only use a bed about 10 years. Don’t pay more for a bed just because it has a warranty longer than that. The one exception would be a Tempurpedic-brand bed. Those come with long warranties and should last longer than 10 years.
Remember that if you need to get rid of your old bed, a lot of places will do that for you if you have your new bed delivered.For a decent king size, you’ll spend anywhere from $1,200 to $4,000, depending on what you are willing to pay for. Realistically, I’d recommend closer to $2,000 than $1,000, especially for a king size. King sizes typically run about $300 higher than queens. Keep in mind that over 10 years a $2,000 bed is only like $15 per month, and you spend 1/3 of your life in bed, so it is probably the best “value” of anything you purchase. You get what you pay for when it comes to mattresses. Ask for a “low-profile” box spring. They will make the bed 6 inches lower to the ground than a regular box spring and should be the same price. You usually have to specifically request that sort of thing. You might have to wait a few extra days to get the bed then. Remember that you will need a new bed frame for a king size bed. A frame is going to run about $50 at the low end, to $100 at the high end.
I’ve never heard of a frame breaking, so I don’t know why you would need a high-end frame. The salespeople get bonus commissions on those though, so they will try to sell you one if they have them. They’re also going to try selling you a “mattress protector” or “mattress pad.” If it is a cushioned pad, then don’t bother; you are getting a new bed so why in the world would you need a pad for it, right? But, if it is a waterproof style that comes with a stain warranty for the bed, then it is worth thinking about. We used to sell mattress protectors that cost $80, and they had a 10-warranty that if the bed stained through the mattress protector, they would give you the purchase value of the bed so you could get a new one. The reason this is important is because if the bed gets stained or ripped, you will lose the 10-year warranty and will lose the 30/60/90 day trial period. They won’t take back a stained or ripped bed. Also, you can take the protectors off and wash them and they prevent mold from forming inside the bed and get keep the bed fresher overall.
They really are a good buy. Here are the brands to focus on: If you venture outside these brands, you are taking a chance. In my opinion these are the best four, and are considerably better than the alternatives. Serta is popular at the lower price points, but I don’t think they’re really worth their price, from a value perspective, especially at higher price ranges. Simmons and Sealy are better options at the upper ranges. The most important thing is that you lay on the bed for a couple minutes in the store the same way you would lay on it at home. If you don’t like it in the store, you won’t like it at home (you wouldn’t believe how many people think they will like a bed better at home even though they don’t like it in the store). If at least one of you spends a lot of time sleeping on your side, if you go with an innerspring mattress I recommend a Simmons Beautyrest. The coils are uniquely designed and are great for side-sleepers because they are “individual pocketed” rather than all connected together like on most beds.
Also, if either of you move around a lot and disturb the other person, the Simmons Beautyrest will cut down on that disturbance some. Second choice would be a a Sealy Posturepedic, which is what I have. It is a brand more designed for back-sleepers, but they make great beds. On the other hand, if you are willing to try something new, Tempurpedic or Stearns & Foster are great brands. They aren’t innerspring though. [Note: The author says that Stearns & Foster does offer innerspring mattresses now.] Tempurpedic is made from visco memory foam, and Stearns & Foster is made from latex foam; no springs in either one. People either love them or hate them. They are very unique. They are fairly firm, but I know plenty of people who prefer soft beds who absolutely love these even though they are firm. Plus, you won’t feel the other person moving around on the bed at all. The Tempurpedic is the bed that has the infomercials where a person jumps up and down on the bed and the glass of wine doesn’t spill that is sitting on the bed.
If either of you get hot during the night, then you will want “natural fibers,” like wool, silk, etc. Polyester is bad if you get hot. But, if you spend over a $1000, then all the beds at that price range are probably natural fibers. Dealing with a salesperson If the salesperson is any good, he will actually be your best resource. Mattress salespeople are pretty good at finding the best fit for customers — if you are willing to answer their questions. If you return the bed they lose the commission, so they do want to find the best fit for you. They might try getting you to spend some extra, but if you stay firm to your price max then they won’t push it because they are all so desperate right now that they won’t want to make you leave. The more information you give them, the more they’ll be able to help. The worst thing that can happen is that you spend a few extra bucks and get an even better bed. If the salesperson starts talking about “coil counts,” they either don’t know what they are doing or are just trying to sell you on the bed.
Coil counts don’t matter unless that is the only difference between two beds. The coil type and steel gauge are much more important. If you are looking at an innerspring mattress, ask whether the bed has any kind of “edge support.” The edge where you get out of bed is the first place that will break down, so the mattress should either have some type of heavier steel gauge for the coils or some sort of heavier foam around the edge. The salesperson might want to do a “comfort test” with you by laying you down on two or three beds as soon as you get in the door, and the price might be really high on those couple beds. Go ahead and do it. It is just going to help him and you narrow down the options by eliminating a bunch of beds based on their firmness/softness levels. Here’s some advice about specific stores: If a store is willing to negotiate mattress prices, then they are overpriced, so make sure you get them down a considerable amount. Mattress manufactures contractually set minimum prices that they allow retailers to sell their mattresses at, so they either have to price them at that minimum or overprice them and negotiate.