DulcineadT's Profile

I'm surprised that no one has commented on the mattress industry. Several years ago I read extensively about mattresses with the idea of replacing the mattress I had. I found out that this industry is full of hype and marketing. Identical mattresses made by the same company have different names depending on the store that sells them. This is designed to make it difficult/impossible to compare prices. The only way to know what you are talking about is to know spring wire thicknesses, coils per inch, and number of springs per unit area -- things even the salespeople won't know! I concluded that the best traditional bed to buy was the cheapest one that was comfortable for you, regardless of where you found it.

Other useful bits of info:
*no-turn mattresses are one name for mattresses that do not get turned over, but another name would be 'CAN'T TURN' because they truly only have one side. Other than that, they do not differ from regular mattresses that have to be turned.
*pillowtop mattresses are a very bad idea. The soft pillowy top is sewn to the mattress so, in a few years, when the memory foam flattens, you are left with a deflated top attached to still-good main mattress. FAR better to get a simple mattress and buy a *separate* mattress topper for it (and there's a lot of variety out there so you could swap off in different seasons: featherbed in winter, egg-crate foam in fall, synthetic down in summer).
*mattresses are home to several microscopic beasties that live off of our dead skin particles. Ewww, I know, but true. These are NOT bedbugs, by the way. These critters cannot survive in foam, but if the mattress only has some foam, they will be all right.
*firm mattresses are cheaper than softer ones at least as far as traditional mattresses are concerned.

Several moves later, I still haven't bought the mattress I decided on, but I am now in the market again. My preference is for ultra-firm mattresses -- only the floor is too firm -- and for a synthetic non-memory foam (sorry, but I don't like to be 'gripped' in my sleep, your preferences may differ). My decision is based on my reading and on my experiences of sleeping on a latex foam topper for several months. I ordered samples of foam from Foam Sweet Foam (http://www.foamsweetfoam.com/mattresses) and was impressed by their customer service as well as the ability to customize the mattress to my desired firmness level, even after purchasing. Queen-sized beds range from $1300 to $2200, so not cheap, but one other advantage of fully latex mattresses is that they last much longer than others, 20 years is the norm.

For those who need different firmnesses on each side of the bed, there are foam mattress companies out there that will custom-pour your mattress so each side is as firm or soft as you like.

fyi, here's a link to an interesting article documenting the marketing ploys and gimmicks that exist in this industry: http://www.slate.com/id/93956/pagenum/all/

Love the concrete wallpaper. So clever. But the books? Eh. (Really.)

At $150/square meter, though, I'm thinking I may have to resort to cheap(er) imitation and make my own: http://www.designyourwall.com or even poster it : http://posterazor.sourceforge.net or http://homokaasu.org/rasterbator