(no subject)

[reldnahkram]

I may have found an activity that I enjoy less than shoe shopping:

Mattress shopping.

Went to Sleepy's for about an hour, tried something like half the mattresses in the store, moved the giant sheep around (it was surprisingly heavy), got a 'sleep profile', etc. I found that I really couldn't tell much of a difference in terms of support, and that I found that the plush and/or pillow tops were too soft and floaty-feeling, while the ones that were too firm I felt like I was just lying on top of. And once the salesman mentioned something about the lower back, my lower back felt the same in every bed I tried.

Apparently my sleep style is 'tackle the pillow', or so the salesman called it.

Finally, the salesman asked what mattress I currently had. I told him it was an IBC Chiro-Support 400, and his eyes lit up. He said it used to sit in the back of the store and he would 'sell the snot out of it', something like two a day. They have two mattresses that have replaced it, one which is slightly softer and one which is slightly firmer. This, of course, helps me not a bit.

But now I will evaluate my current sleep patterns, and see what the mattress feels like without the pad, which I think adds a layer of fluff that may negate some of the 'too firm' factor. We'll see, but I don't do well with subjective, so this figures to be a somewhat harrowing process.

Comments

[uncleamos]

I would just buy a firm-ish one and slap an eggcrate on it, but that's me.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I had forgotten about the effect of egg crates and mattress pads while I was in the store. Must be marketing brainwashing trying to make me buy the more expensive pillowtops or Eurotops. But I really didn't like the feel of them.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

Yah. Or a nice (read, 8 inches thick, foam core) futon, and do the same thing. Good futons are quite comfortable, and at something like $200-$300, also much less expensive than most good mattresses.

[think-too-much.livejournal.com]

Mattress shopping took me about twenty minutes.

Less than the goddamn toothbrush holder is taking.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Isn't that what the cup is for?

[think-too-much.livejournal.com]

Having involved parents is both a blessing and a curse.

Heck, I'd be happy just using an old mug. Perhaps the "I Got Mugged By The Alumni Office" one we all got at Orientation.

But noooooooooo, we can't do something simple and economic.

/rant off, hopefully for good

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Compromise. Get a cup that matches the bathroom.

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Or, even better, an electric toothbrush that has to sit in its charger.

[uncleamos]

That's how I store my toothbrush.

Except for when I chuck it in a bag.

[indecisionwins.livejournal.com]

At least for price, I'd recommend the Mattress Factory (I think that's what it was called), on Baltimore Pike near Swarthmore, just past Target. I ended up with a really comfortable mattress, and even though it wasn't the cheapest mattress they sold (and they did have some that were cheaper than any others that I found that seemed decent), I realized that it was similar in price to the basic, cheap mattresses elsewhere, and was a lot more comfortable. (The brand is Eclipse, and it's a pillowtop mattress that's supposed to be doctor-recommended as really good for your back...) I know that it felt really comfortable as soon as I tried it out, and I think I've still been pretty happy with it. The only difficult part was that where it was perfect with nothing on it, I had trouble finding a mattress pad/cover that wouldn't make it too soft (or, if I used a cover that wasn't padded at all, not soft enough)--after buying and returning 3 different ones, I finally found a wool-filled one at Bed, Bath and Beyond that was perfect...but that was a bit of an ordeal to find...

I'm actually still trying to figure out exactly why it would have been so cheap, because it seems like a really high-end mattress, and if I remember right, it was $280 for the mattress and box spring, which is really fairly cheap. I did notice that a few weeks ago, it was starting to get kind of indented, which I guess makes sense since I think it has foam-covered springs, and I guess foam can do that...but they say to rotate it every 3 months for the first year, and I hadn't done that...and after I did, it seemed a lot better.

The other thing about the Mattress Factory was that they weren't necessarily the friendliest, or at least not after I came back a couple times, the last time a little while before they were closing for the night, and was still indecisive about whether I actually wanted to buy it now or not. (I mean, they weren't necessarily nasty, but...the guy was definitely frustrated that I was being so indecisive about it. And then he asked, "Well, if it's taking so long to make the decision here, how long did it take you to pick out the car?" To which I replied..."You don't want to know...." But yeah, by the time I finally bought it, I think he kind of wanted to just be finished with me...) So since price probably wouldn't be as big of an issue for you as it was for me, you could probably find something good at someplace that might be a little more friendly, even if they charge more. Still, I'm definitely happy with the mattress I got, and as far as I can tell, they're a LOT cheaper than other places for comparable mattresses...and they weren't that horrible to deal with--and you would probably be an easier customer for them than I was...so I'd recommend checking them out...

[orawnzva.livejournal.com]

If you're still looking, you may want to try IKEA. I say this just because I'm quite happy with my IKEA mattress, I have no idea how theirs compare to the rest of the market. But IKEA has mattresses, and they are not too expensive and do not suck.

[wayman.livejournal.com]

I went to a couple department stores at KoP, had reasonable help--just told them "I want a fairly firm queen-size mattress", they showed me about four Sealy/Serta models apiece, I bounced on them a bit, a few felt obviously inferior, and then I chose the slightly-nicer of the other two or three. Free delivery, maybe an hour of work between two stores, not a bad time investment for a ~$700 purchase that should last for a decade.

My first mattress was a twin from Sleepy's on Baltimore Pike, after visiting a couple mattress stores on the Pike, and getting much more of a "sales-pitch" help at those, which backed off once I emphasized that I mostly wanted (1) firm and (2) inexpensive. I wound up with a no-frills Sealy-or-Serta for, I think, just under $200, after a day of shopping because I didn't know what I was doing; it was perfectly reasonable for about six years (and still works fine as a guest mattress). I recall liking that search far less, though.

So I'd recommend going with the firmer once you've narrowed it down to a couple models (which it sounds like you've done) on the grounds that (1) it will probably get a little softer as it wears in and (2) it will be a little softer with a pad, but it's hard to make a mattress firmer.

My situation may be somewhat simplified because in both cases, my mattress sits directly on top of custom-built drawers, so solid plywood underneath rather than a box-spring. So I didn't have to consider anything but the mattress in my decision-making. And I highly recommend this sort of bed!

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

If you look back to my furniture post, you'll notice some large pieces. These are for a bed support system.