Hello all!
My name is Brandon. I’m shopping for a new bed and am a little overwhelmed. I found this site and it’s been extremely helpful, and I’ve been doing research for a few weeks now, but thought I’d reach out for a few suggestions.
A little background: I’m about to get married (Oct 1) and need to upgrade my bed. I have a queen size now, but we want to move to a King. I’m a large dude (about 270 and 5’11, though I’m well on my way to getting smaller, targeting about 220). My bride to be is a lot smaller, at about 110, 5’9. She has never had a ‘nice’ bed, using hand me downs all her life. For the past 10 years, she’s been on an old no name inner spring with a lot of sag. It’s pretty soft. As for me, I got a waterbed when I was about 8 and used that until 18 years ago, when I got a sleep number bed. I’ve generally been happy with it until about 2 years ago. It’s worn out and I’m guessing the bladders are stretched and uneven now. I know the ‘pillow top’ is way past it’s expiration date. Recently, it’s been really bad. I’m not sleeping well at all, constantly tossing and turning and waking up with back pain. To be expected from a bed that old, I guess.
Most of those years, my sleep number was a 50-55, so I’m used to firm. But when it started getting uncomfortable, I tried many different numbers, as low as 30. 40 seems the most comfortable, but I think it may be too soft as I wake with back pain with it set that low.
As for what we want: I can’t stand memory foam, and neither can she. We both sleep hot and we both hate the ‘molassas’ feel of the slow rebound foam. I also don’t like any inner spring mattresses that I’ve had experiences with. They just don’t feel right to me. Now that I’m older, I don’t like water beds either (neither does she). I don’t like the idea of ‘hybrid’ beds with comfort layers over springs because I’ve had a lot of family members spend a LOT of money on them only to have them form impressions or sag after as little as a few months. We also want an adjustable frame (she likes to read/watch TV and get massaged. Go figure). That limits our options (as far as I can tell) to another air bed or latex.
We tried some air beds, but she isn’t crazy about them. The only ones she liked were very expensive, around $7k with an adjustable frame. That’s just too much for us. We might be able to swing $3-$4k, although less is definitely better. Since we have to pay for a wedding and a honeymoon, financing would be a HUGE bonus, but it seems that’s only available from the ‘big box’ places. Am I wrong about that?
Anyway, I’ve traveled extensively for most of my life and have slept in a ton of beds. The best bed I ever slept on was about 10 years ago in NY, at a boutique hotel where I stayed for 5 months (working remotely). I asked about it, and they told me it was a pure latex bed. They didn’t know what brand. It was heavenly, feeling ‘soft’ but plenty supportive. I didn’t feel like I was sinking down into it, but it had a very plush and cloudlike feel. It was easy to move on and easy to get out of.
The problem is that we’ve been unable to find much latex around here for her to try out. We live in Plano, TX, by the way The closest we came was a hybid bed described to us as inner spring with a thick latex top layer (this was the Lucille by S&F at Ashley Furniture). Immediately, she loved the feel of it, and I recognized it as well, although it wasn’t as good as I remembered from the pure latex bed from years ago. I chalk this up to being innerspring underneath. Also, I will not buy a S&F, ever. I’ll just leave it at that!
So. I THINK I might have it narrowed down to Arizona Premium Mattress Co or Sleep EZ. Both offer latex in king with adjustable bases for 3100-3500, but I do wish there was a way to finance. Also, obviously we can’t try it out. I remember loving the latex bed, but of course I don’t know anything about the firmness I was using, and she would be going in completely blind. She says she can sleep like a baby on literally anything, and that since she’s never had a ‘nice’ bed, she will be happy with whatever, but we are talking about spending 8 hours a night on it for the next ?? years. It’s not a decision I want to mess up.
If you’ve read this far, THANK YOU. I’m sorry for the novel-length post! If I’ve missed anything, or if anyone has any advice at all for me, I’d be extremely grateful. Should we be looking at something else? Our priorities in order are 1. comfort (along with proper support so we don’t wake with pain), 2. durability/longevity (no impressions, sagging, etc) and 3. cost (we can’t go over budget, if financing is available, we could pay a little more, but don’t want to start our life together under a pile of debt), Thank you again for taking the time!
Brandon