Hey Phoenix,
Looking for a rather firm mattress, and was headed towards the Mattress Factory’s Barrington Foam and Latex mattress, but the wife is very hesitant as she is allergic to latex. What do you think of their Elegance series?
Hi darkarchon,
If her allergy is type IV it would likely be fine. If her allergy is Type I then I would certainly avoid all latex. There is more about latex allergies in post #2 here.
In terms of how suitable it may be for your body type and sleeping positions … I would make sure you do some careful testing of course (with both of you on the mattress) to make sure it’s a good match for you in terms of PPP and that you are OK with any motion transfer of an innerspring with helicals.
In terms of quality I would need to know the specifics of what was inside it (see this article) to make any meaningful comments about it because I don’t know the density of the foam they use but the cotton and the innerspring are both good quality components. Not surprisingly the price seems very reasonable as well.
Phoenix
I went into the showroom today with my pillows and tried the mattresses out.
I wound up with a King Premium Latex with a 24/28/24 construction. It will be delivered mid-week. i got the 5% discount from this site
Hi pony66,
It sounds like you made a great choice and I can always tell when someone has been doing some good research when they know to go into a showroom with their pillows!
Congratulations on your new mattress 
I’m looking forward to your feedback when you’ve had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.
Phoenix
Phoenix,
Wow excellent site, so much information! In fact so much, I feel my head is going to explode. I am going to try to visit a few of the places in the DFW area. For sure we plan on visiting Sleep Craft Mattress Company & the Mattress Factory. I feel this website is going to save me big money and much frustration.
Hi weakstick,
I’m glad you found us … and welcome
You’ve probably seen it already but just in case … I would make sure you’ve read the tutorial post here which has all the more important information about choosing a mattress that is “best for you” all in one place.
I’m looking forward to your feedback and finding out what you end up choosing.
Phoenix
I’m just reporting back from a couple of weeks ago!
We got the 24/28/24 latex mattress at the Mattress Factory, and we are very pleased. Finally I am not waking up with a sore back every day! We have been sleeping on it for a little over a week, and we have no regrets.
Peter was very helpful, and we did get the discounts (coupon and website). It’s kind of what I call a “Twilight Zone-ish” place in an OLD industrial area just southeast of downtown Fort Worth. No one shopping for a mattress would ever come across the store accidentally.
Thanks so much for the recommendation :).
Hi Haunted Mansion,
Thanks for the update and feedback … and congratulations on your new mattress
It sounds like you made a great choice and I’m glad the site could help you!
Phoenix
We got a custom mattress from The Mattress Factory. Firm and soft and the same time. We are very pleased with it and would recommend The Mattress Factory for your purchase.
We got a custom one. 6 inch of 36, 4 in of 28, with 2 in of 22 on top. I think Peter added some more in there somewhere as the mattress measures 14 inches over all.
Very comfeeee
Reb
Hi robertearl,
Congratulations on your new mattress as well
It sounds like you also made a great choice.
Phoenix
Wife and I prefer a firm mattress so we tried out the king floor model which Larry said was 36/36/36. It wasn’t as firm as I expected but we liked it. The firm innerspring bed was too soft. I hope we are pleased long term with the thickness and firmness we selected.
The mattress factory doesn’t take credit cards so I suppose I’ll use a cashiers check. Their online pay requests access to my checking account and I wasn’t keen to share that.
Hi Doug,
Congratulations on your new mattress
You are certainly making a firm choice by most people’s standards but of course you are also a big guy who prefers and likely needs firmer materials. I’m looking forward to your feedback when you’ve had the chance to sleep on it.
Phoenix
We have had the Mattress Factory bed a week now and I’m pretty happy with it. Even at 36/36/36 it still feels a little squishy to me but I have less pain when I wake up and I’m sleeping better. My wife absolutely loves it.
Just a couple of issues
• it sleeps pretty hot. It’s not unusual for me to wake up sweaty. This wasn’t really a problem with my innerspring.
• we bought a bed frame and before I did so, I asked Mr Duncan specifically about the strength of the frame. We were face to face so he knew I was a big guy and he assured me that it was the strongest angle iron, etc. Well, one of the support legs buckled and bent the third night. I wouldn’t really be upset except for the fact that we bought the frame for $80. If it was a freebie like retailers used to throw in it would just be a mild annoyance… Now I have it rigged on a short step while I look for a replacement.
Hi Doug,
Innersprings can be a little cooler than a foam support core but most of the temperature regulation of a mattress comes from the upper layers above the support core and there may also be some other things that are contributing to your sleeping temperature (including your mattress protector, sheets, and bedding). There is more in post #2 here about many of the variables that can affect the sleeping temperature of a mattress which may be helpful.
I’m not sure which frame this was or whether it was defective or just weak but I would certainly talk to them about this because a good quality bedframe certainly shouldn’t be breaking that quickly. There is more about steel bedframes including some links to some stronger heavy duty versions in post #10 here. There are some good heavy duty bedframes available for under $100 and for a little more you can find some that would be strong enough for any application.
Phoenix
I am so happy I found this site and this thread. We have been attempting to do research for months on which mattress to purchase and all the information I find seems so contradictory. I am going out today to visit a couple of the stores listed here and hopefully we will finally purchase our new mattress soon! Thank you Phoenix for all of the information you have provided!
Very happy to have found themattressunderground and particularly this forum thread; I have been researching this site diligently for a couple of weeks and my wife and I are headed to the Mattress Factory this week in our quest for a new latex mattresses.
Phoenix, thanks for the wealth of information you provide to consumers here and for all of your hard work and commitment to this site.
Hi GLT,
I’m glad you found us … and thanks for the kind words :).
I’m looking forward to your feedback after your visit.
Phoenix
I thought I would post an update after my visits to city mattress and the mattress factory.
We started at city mattress. The service was a little lacking. We were the only people in the showroom at the time. I believe it was the owner’s wife that was helping us. The latex mattress we tried out was only 1 layer and was very springy. If felt just like an innerspring. She was unable to tell us the firmness level of it. I did really like the feel of a memory foam that they had. She couldn’t give us much info on the layers though. Just that it had a layer of memory foam and a layer of gel on the foam base and it had the foam boxing on the edges. Her husband was close by and didn’t appear busy and didn’t bother jumping in to provide more info. This caused me to leave there without much interest.
We visited the mattress factory next. The available latex beds they had to try we’re firm/firm, firm/soft, med/med, and med/soft. We were told firm was 36, med was 28, and soft was 22. We were told those were the only levels available. I asked about customizing with other levels and he acted like it wasn’t available. We were quite happy with the firm/soft combo though and purchased it in king size. It is 6 inches of 36 with 2 inch of 22 on either side. I generally like a bit more on the softer side but my husband is bigger and needs more support. I think over time I will prefer the support of the firmer option also. I figure I can always add something on top if needed.
We were given the 5% MU discount along with the 100 online coupon. He gave us a deal on top of that also because we mentioned we had found another mattress that we were interested in that was significantly cheaper (the memory foam one at city mattress) and were trying to justify spending so much more. Even with the discounts the total ended up being at the very top of our budget. I expected it to be less. But we are hoping it will be more than worth it. I will try to remember to update once we are sleeping on it.
Thanks again Phoenix!
Hi njames,
Thanks for your feedback and for sharing your Dallas experiences.
That’s very true … and its always safer to go a little firmer and then add a topper if it’s necessary than to go too soft which is much more difficult to “fix” because it would involve removing and replacing the foam layers that were too soft.
Wow … it sounds like you did very well with all the stacked discounts and he must have been in a really mood to give you the extra discount when you mentioned the memory foam mattress since the mattress you purchased uses much higher quality materials and would normally be in a higher budget range than a memory foam mattress.
In any case it sounds like you made a great choice … and congratulations on your new mattress :).
I’m looking forward to your feedback once you’ve received it and have had the chance to sleep on it for a bit.
Phoenix
I’m so glad I found The Mattress Underground! Phoenix, thanks for providing such an informative site! I plan on going to The Mattress Factory tomorrow to check out their mattresses. Coincidentally I was at Sleep Craft yesterday due to a friend’s recommendation (prior to finding your site), but want to do some more comparison shopping.