First, I’ll echo what so many posters have said - THANK YOU for serving as such an incredible resource. I am by no means an expert yet, but feel much more informed about a potential mattress purchase having reviewed your site and these forums over the last few weeks.
Now we come to it - my wife and I need a new mattress and have been shopping here in Seattle, WA. We’ve visited two independent stores that came highly recommended, one of which is a member of this site (Bedrooms and More). The sales people and the environment at Bedrooms and More and the 6 Day Mattress Store were both great, with Bedrooms and More have a more knowledgeable staff and just having more people/options than the smaller 6 Day Mattress Store. My wife and I are trying to decide between a PLB Beautiful at one location and a 45 Street Bedding Woodlawn Extra Firm. My wife is a side sleeper and I’m a side/stomach sleeper, and we’re figuring that it is time for a major upgrade as our mattress is about 20 years old.
Now here is where my situation differs from many - my wife is 8 months pregnant with our second kid and wants to replace the bed before B2 arrives. I am a bit concerned that now isn’t the ideal time for her to be testing out mattresses as she is just generally uncomfortable, but I suppose anything that makes her comfortable now will probably be ok after the baby arrives. Is this a justified concern? I mean, it’s essentially that she’ll be losing significant weight in a very short period of time and that may affect her comfort (she’ll still be a side sleeper, always has been).
Putting off this purchase is not an option, so I’m just trying to make the best decision given these quirky circumstances. This is a significant investment so I am concerned that we’re not buying under typical conditions. In this case would it be better to buy a latex mattress from Costco or Ikea at 50% or less of the cost of these better mattresses and make a change at some point in the future?
I think that getting something with adjustable layers may make sense. That way if your wife’s comfort preferences changes dramatically for you wife in the next six months, you can change out a layer or two for her side only rather than need to get a new mattress.
This would certainly add some uncertainty to a mattress purchase it’s not really possible to quantify or predict how much of an effect the pregnancy may have on testing for her longer term needs and preferences or the effect of all the changes that will happen after the baby is born.
If I was in your shoes then the options you have available after a purchase (and after the baby is born) to fine tune, exchange, or even return the mattress based on her actual experience would be an important part of my personal value equation. If you are looking at an online purchase anyway I also agree with jankdc that a component mattress from one of the members here would make sense and could be a very good choice because you can re-arrange or exchange layers after a purchase to customize and change the mattress if it’s necessary and you can also have a split construction where each side of the mattress is customized for each of you. The tutorial post includes a list of the members here that sell mattresses online and many of these sell component latex mattresses with a wide range of designs, features, options, budget ranges and return or exchange policies that would be well worth considering and in most cases or for most people may be better “value” than a Costco purchase (you can see my thoughts about a Costco purchase in post #4 here).
Just to clarify … while Bedrooms and more is certainly one of the better options in the Seattle area, have some high quality mattresses (including 45th Street Bedding), and are on the Seattle list … they are not a member of the site (you can see the membership list here).