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Slug A Bed
We finally broke down and bought a new bed yesterday.
$2,000+ was too much for us to spend, so Teri came up with the idea of getting a really cheap pair of twin box springs and mattresses, putting them together on a king-size frame, and putting a thick latex mattress pad over the works. We figured that way we could get a decent king-sized bed for six or seven hundred dollars.
So we went to Building 19 to check out the prices on really cheap beds. But when we got there, I made a discovery. A king-size bed was on display, and when I lay down on it, to my surprise, it was foam! Thermal memory foam, in fact, and surprisingly comfortable in a firm sort of way. As I lay on it it slowly reacted to my body heat and sank down, making a very comfortable sort of nest.
Teri liked it too, so we chased down a salesguy to see if they had any left (and what the price was, of course). After a bit of time trying to catch Sebastian (he was having a ton of fun running around on top of the stacked rugs), we found a guy who could help us. There were three king-sized mattresses left. We could buy a full bed set, including two twin-sized box springs, a king-sized thermal foam mattress, and a steel frame for about $700.
Jackpot!
Those are normally $1800 - $2600 in the stores we've shopped at, which includes all the discount chains in our area. We hadn't planned on actually buying a bed that day, but the price was too good to resist.
I should mention that the mattresses were a little dirty on the edges; nothing that couldn't be cleaned with a damp sponge, though. And the fabric on the two box springs didn't match, exactly. But since Teri was going to get a box spring skirt, no one would ever see that.
The Building 19 guys tied all three pieces to the top of our car, and we took a scary ride home at a very slow pace. Then we faced a new challenge: getting the old queen mattress out of the house. Actually that turned out to be easier than I expected; since we didn't care if the mattress was destroyed, I just bent it in half (not hard - working out has definitely increased my strength) and shoved it down the staircase.
We had thought that bringing up the box springs would be easy, but instead it turned out to be a nightmare. These were the smallest standard box springs around, and yet they STILL didn't fit in the staircase! Teri and I went through hell getting those two pieces up the stairs. In each case we literally could hear the wooden parts of the box springs creaking and starting to break. Getting them up took more muscle power than I imagined, and although the mattress itself was bendable, it was actually a good bit heavier than the box springs.
Finally we got the whole thing into our bedroom and set up. In the process I discovered something sort of cool: the frame is made out of recycled train tracks. Sebastian found that interesting.
So how comfortable is it? Very! Of course it's wonderful having so much space - I used to alway be stuck on the edge of the bed, and now I can actually stretch out. Even if the mattress wasn't any more comfortable than our broken-down old queen-sized, the added size alone would be an improvement.
But the mattress itself is really comfortable to lie on; kind of like floating. I've never slept on a waterbed, so I can't compare it to that, but it was definitely more comfortable than any spring mattress I've slept on. (Of course a waterbed would crash right through our floor and land in the living room, so that wouldn't be an option anyway.)
Sebastian likes it both to jump and sleep on, and so do the cats. The one drawback, if you can call it that, is that the mattress seems to be a bit warm. Partly that may be due to the cocooning effect, but it could also be because it was really hot last night and Teri didn't want me to set up the air conditioner. Since the Saturday forecast says the temperature will be in the 90's, though, I set up the AC today.
I've heard that high temperatures can make thermal foam too soft, and cold temperatures can make it too hard, but since we have a furnace and air conditioning that shouldn't be an issue, I guess. If it is, you'll hear about it.
It's hard to judge the effect after such a short time, but I do feel more rested and definitely less sore.
Nice to have something work right for a change!
$2,000+ was too much for us to spend, so Teri came up with the idea of getting a really cheap pair of twin box springs and mattresses, putting them together on a king-size frame, and putting a thick latex mattress pad over the works. We figured that way we could get a decent king-sized bed for six or seven hundred dollars.
So we went to Building 19 to check out the prices on really cheap beds. But when we got there, I made a discovery. A king-size bed was on display, and when I lay down on it, to my surprise, it was foam! Thermal memory foam, in fact, and surprisingly comfortable in a firm sort of way. As I lay on it it slowly reacted to my body heat and sank down, making a very comfortable sort of nest.
Teri liked it too, so we chased down a salesguy to see if they had any left (and what the price was, of course). After a bit of time trying to catch Sebastian (he was having a ton of fun running around on top of the stacked rugs), we found a guy who could help us. There were three king-sized mattresses left. We could buy a full bed set, including two twin-sized box springs, a king-sized thermal foam mattress, and a steel frame for about $700.
Jackpot!
Those are normally $1800 - $2600 in the stores we've shopped at, which includes all the discount chains in our area. We hadn't planned on actually buying a bed that day, but the price was too good to resist.
I should mention that the mattresses were a little dirty on the edges; nothing that couldn't be cleaned with a damp sponge, though. And the fabric on the two box springs didn't match, exactly. But since Teri was going to get a box spring skirt, no one would ever see that.
The Building 19 guys tied all three pieces to the top of our car, and we took a scary ride home at a very slow pace. Then we faced a new challenge: getting the old queen mattress out of the house. Actually that turned out to be easier than I expected; since we didn't care if the mattress was destroyed, I just bent it in half (not hard - working out has definitely increased my strength) and shoved it down the staircase.
We had thought that bringing up the box springs would be easy, but instead it turned out to be a nightmare. These were the smallest standard box springs around, and yet they STILL didn't fit in the staircase! Teri and I went through hell getting those two pieces up the stairs. In each case we literally could hear the wooden parts of the box springs creaking and starting to break. Getting them up took more muscle power than I imagined, and although the mattress itself was bendable, it was actually a good bit heavier than the box springs.
Finally we got the whole thing into our bedroom and set up. In the process I discovered something sort of cool: the frame is made out of recycled train tracks. Sebastian found that interesting.
So how comfortable is it? Very! Of course it's wonderful having so much space - I used to alway be stuck on the edge of the bed, and now I can actually stretch out. Even if the mattress wasn't any more comfortable than our broken-down old queen-sized, the added size alone would be an improvement.
But the mattress itself is really comfortable to lie on; kind of like floating. I've never slept on a waterbed, so I can't compare it to that, but it was definitely more comfortable than any spring mattress I've slept on. (Of course a waterbed would crash right through our floor and land in the living room, so that wouldn't be an option anyway.)
Sebastian likes it both to jump and sleep on, and so do the cats. The one drawback, if you can call it that, is that the mattress seems to be a bit warm. Partly that may be due to the cocooning effect, but it could also be because it was really hot last night and Teri didn't want me to set up the air conditioner. Since the Saturday forecast says the temperature will be in the 90's, though, I set up the AC today.
I've heard that high temperatures can make thermal foam too soft, and cold temperatures can make it too hard, but since we have a furnace and air conditioning that shouldn't be an issue, I guess. If it is, you'll hear about it.
It's hard to judge the effect after such a short time, but I do feel more rested and definitely less sore.
Nice to have something work right for a change!