Beds and mattresses - where to start?

Adam · 21 May 2013 at 09:55

When I move my first purchase will be a new bed. Currently we have a metal frame from Bensons which has done the job but I have never been too impressed with this. It's screwed together firmly but still very creaky.

My mattress is a Rest Assured Appalachian 1000 Ortho Mattress, which has done the job well, but I can't help thinking there are more comfortable mattresses available.

We had a look at dreams the other day, just out of interest. It wound me up due to the pushy salesman more than anything, but also because there was so much choice and I didn't know where to begin. Looks like you can spend a lot of money, by the time you add a base, mattress and headboard you can easily spend £2000+.

We don't want a wooden bed (it won't match the fitted furniture) and my experience of metal beds leaves a lot to be desired so typically looking at divan beds with a couple of draws (no we won't be hiding kids in there for benefits purposes).

My budget is probably between £1000-2000 in total so I'd appreciate some guidance. Where do we start looking? There is a mattressman store nearby and I see their online arm gets glowing reviews so we'll take a look there. What kind of mattress materials and construction should I be going for? Anything else to be aware of?

krooton · 21 May 2013 at 10:47

You don't need to spend the earth (unless you are buying a super-king/queen as these bumps up costs disproportionately).

I'm rocking one of these in a double, got it for just over £400 on special. Easily the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in.

Russinating · 21 May 2013 at 23:44

www.factory-beds-direct.co.uk are excellent. Ignore the amateur website, they know about mattresses not design fortunately.

I was recommended them by other OcUKers when we needed two and they're amazing. Sleeping anywhere else now is a pain though. We went for the Origins Pocket 1500 (£465) for our room and Origins Comfort 1000 (£375) for the spare room. Both brilliant.

As for beds we just got two cheap ones from Tesco and Dreams, think it was £60 for the spare and £120 for ours, both simple metal frames but stylish and slatted bases, and neither are squeeky at all.

For generic advice, you want pocket springs minimum, more = firmer which may be good or bad depending on your weight and preferences. Plenty of advice on the above site too.

RedMogg · 24 May 2013 at 00:17

At your budget, take a look in Ikea - spend the majority on the mattress. Although beware of the European sizes. Love my pocket sprung & memory foam mattress (Sultan iirc) on the slate grey base. We also spent extra on the profiling slats (electric head and leg raise) as I have days where my back flares and I have to stay in bed - makes watching TV and eating a meal more comfortable.

manic_man · 24 May 2013 at 00:59

Do your browsing in the shops and then buy online.

We recently bought a real leather kingsize ottoman and a Silentnight Barcelona pocket/latex mattress and its a fantastic combo. Paid a little over £600 for the two from online stores, both were fantastic to deal with.

The same sort of bed from Dreams with their "exclusive" version of the same mattress was well over £2000.

We were shocked at how expensive highstreet bed and furniture shops are to be honest!

Vern1961 · 24 May 2013 at 03:55

We recently changed our bed and bought a superb one off Amazon for just over £400, including shipping.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bamboo-5ft-drawers-Memory-Pocket/dp/B003MHYWD4/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

(Hope it's okay to post the link).

Got good reviews including a five star one from me.

The mattress is memory foam but not like those cheapo replacement ones the newspaper online shops sell, which look like what you'd find in a flophouse or cheapo motel. It really is a superb bed - headboard you would need to buy seperately or reuse your old one.

memyselfandi · 24 May 2013 at 05:42

I would definitely say you should browse around a few stores to try lying on different mattresses as they are such a personal preference with all the variations on firmness, foam or not, etc.

Then save money by actually buying online.

gambitt · 28 Jun 2013 at 20:01

I thought I'd bump this instead of starting a new thread since someone already mentioned factory-beds-direct Origins beds. I like the idea of pocket sprung + latex layer so I'm contemplating whether to spend £700 on this:

http://www.factory-beds-direct.co.u...ttresses/origins-pocket-latex-1500-kingsize1/

or £230 on this:

http://www.hypnia.com/king-size/67-latex-king-size-pocket-sprung-mattress.html

I realise that when it comes to mattresses it's generally accepted that you get what you pay for, and given that latex is a very expensive product, I'm dubious about Hypnia's claim of having a 5cm latex layer. I've heard that some companies save money by only putting the latex in "zones" around the mattress and using a cheaper synthetic latex.

That being said, I'm not sure I can justify the £470 price difference. Will the Origins be that much better? I can't seem to find much in the way of reviews for Hypnia beds. Anyone have experience of their products?

HangTime · 29 Jun 2013 at 17:06

Not an expert so only advice I can give is make sure you don't buy a mattress that is too soft. Our main bed is fine but the cheaper bed we got for the spare room has a really spongey matress, it seemed fine lying on it in the shop but I certainly wouldn't want to sleep on it every night.

Obviously firmness is down to personal preference but even allowing for that I would say if in doubt, go slightly firmer.

Glaucus · 29 Jun 2013 at 17:48

Cheap frame
"Expensive" slats
Best quality mattress you can afford.

My cheap frame is still doing fine, but the slats where useless and even a fly landing on them turned them concave pointing down award instead of upwards. I spent some money and got some decent quality slats and they're great, shame I spent over a year with the crap slats and the mattress is lumpy because of that.

Iirc it was 63mm by 10 or 12mm cut to size for my cheap frame.
http://www.bedslats.co.uk/sprung-be...-slats/sprung-bed-slats-1220mm-63mm-12mm.html

I'm another vote for hard mattress.

But I can't iterate how important the slat mattress combo is. The farme is nothing get what ever you like the look off. It's the slats and mattress where you need money. Even the more expensive frames, seem to have cheap useless slats.