Machka 

All this talk about beds has got Rowan and I talking about a new mattress setup ... something that is a bit more comfortable than what we've currently got.

Artkansas 

We'll be interested to see what you come up with.

Artkansas 

This cold weather has me thinking that a cupboard bed similar to a traditional swedish cupboard bed would be a good idea. Much easier to keep warm.

gerv 

I'd be concerned about all the bad air in that "cupboard". (Wouldn't it be actually a closet...???)

Much better IMHO would be an airy bedroom with good down comforters on the bed.

Artkansas 

Well I thought closet too, but cupboard beds is where I found the most images. I don't see "bad air" as much of a problem unless you really have a gas issue. But I think it would be nice to have a little hideaway that is warmer and doesn't require warming up the whole room, or the whole house.

smasha

just wait until after your wife/girlfriend/partner goes to sleep. the bed will be plenty warm, then.

sometimes, i just don't understand how a guy like me could stay single for so long

I-Like-To-Bike

It can get toasty warm if the wife/girlfriend/partner doesn't go to sleep.

no motor?

Why did you switch to the memory foam after using the Sleep Number bed? The Sleep Number beds we looked at had memory foam (at least I think it was memory foam) on top of the air bladders, and are pretty comfortable.

LoriG

no motor, our sleep number bed was a basic model from about 12 years ago. It has a thin layer of some kind of foam on top. If it was memory foam, it was not of good quality as it didn't have much cushy feel left to it. We weren't that crazy about sleep number bed after all those years and have several friends who had bought and highly recommended the memory foam. I just looked at the bedinabox website the other day to get a bed for our grandson. They've got more variety of foam options now than 3 years ago when we bought ours. I know foam technology has come a long way in recent years. I can't say enough how much I love our bed. The price and quality is unbeatable, IMHO.

Machka 

We're going bed shopping today.

But in preparation for that, I asked my chiropractor what type of bed he might recommend, and he told me that beds are very personal. What works for one might not work for another.

However, he added that I should avoid memory foam. He's been a chiro for about 10 years, and said that the majority of complaints he has heard from his patients about beds (beds that give them aches and pains and bad night's sleeps) have been from people sleeping on memory foam.

LoriG

Machka, my reply to what your chiropractor said is that all memory foam is not created equal. I've laid on some that felt too squishy, not supportive enough. One reason why we ordered from that particular website is the 120 day guarantee. Our bed is firm but has enough give to be comfy.

zephyr

I have a full-sized pine wood (not particle board) platform bed frame that was shipped to me by UPS. The pieces of the wood frame bolt together in about 10 minutes. I bought a zippered futon cover, and then a piece of 3 inch thick latex extra firm foam as the base layer and 6" latex firm as the upper layer for this home made mattress. I put the latex foam layers inside the futon cover, and I have a very comfortable sleeping surface. A couple of times a year I can wash the futon cover to keep it nice and clean. I can open the futon cover and flip around the latex layers so that one side does not get worn out more than the other.

Latex foam is made from the natural latex rubber sap that comes from the tree grown in the tropics of southeast asia. It is not made from petroleum products like memory foam or most urethane foam. Latex foam does not "out gas" and is not a habitat for dust mites. There are not very many places that sell the bare latex foam pieces that are cut into the sizes that fit a futon cover so you can make your own mattress, but I found a store in San Francisco called foam order dot com. You need to try out the many choices in firmness before buying, but this is a very good way to set up a simple sleep surface for a home, cabin or RV.

wahoonc

Interesting, then you have the old Medieval canopy beds with the heavy drapes...

We keep the house on the cool side typically 62*-65*F at night during the winter, our bed has flannel sheets, blanket and down comforter. When sleeping by myself I sometimes get a bit cool, but when my bride is home, plenty warm.

Aaron

memebag

In my 20s (which was in the 80s), I got rid of my ancient mattress and box springs for a futon. It was cheap and seemed somehow more in touch with ... I dunno, I was in my 20s, so I was goofy. After 10 years of that I slept on a mattress and box springs in a hotel and realized the futons were lumpy and uncomfortable. So I moved to a top of the line king size mattress and realized the western world wasn't all bad.

Eventually that mattress got old, so my wife and I looked for a suitable replacement. We tried several traditional mattresses, but none of them felt very good. We tried some cheap memory foam mattresses, but they were massive failures. We kept looking at Tempurpedics, but the $3,000+ price seemed insane. Eventually we found a local hotel with Tempurpedics and spent a few nights there. That convinced us. It's the greatest bed I've ever slept in. It's crazy expensive, but every night when I lay down I'm glad we bought it. Nothing compares.

eofelis 

We have a very basic queen size mattress and box springs. Bought it about 10 years ago. We were poor students so I looked all over town for the cheapest set with a firm (no pillow top) and flippable mattress. It was about $300 for the set at Denver Mattress. I keep the mattress rotated regularly (spin in the spring and flip in the fall) and keep a mattress cover on it under the sheets. It is still holding up really well. No plans to replace it anytime soon.

Sixty Fiver

We have a comfy (really firm) queen sized Simmons mattress and box spring... despite only weighing 10-11 pounds each, the cat and the dog seem to be able to take up most of that space.



Add to that a heated mattress pad (for winter) and a down comforter and you have a very comfortable place to rest... the mattress pad is very efficient and can help reduce heating costs as you don't need to heat a whole room. The heat is also good for my back and is part of what I do daily to manage chronic pain.

locolobo13 

Twin bed, springs gave out yrs ago. So 3 plywood boards cut to fit the frame. Regular mattress on top. Every few yrs turn the boards over. Or replace as needed.

Jim from Boston

Same here. I had a fractured sacrum a couple years ago in a cycling accident and I soundly and comfortably sleep the entire night on regular box springs and mattress, my left side, with a pillow under my right arm and between my knees.

One peculiarity of my sleep environment is that I like a little background light on and a talk show on the radio. If it's too dark and quiet, the darkness is blinding and the silence is deafening. I like to rise early, about 4:00 AM, so these are clues to get me up. Fortunately my wife tolerates this, as long as the radio is quiet enough, and I turn it off when I leave and she can stay in bed until 7.

Artkansas 

I used to have something similar. The apartment complex security lights make sure there is a little background light. A lot really.

Instead of talk radio, I prepared a self-talk podcast for myself about 6 minutes long and written so it loops seamlessly. It contained philosophy, bits on how to improve my self-talk, perspectives to maintain etc. So the chatter has a teaching purpose.

At first it was on a wav file and played throughout the night by a laptop. This was good in the morning, because instead of waking up and having the default thought patterns come roaring in, it felt like someone was slowly waking me up with good thoughts and proper attitudes. I later switched to recording these talks onto a 90 minute cassette tape, so the talks were played for 45 minutes when falling asleep and the cassette player turned itself off automatically.

Roody

I switched to 12 hour midnight shifts a couple months ago. Since then I don't get much sleep at all. I get 6 or 7 hours on days before I have to work, sleeping from around 9 AM to 4 PM. But on my days off, I still can't fall asleep much before 9:00, then I set my alarm for 12:30 PM so I can get up and get things done. So four days a week I get only three or four hours of sleep. Not enough!

Machka 

We bought a European-style bed setup the day after my post above ... it's our Christmas pressie to each other. But now we wait. These beds are made here in Tasmania, so we have to wait till it is made, which should be sometime in early January.

Chuchi

I've been sleeping on a futon sofa which is very hard and uncomfortable. I had gotten a mattress from free cycle, but I threw it away because I kept getting the itches after sleeping in it. I've been dreaming about buying a bed, but I'm living in a tiny little efficiency right now and it would take up so much space, I might wait until I move into a bigger place. I have some of big fold able cushions that I bought thinking I could sleep on them. They are comfortable, but I get too hot sleeping on them. I would get an air mattress if I didn't have cats that would shred it. I've been thinking about getting something that would fold up, like on this website: https://www.tuftandneedle.com/bed/shikibuton.

Ekdog

Oh, dear! I hope your home isn't infested with bed bugs.

fietsbob

I got mine from someone else's Moving sale and have the down filled rectangular sleeping bag I got 30 years ago,
as a duvet, in a cover on top of the regular bed linnens ..

PJs mean the cool sheets are not against your bare skin, till you warm up, the space under the Duvet .

Chuchi

No, It may have been chiggers? I don't know, but fortunately not bed bugs. I will never get a mattress from freecycle again.