Adventures in mattress shopping

Over the weekend my husband and I went mattress shopping for our bed in the new house. Finally I get to go back to king-sized comfort, when I will be able to ask my husband to scootch over a couple of inches without feeling guilty. I had a couple of requirements for the new mattress – one, I wanted a king-size, preferably the good ol’ American king-size but I could accept the European king-size which is 17 cm smaller. Secondly, I really wanted to see if we could find the old standard in mattresses – with a box spring or something similar as support – instead of buying a mattress that goes on top of a flat board, like most mattresses around here seem to do. Now, it isn’t that our IKEA mattress has been uncomfortable, and I like our bed here because it has storage underneath, but I was brought up in a world that insisted that mattresses needed box springs to hold up. I guess I’m old fashioned that way.

Our plan was to go to a couple of places I had researched – one that had a brand of bed I had never heard of (Dux) but sounded promising, and another place that advertised Sealy and Serta mattresses. I knew that the Dux beds would be expensive, but very well made and supposedly unbelievably comfortable. We tried out three different beds in the store, and they all felt too soft to me, although I could also tell that the mattress was conforming to my body. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference between the bed that was supposed to be the softest (and cheapest), and the hardest (and most expensive). The harder bed had this crank system in the “box spring” part (I use quotes because it wasn’t a box spring in the usual sense of the word) that you could adjust for more or less firmness. Impressive, but the damn thing still felt too soft for me. Not to mention the bed moved in a similar fashion to that of a water bed. Honestly, if I want to feel like I’m drifting at sea when I’m sleeping I’ll go buy a water bed.

Needless to say, that although the presentation was good and the quality of the beds seemed high, I was not sold on the Dux bed. It was at that point that the salesman told us the price of the firmer bed – 8000 euros. Sheeeeeeeeeet. Was it hand stitched by angels with golden thread? Because at that price, it better damn sure have been. Now, my in-laws have a good deal of aplomb when faced with such ridiculous prices, they are high class people who are used to expensive things, and didn’t bat an eye. But not little ol’ low class me. I expect the damn thing to sprout wheels and drive me around town for that price.

In the end, I have to consider my standard for judging items that are well out of my price range. If it is something that I would buy if money was not an issue, then it is worth the extravagant price. If I wouldn’t buy it even if I had the money, then it isn’t worth the price. I don’t think I would buy a Dux bed even if I had oodles of money, but maybe I should go to one of those hotels that uses Dux beds and see for myself if it is really worth the price.

In the end, we bought a Serta, recommended by my parents, and nice and firm like I like it. And with that purchase, we are one step closer to moving into our new home.