HOME & GARDEN
The inside story on beds

ARE YOU in the market
for a new mattress?

Although statistics about pur-
chasing patterns say we’re buying
beds more often (every 10.8
years), it isn’t often enough to
make the average consumer feel
entirely comfortable with the
bed-shopping experience.

People actually put off buying a
bed even when the bed they’re
sleeping on is giving them morn-
ing backaches and worse. There’s
a lot of confusion out there about
what to look For.

The uncertainty stems partly
from the wide array of models
and styles of bedding available
today, and the fact that it’s dif-
ficult to comparison-shop, since
ct

appearance. Better bedding will
feature extra layers of cushioning
materials, fine tailoring, and a
covering or ‘ticking’? of luxurious
fabric, such as damask. Its surface
will look and feel plush.

Some mattresses today, dubbed
pillow-tops, look as though a
comforter has been stitched to the
top for extra cushioning and com-
fort.

Lie down and try several sleep
seis in varying price ranges —
you'll begin to feel a difference.

Get the inside story

If you could peek inside an in-
Ner-spring mattress — the most
popular type — you'd find that
the support comes from tempered

44 Better bedding will feature extra
layers of cushioning materials (and)
Sine tailoring. 99

model names differ from store to
store.

But take heart, tossers and
turners — here’s all you need to
know to walk inte your local
bedding store with complete con-
fidence. Don’: be surprised if you
actually enjoy the experience.
After all, it is the only shopping
you can do lying down!

Think quality

Did you ever stop to consider
that you're going to be spending
more than three of the next 16

- years on your new bed?

That's why the old adage ‘‘buy
the best you can afford” is sound
advice for bed-shoppers.

Whether you opt for a tradi-
tional mattress and foundation
set, as most consumers do, or one
of several alternatives, the invest-
ment you make in quality work-
raanship and materials will pay
off in years of comfort and sup-
port,

What’s more, if you calculate
the cost of even the most expen-
sive bedding on the market today
over a projected useful lifespan of
10 years, youll find that proper
“‘equipment” for a great night’s
sleep costs less than a cup of cof-
fee a day!

How do you determine quality
in a mattress?

Price is one guideline — so is

steel coils, with layers of uphol-
stery insulating and cushioning
your body.

Using this basic concept,
State-of-the-art technology has
created a full range of comfort
choices.

Forget your old ideas about a
hard mattress being good for you.
Today*s quality, supportive mat-
tresses are actually quite soft and
comfortable, as you'll discover
during your shopping excursion.

Ask the salesperson about the
mattress’s construction. For best
quality, it should have more than
300 coils in a full-sized mattress
(more than 450 in king and 375 in
queen-size).

Coils aren’t the only considera-
tion, however, and a high coil-
count isn’t the only mark of a su-
perior product.

Wire gauge is important, too —
the Icwer the number, the more
durable the wire (13 is thicker
than 16). Look for a combination
of a top-quality inner-spring
system and superior upholstery
materials.

Don’t make the mistake of put-
ting a new mattress on your old
foundation. A mattress and foun-
dation are engineered to work
together as a sleep set.

The foundation, or boxspring,
acts like a large shock absorber,
taking a lot of the nightly wear
and tear, and contributes to the

bed's overall comfort and sup-
port,

Bedding alternatives

As inner-spring bedding has
changed and improved, so have
foam and flotation bedding.

Foam bed buyers will find a
wider choice of ‘‘feels’’ than ever,
thanks to the development of the
newer high-resilience
polyurethanes and_ better-quality
latex.

Foam mattresses can be made
of a solid core or of several layers
of different types of foam lam’‘-
nated together.

Be sure that the foam hes a
minimum density of two pounds
per cubic foot; in general, the
higher that number, the better the
foam.

Flotation lovers will discover
many options that probably didn’t
exist when they bought their first
waterbed.

The traditional ‘‘hardside’’
waterbed, with its vinyl mattress,
liner and heater, has been joined
by the newer ‘‘softside’’ styles,
which look like a conventional
mattress and boxspring.

Each style is available in dozens
of feels from ‘‘full motion’’ to
““waveless.’”

To ensure quality, look for
vinyl that is at feast 20 mm thick,
with durable seams.

While you’re exploring the
various alternatives, you may
want to look into air-supported
beds, electric adjustable beds or
Japanese-style futons, to find
what best suits your taste and
lifestyle.

A reliable store or company can
be your best source of informa-
tion on these and other specialty
sleep products.

Size wise

Gne of the biggest mistakes new
bed buyers make is investing in
too small a mattress. If someone
shares your bed, you'll need at
least a queen-size bed; consider a

king if you're tall or you like a.

little extra space.

Both are several inches wider
and longer than the standard
double or full-sized bed.

Remember that we all move
throughout the night (perhaps as
much as 40 to 60 times). A larger
bed ensures freedom of motion,
which is important to quality
sleep.

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