apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Funny you should say that because I stayed at the Marroitt in Irvine for a business trip and wow! What an amazing bed. I was seriously thinking of stealing it. It just didn't quite fit in my luggage though.

the nasa foam mattress top is REALLY comfortable. it's both firm and soft because it's thick and molds to your body. you can get it on costco online.

add a memory foam topper to your firm...it will change your life. available at costco


I too have had a mind blowing bed experience... but I'm not sure if it was the mattress or having worked a 15 hour day that really made the stay fab.
PS the room service rocks too

The Cliffs Resort in Pismo Beach

http://www.snugfleece.com/

Sheep-wool mattress pad.

I bought one of these after I tried out one from my friend. Awesome - my whole body feels well-rested in the mornings. I spared no expense and got the "ORIGINAL" version.

Whenever I launder my sheets, I do fluff it up, rotate it, and let it "breathe" for awhile. I can't say enough about it. Cheaper than buying a new mattress.

On top of my firm mattress, I placed a mattress pad and then a memory foam pad on top of that. And soft, white or light-colored sheets of course.

When I went mattress shopping the last time, all the complaints I read about all the various brands combined were about the pillowtop. So I resolved not to buy a pillowtop and use the money I saved on a top rate mattress topper.

I use a combination down feather bed and memory foam topper. There's two inches of memory foam with another couple inches of down feathers above that. Super, super comfortable.

It's a bit pricey in my opinion but totally worth it: Wool mattress toppers. It'll last you a a very long time, probably longer than your mattress. It's a natural fiber that helps regulate your body temperature, esp if you're a hot sleeper and feels good in the summer and winter time.

http://www.cuddleewe.com/
http://www.whitelotus.net/ProductDetail-103.html
http://www.soaringheart.com/category.cfm?topCategory=naturalbeds&category=dSoaringHeartWoolTo

Check out the sleeper blog
for an interesting take on hotel beds.
http://thesleeper.typepad.com/sleeper/

When I bought my mattress a few years ago, the salesperson swore that the box spring is so important but so many of these great modern platform beds don't use the box spring. Does anyone have an opinon on this?

Gregory and I got the W Hotel mattress awhile back, and we've been been quite happy with it!

Cutiemcsquiggans, we do not use a box spring on our case study bed, and it's fine.

I have a mid grade futon I had purchased just over a decade ago and at the time, was super comfortable as futons go. Alternating layers of cotton batting and egg crate foam for a total of 5 layers (3 of the cotton, 2 of the foam) and the top layer on both sides was dacron batting that provided a softness to the surface but yet the cotton/foam provided a firm base and the foam kept the mattress from becoming harden when the cotton compacts down.

However, it needs to be restuffed and the company I bought it from appears to have gone out of business so that's out of the question and so now it compacts down a bit more than usual and I don't get it rotated often enough and am actually planning on getting the memory foam topper for it to extend it's life out 1-2 years.

I too had a mystery hotel mattress that gave me the best sleep of my life. At the Movie Colony Hotel in Palm Springs, (a small modernist boutique place) the beds, bedding and pillows are AMAZING. I know it's easy to get sucked into thinking EVERYTHINGS GREAT when you're on vaykay, but seriously.

We did the same thing, we pulled the thing apart to try and find a brand name, tag, or any info. Turns out, the actual mattress looked kind of old and common, and was very firm. There was then a very thick, fluffy, squishy quilted mattress topper strapped onto that, then an extremely lofty down-topped featherbed strapped onto THAT. So it was no particular brand name or fancy mattress. It was simply layered like crazy with softness.

The so-called Heavenly Bed at Westin Chicago River North was amazing. Strangely, the Heavenly Bed at the Michigan Ave Westin was not.

one word about memory foam.

Heat.

It retains body heat. So if you're a hot sleeper you'll need something in addition to or instead.

You can get memory foam toppers that have a layer of polyfill or down on tol of the memory foam, or as others have said, there are the wool toppers.

The mattress at the Dayton Marriott changed my whole outlook on life. No more middle-of-the-night anxiety, only soft, dreamless sleep. Yum.

I'm a Marriott Platinum Rewards member (122 nights last year) and I bought a.... WHotel bed and a Marriott down blanket.

This whole discussion reminds me of something I heard on KMDY (Comedy Radio in Thousand Oaks, years ago) that you could tell you were an adult when you looked forward to naps--as a kid you would fight with mom about taking your nap, but now you really want to sleep.

After I die, I just want to come back as a cat, so I can sleep 20 hours a day...like my two kids.