Need Suggestions on Buying a New Bed

I highly recommend Dubuque Mattress. They build on-site all the major brands and you can save lots of money. Tell them L. sent you!

Don not buy a Sleep Number bed! They are expensive, glorified air mattresses. We are not happy with ours.

On the recommendation of a friend, and after reading the reviews online, we bought the "bed in a box" NovaFoam mattress from Costco. It was $700 for the CalKing size. We have had it for 2 years, and it is fantastic! It's supportive, yet soft. It doesn't feel hot, like some memory foam mattresses can. Neither of us has any back pain anymore. I would really recommend it.

I would beware any kind of pillow top mattress. Before our current mattress, we owned a Serta pillow top. It was really expensive ($2K+, and that was 10 years ago!). Within 2 years, the pillow top had "troughs" in it, and within 4 years, we both had awful back pain. Even though there is a warranty on the mattress, it never includes the pillow top. So, if you can afford a new mattress every 2 years, go for it, but otherwise, I'd stay far away from a pillow top. We were disappointed with ours.

I worked for a furniture store a few years ago and sold mattresses. So that being said:

Memory foam does nothing for comfort --- it is so the mattress holds it's shape longer --- and it's HOT. So if you are planning to use this mattress while going through menapause beware because in the middleof the night you could wake up in the middle of a hotflash and want to open the windows when it's -20*.

All mattress are made firm -- it's the topping that makes it feel soft.

In most cases a plush top and pillow top are the same thing --- it's just that the pillow top is sewn on instead of covering the springs.

My mattress is a Simmons and I love it. I love the fact that my dogs ( I don't have a S/O) can move around and I can't feel a thing. You can litterly jump on one side of a Simmons and the person on the other side of the bed can't feel it. So it you or your hubby are a restless sleeper or easily wakened this might be the bed for you.

Make sure you get a new frame with a center support for a king or queen bed or the mattress and box spring will sag in the middle.

Don't get a sleep number. I hate mine.

We had terrible luck with a very expensive Sterns and Foster. Now we are sleeping on a Beauty Rest and it's great (and it cost about 15% less than the S and F!)

Plan on only using it for 10 years, so figure out how much you are willing to spend every 10 years on a bed.

We went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and basically laid on mattresses until we found one both of us could stand. What I like, he thinks is too soft, what he likes, I think is too hard. We were about to let the sales guy talk us into getting a mattress soft on one half and hard on the other, when we laid on their house brand, a pillow top, and both of us liked it. It is a double pillow top, so we can flip it, which I like. My daughter has a regular pillow top, and you can't flip it, so I'm afraid it will wear out quicker.

We have a regular mattress with a memory foam topper. This is fine for us and cost effective. If the foam wears out it can be replaced with less hassle and expense. My parents had a pillow top that became uncomfortable when it was wearing out.

Recommend the iComfort. Agree that most memory foam mattresses are TOO HOT! Not so with the iComfort ... The one we bought has cooling foam stuff in it that really keeps the bed cooler. DH and I have never slept better and I don't wake upnhurting every morning anymore.

We really like the Simmons BeautyRest. We also like Kingsdown. Both are on the softer side. My husband likes SUPER soft and our last bed was a Kingsdown and pricey. Our new bed is also Kingsdown but I convinced him to go firmer, and cheaper.

Beware Sleep Experts. They say they have a one year love your mattress guarantee. But if you read the fine print, you cannot meet the requirement. We had to throw away the mattress we bought from them after just a few months.
We also hated the Sleep Number bed. We had to pay $400 to return it.

Tempurpedic.

We just bought a new king size to coincide with our move - it's pricey, but not as pricey as the Sleep Number. We tried the Sleep Number and couldn't swallow the price. In the meantime we kept looking and found the Tempurpedic and found it to be more comfortable than anything.

We looked at Sleep Number b/c Mrs. likes it soft, and I prefer firm. The Tempurpedic took care of us both - nothing to plug in. But it is going to be twice or three times the cost of a regular spring mattress. But we've never slept better. :)