What's A Good Night's Sleep Worth?

Or how about 10 years of good night's sleep? I rarely came across posts on mattress in blogosphere. It's understandably so because in the decor world, mattress is relatively invisible compared to the lush bedsheets and pretty headboards in a bedroom. 

I recently went through a series of mattress shenanigans. It all began with our super comfy 12-year old mattress in our master bedroom starting to sag. Years ago we had the wits about picking a top-of-the-line model, and we had loved it ever since. Unfortunately in mattress world, manufacturers retire models faster than a chameleon changes colour. As you would expect, 12 years later our beloved mattress model was long gone. Here are a few things I learnt from my recent mattress buying experience:

• We are among those who claim they would prefer a "firm" mattress, while in reality it's the "support" that we are after. We just didn't know what we wanted. Two years ago we purchased a firmer eurotop mattress for one of our guest bedrooms. In my mind, firmness equals support which means less chance of sagging. We slept on the said mattress for a few nights and we both woke up miserable. Though supporting the pressure points throughout the body, the firmer mattress failed to hug our body contour and hence caused us shoulder pains. 
• A soft mattress can provide a lot of support. I want to feel weightless when I am in bed, so a good-quality eurotop or pillowtop would be my choice. 
• I am not a memory foam person, so I opted for a pocket coil type. The higher the pocket coil count, the more support you will get. 
• Temperature regulation: I love a cool and breathable mattress, so this was one of my selection criteria. 

After trying out many different options, we went with the Canadian made Kingsdown Duet Ireland, a 16-inch thick eurotop mattress with 2350 pocket coil - one of the highest counts in the marketplace today. Kingsdown is well known for its Palais Royale model which was unfortunately discontinued due to its price tag. The Duet Ireland is undoubtedly an investment piece, but it's well worth the splurge. When looking for a mattress replacement, you just need to ask yourself how much you are willing to pay for 10 years worth of restful sleeps. It's a no-brainer. Mattress is definitely not something you would want to thrift on.