Five top tips for a most important decision
26/01/2012
The bed is a place where you spend over 3,000 hours of your life, making it one of the (if not the single) most important pieces of furniture in the home.
To help people make the right selection when upgrading their mattress, Ed Cumming of the Telegraph spent a day with David Villaverde, who is a furniture specialist at John Lewis on Oxford Street in central London. At the end of the trip, Cumming provided five top tips for choosing a new bed.
Villaverde told the Telegraph: “The first thing I tell people is to slow down.”
“Most want to get it over with in five minutes. It’s such an important item – you might as well take the time to get it right.”
This is the first piece of advice. Considering the amount of time you are about to spend sleeping on the bed, you should take time to ensure that the mattress you are choosing suits you. It certainly isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ kind of choice. Different mattresses have different qualities, and are more suited to some sleepers than others. You should consider you personal sleeping style, and spend time finding the right mattress for you.
The same applies to the investment. Mattresses usually last for a long time, and spending more money isn’t an act of over-indulgence. If you consider that a mattress could last you for ten years, then even an investment of £5,000 would work out at less than £1.50 a night.
Allergies are also something you should take into consideration. Asthmatics are particularly vulnerable to the dust mites living in mattresses, and there are many hypo-allergenic alternatives to the standard mattress. Asthma affects 5.4 million people in the UK, with 1.1 million children being treated for asthma. If you or a member of your family suffer from allergies or asthma, it is even more important to take time in finding the right choice.
The final two points are about how to enjoy your mattress. Taking your partner with you if you share a bed will ensure that both of you are pleased with the choice. Once you are home, spruce up the new purchase with pillows, toppers and sheets that will make a big difference.
Posted by Michael Ewing
