101–110 of 131 posts
> Additionally, American furniture companies that make custom beds would not make larger-than-standard mattresses as they only cut down from existing models. These guys will make you any size mattress you like: https://www.originalmattress.com/custom-size
Another option: https://www.selectabed.com/oversized-king-ultrabed-mattress/
After spending a good amount of time traveling and mostly using comparably 'hard' surfaces to sleep on, years ago I decided to make myself a rather thin Futon to sleep on.
Buying one made from natural materials would have cost me (pre-University) too much, so I checked how to do this on a budget:
I ended up buying a thin sheet of coconut fibre as well as some kilograms of untreated wool (which I laborously cleaned) off eBay and an insulation material called Thermo Hemp off an ecological construction store. I layered them Hemp - Wool - Coco - Wool - Hemp. Then I bought a large sheet and sewed it around, making some passes through a grid in the middle to keep stuff in place. (Total cost ~150eu, Queen size)
The sleep experience was great - my girlfriend at the time thought it was way too hard but for me it was perfect. However, over time the materials compressed a bit and after about two years I had to put something soft below to make it good again. I should have puffed it up every once in a while to prevent that from happening and perhaps chosen the layers a bit thicker.
Sleeping in bedding of your own making is great and you learn a lot in the process!
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How would you rate the firmness and does it breathe? I’d imagine wool would retain body heat quite a bit.
Definitely on the firmer side, but it's like four inches of wool, so its got quite a bit of springiness to it. As far as heat, we're of the opinion that wool is basically the ideal material. It is breathable, but it matches your body temperature and maintains it pretty well. It wicks the moisture away from you really well. I don't know how exactly to compare it to other mattresses, but we keep our house at ~60F in th…
> After performing some not-so-rigorous tests on some of my extra buckling column gel, I came to the conclusion that the best way to address this was zip ties. The gel is thick and firm enough that if you push down on it you can't feel a zip tie near the middle of it. How about plain old-fashioned sewing? > I decided to go with a 7" layer of latex foam as a base as it is form-fitting and relatively cool This got me t…
I'm not sure about a cooling system, but heated blankets/mattress pads exist for pretty cheap ($10ish.) Anyone know if there's an inexpensive way to cool a mattress? I found the "ChiliPad" for US$450, with discount codes taking that to $336, which is still way more expensive than any heating pads. Everything else I've found just seems to be mattress pads with cooling fabrics, which just feel cool to the touch and don…
It's a super chintzy product, not well made at all, but I am unaware of any substitute for it at any price or quality.
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I get what your saying; but this is also how we end up with hacky software at companies.. The 'The I'm pretty sure I can make this better(or cheaper) myself... even if there is an off the shelf version done by dedicated professionals.'
I disagree. If you hang around The Mattress Underground, where lots of mattress aficionados and professional sellers post, you will quickly become aware that most beds are pretty mediocre and overpriced. There's lots of in-depth discussion on their internals, and it's pretty disappointing. It's not surprising, as there's a lot of information asymmetry in the bed market. Customers don't have a good understanding of in…
I mean, I don't mean to shit on the article. The article itself is awesome, and I love taking this hacker mindset to other aspects of our lives. And writing a good article about it flexes a different, valuable skill. But if I ordered a mattress from a company and got this, I'd be (justifiably) upset.
> At this point, I decided the only thing that made sense was to build my own mattress from scratch. Bless this mindset. The internet would be a lot less interesting without the makers and their write-ups.
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I get what your saying; but this is also how we end up with hacky software at companies.. The 'The I'm pretty sure I can make this better(or cheaper) myself... even if there is an off the shelf version done by dedicated professionals.'
I disagree. If you hang around The Mattress Underground, where lots of mattress aficionados and professional sellers post, you will quickly become aware that most beds are pretty mediocre and overpriced. There's lots of in-depth discussion on their internals, and it's pretty disappointing. It's not surprising, as there's a lot of information asymmetry in the bed market. Customers don't have a good understanding of in…
See, I just don't think this is true. When you get something custom, you get to tune a lot more parameters than when you buy COTS, and if you know exactly what you want, and if that is different from what is generally available, that can be super valuable.
But usually, the more custom a thing is, the more likely it is to have quality issues. When you want a one-off, you usually pay either in terms of more money or worse quality control (often, as in the case of rare cars, both)
I mean, it can still be totally worth it, but if you buy a hand-built Ferarri because you think it will be more reliable than a mass-produced Toyota, you are likely going to be disappointed. (I mean, a hand built supercar has a lot of qualities... reliability tends to not be one of them.)
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No offence taken as I am actually a pretty handy person. When I choose what to build myself however, I decide, or at least I hope I do, based on what my skills are and how expensive bought or ordered things are. Beds and mattresses are not in the expensive category. Things like isolating your attic or redoing your bathroom are expensive to get done, so I do those things myself. This week I am replacing the shower, si…
My intention was not to save money but to get a particular product that didn't seem to exist otherwise (large mattress in the US, and then large mattress with particular properties). I tried to buy one first, there wasn't much else for me to do.