The Search for the Perfect Mattress

This was no easy feat. As I'm writing this I can still feel my head reeling from the repetitive motions of lying down, and getting up, and lying back down and getting up. We started the hunt hoping to try out the 3 S-es of reputably good mattresses, Simmons, Sealy and Serta and are now pretty well-versed in the differences between the 3 brands.

Was it that much of a pain in the 'S'? Not so much surpringly, due to the simple fact that all our conversations and negotiations with the different sales people took place while we were sprawled on extremely comfortable beds and having a conversations with them as though it was boring pillow talk. We were lying in the most heck-care of positions because we wanted to replicate how it was going to be like in real life. I even had the tiniest urge to ta bao some macdonald's ice cream to the showroom to complete the 'feel'. But no, that didn't happen :)

Simmons

Simmons was amazing. Beautiful showrooms, amazing beds, welcoming sales staff with warm lightings and lush carpeting. It was like coming home. Man... and what an expensive home it'll be. As we lay down on bed after bed, our backs started to groan against the cheaper mattresses and purr against the more luxurious ones. The longer we wanted to linger in bed, the higher the prices climbed. Madness. $12,000 for my dream mattress. Bye bye to a nice sofa, a coffee table and a dining table. We shall eat, sleep and watch tv on the mattress till the end of time. I was pretty set on a Simmons in the beginning. But we decided to delve further into mattress research and continue the hunt in search of slightly more affordable ones.

Individual Pocketed Coils

Sealy

Our first encounter with Sealy was at Courts Tampines right after our talk with the Simmons salesperson. We tried out "Quiver" from the Knights Collection which was just right! Gosh, not too hard and not too soft. Cushy yet immediately supported when you first rest on it. Comfortable and within budget. KIV-ed. Next up was "Yarrow" from the Spring Collection at CKTangs Vivocity. Ooooahhhhh... Mad comfy! Semi-firm yet soft enough to keep us lying down on the bed, refusing to get up. All the sleep angles felt right. I wanted to cave in right there and then. But we were adamant not to be  rash, so we pushed on. A thing to note; shopping for Sealy will be a pain. Different sleep clinics or shopping malls carried different models. There wasn't any Quiver in the boutiques and no Yarrow in Takashimaya. It was individual boutique exclusives. I named "Obsession" to the salesperson at Courts and she shook her head immediately and told me "Only Taka". Not good! We wanted a side by side comparison which was definitely not gonna happen with Sealy. Really very annoying.

Serta

Serta was at the back of our minds to be honest. I first heard about Serta when Samantha, our wedding coordinator mentioned the cute Serta sheeps they were giving with every mattress purchase. I remembered viewing some Serta ads before movie screenings in the cinema but that was it. Here are some of my favourite Serta ads.

Anyhoo, we were over at IMM and were lucky enough to bump into Kelvin, the store manager of Serta Sleep Clinic IMM. In the beginning we were slightly put off by his 'don't bother' attitude towards us because we walked in for abt 5 mins and he ignored us. But as he warmed up to us, we realized that he was really well-versed in his products and very welcoming of neighbouring competition. So much so that his ultimate goal was for us to come to our own conclusion instead of pushing us towards liking what he has to offer. He was concise and quick, non-pushy and very professional. He told us about his 2 best selling models, Serta Sophistication and Diamond Suite (used in many hotels). We tried out Diamond Suite but felt it was too soft for hubby.When we tried out Sophistication, we felt as though we hit jackpot. The pillow top was luxuriously soft, yet firm enough to support our backs after a long day. It was amazing. Most importantly, because we are both light sleepers, any movements on either side would most likely wake us. Kelvin explained to us that in our situation, we could only go with Serta or Simmons' as Sealy's springs are interconnected hence a small bounce on one end could definitely be felt by your partner on the other.

Kelvin then told us about how he was formally an employee with Simmons and how the employees are treated really well with benefits and bonuses. This explained Simmon's high priced mattresses. I did some googling and discovered that Simmons filed for bankruptcy September of 2009 and was bought over by Serta's management Ares and TPC.  They plan to operate Serta and Simmons Bedding as independent entities that will continue to compete with one another. Just a good to know in case anybody's interested..

Serta' Nested Pocketed Springs
The "honeycomb" construction of this spring allows full coverage of sleeping surface, resulting a firmer and more responsive support to body contour. A pocket spring coil system is used in Serta's Sophistication mattresses. These springs are separated into little fabric pockets, which helps you to be less affected by your partner moving around at night. Hubby tried bouncing on one end while I snored on the other. Minimal movement was felt. Excellent.

The affordability, perks and mattress comfort quickly put Serta on the top of our list. We were really
excited about our new find but wanted to sleep on it to digest all the information that we have. We must have slept on about 20+ mattresses so far. Making a decision based on something we rested on for 10 mins spread over a period of 3 weeks is really not easy.

So finally on Saturday, we headed down to Plaza Sing's Serta Sleep Clinic and had the pleasure of being served by Steven. The Plaza Sing's branch is the largest sleep clinic in Singapore currently and had the 2 mattresses we were deciding between. Serta's Sophistication and New Sophistication. Steven was really no nonsense and professional. He was not as charismatic as Kelvin was, but he was definitely knowledgeable about his products. That in a weird way, gave us a lot of confidence because we knew he was serious. Serious about helping us, serious about giving us a good deal and serious about helping us make the right decision. We alternated between the Sophi and New Sophi mattresses and after about an hour, we still couldn't decide. Hubs love the New Sophi for that added firmness whereas I enjoyed diving into Sophi for the lush plushness. Steven then told us that we need not decide on the spot, and that we had till the week before our delivery date to confirm our choices. So we could deal with Sophi and indicate on the contract about an option to upgrade to the New Sophi mattress before delivery. We were thrilled by this and paid the deposit immediately.

Serta Sophistication with Meh-Meh saying "Gimme five!"

Serta New Sophistication with Meh-Meh saying "baaahh!"

New Serta Owners!

Our Sophistication package came with

1 x Sophistication Mattress

1 x Bed Bench

1 x Long bed pillow

1 x Mattress protector

2 x Nano gel pillows

2 x Comfort pillows

2 x Long bed pillow covers

2 x Signature Serta Sheeps

Price: S$3499

I think we drove a hard bargain. Steven was really nice.

The New Sophistication Mattress package came with a Bedframe or Divan ($100 cheaper) at $4208. We'll have another 5 months to decide. In the mean time, any suggestions on affordable and beautiful divans would be great!


For any other information on Serta mattresses, do drop by their showroom for a visit. What I've said is solely our point of views and can never beat lying down on different mattresses and finding one that suits you and your partner.

Serta Sleep Clinic
(IMM)        Kelvin:  6569 0656
(Plaza Sing) Steven: 6238 0070

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A year later...

I was requested by a reader to do a review of my Serta Sophistication mattress and how it go on after sleeping on it for almost a year now. I think this request couldn't come at a more appropriate time seeing that my wedding anniversary is just around the corner :)

Firstly, it has to be said that while I LOVE the idea of a luxurious plushy bed, the husband suffers from a spinal fracture due to an old basketball injury and has since been dealing with backaches for the past 12 years. Hence, it was important that we attempt to find a mattress that would suit both our needs.

And after experimenting for a year, we conclude that we cannot have the best of both worlds.

I love my mattress to bits. I can lie in bed all day everyday and swim in the luxury of my 1000 threadcount Egyptian cotton sheets till my hubby blares the alarm in my ears or flood the room with glaring white light to get me out of bed. The question is then, why is he up before me? How can he stand to leave the luxurious comfort of his bed behind? This is because prolonged lying on this plushy goodness is not doing wonders for his back. The first few hours of sleep is absolute bliss for him, but lazing in bed for more than 9 hours will cause his back to ache. So this is classic case of, 'too much of a good thing is bad for you'.
I wish it wasn't so, because when I see his mild agony, I wished I had given up plushy goodness for a firmer mattress. Such as Serta's New Sophistication, or Simmons's Backcare series. But we gave ourselves a 5 year expiry on the mattress before we upgrade to an "old folks" mattress which will benefit our backs more in the long run.

But without his injury, I can vouch that this mattress is perfect is many ways. Much more affordable and extremely comfortable because it is both firm and plushy at the same time. Just not firm enough for someone with a bad back.

Hope this helps you guys!