Why are 21 century beds so HIGH?

[leehljp]

A Daughter wants me to consider make a bed for her. She moving into a new house with 4 bedrooms this week. She knows it takes me two years to think on a project, get the material together and then make it. (I like to get just about every angle into my mind before I start gathering wood and material - kind of like an artist painting from his vision.)

Anyway we got on the subject of bed "height". She says most new mattresses are that HIGH.

Why are people so in love with these beds with nearly three feet off the floor mattresses? This is one of my pet peeves in functionality.

My mom had a bed in which the top of the mattress was about 22 inches off the floor. Mom was 5 ft tall. She got osteoporosis in her early 70's and then she had to start using a step to get into and out of the bed. Shortly after than, I took the box springs out and put in a solid sheet of 3/4 ply over some 1x4s spaced every 6 inches on the queen frame. That lowered the mattress to about 16 / 17 inches off the floor, which was fine. I knew the step was dangerous for her.

When I go to a different daughter's in another state, she has one of the new HIGH beds. I HATE having to roll UP into a bed. What is it with todays manufacturers and mattress designers that likes beds that you have to climb up to get into (except for a bunk bed)?

I like aesthetics as much as the next person, but when it comes to functionality, if the aesthetics takes away from the function, I figure it belongs on the wall or in a museum.

AS to mattresses. Yep they are THICKER now and not meant to turn over. My wife and I are on the same mattress and box springs we got 40+ years ago. The bed is 22 inches to the top of the mattress, but we added a memory foam topper of about 3 inches in 2010. (It is almost too high for my 5'1" LOML.) You have to be careful when buying a topper as most are smaller than the queen or king bed by at least 2 inches! We did our research and bought one that is FULL queen size. WE turn the mattress around every year, turn it over every other year, no sags, indentions or what ever. It is better condition than most new mattresses after 5 years. (We do add a new hypo-allergenic cover to the mattress AND box springs about ever 5 to 7 years.) The mattress is now just a little too firm in our old age, but it was great when we were tougher and younger. Never the less, we don't like having to climb UP into a bed. Its dangerous for old people and people with arthritis and joint problems or balance problems or with casts on. Steps are easy to miss with one foot and cause a stumble or fall.

These new high beds will not be welcomed by grandmothers/grandfathers, great aunts or uncles. They are dangerous. Steps to get into and out of 30+ inch high beds only increase the potential for dangerous falls.

And my daughter wants one! Thanks for letting me rant!

[atgcpaul]

40+ year old bed and now it feels too firm?!!! I guess they don't make them like they used to!

I do agree about not liking tall beds. I'm over 6' and I almost have to hop into the bed. Can't just sit and roll. Thankfully none of the beds in our house suffer from this.

[JimD]

I don't think beds should be more than chair height. I'm 6'2" and LOML is 5' 9" (kids are all reasonably sized too) so I make chairs about 20 inches high. I also do not believe beds should have box springs. I do not see the purpose. I make platform beds. I've tried solid platforms but they were a bit firm. 4 inch slats were a little too flexible. I like 1 foot slats out of 3/4 plywood.

I think the only really high bed I've slept in was our wedding night. The B&B I booked on the way to the cruise had a bed with steps. I didn't need them but it was high. That wasn't the only thing we didn't care for we also woke up with bad headaches, I think they had an issue with the furnace. But it was a nice place and the breakfast was great.

So if it has to be high, at least make it a platform bed - my 2 cents.

[cwsmith]

As I recall, many of the old beds were pretty high too. My grandparents had a farm and I recall that many of the beds were almost like double mattresses. Of course I was a little kid way back then.

I bought a new bedroom set about seven or eight years ago, and the mattress was exactly as use say. We got a new box-spring and mattress and it was ridiculous. I'm six foot and when I sat on the bed my feet were off the floor by better than six inches. I had them bring a smaller box-spring which I think is only about six-inches thick. But even now when I sit on the bed, my feet are off the floor by two inches.

Worse is that the mattress is so thick that regular fitted sheets will not fit it properly. I find that the most annoying thing! (That plus the unbelievable $$ this mattress cost me.)

I do have a "firm" mattress because of my back... but it's more like sleeping on a slab and I do a lot of tossing and turning at night because if I lay on one side too long my neck and back will result in great discomfort. My old air-mattress is a lot more comfortable! My doctor has recommended a "Sleep Number".

CWS

[capncarl]

Somewhere we have furniture designers determining that the public wants tall beds, just like the movie industry determines what we want to see, just like the automotive industry decided that everyone wants a large truck and phase out small trucks!
We purchased a terpurpedic bed and it came with a nice looking 12" box frame and 6" legs. I'm 6'4 and have to stretch to get on it and my poor 5' wife has to get a running start to jump on it! Cutting it down to a comfortable height is on my to-do list.

[leehljp]

It sure is good to hear that I am not the only sane (or are we INsane) person left in this world.

Capn, I hear you on the large trucks. Some people like them and more power to them. I like choice as much as the next person. I keep figuring I was in Japan so long I just come to like smaller trucks and cars. But I just can't see me driving a huge fortress around just to go to the hardware store. LOML is on to me to get a full size 4 DOOR 3/4 ton (or larger) pickup so that we can haul several grandkids around once a year when we go camping, or visitng. ME: That is what a van is for. I don't need to loose 15 mpg for the once a year opportunity; or I don't need to have to park 200 yards away from the front door of the hardware/big box store or wally world just because that is the only space big enough. I was in Springfield MO at the headquarters of Bass Pro two weeks ago and near the front was an open space (which was painted too narrow anyway) and I fit in with about a foot on each side. But next to me was a large truck (1 ton?) that was literally within the lines by less than 6 inches at the most on both sides. My daughter looked at me with disgust as I took pictures of the truck and tag number in case I came back and had some dings on my door.

And then there is the same thing that I am complaining about on the tall beds, I would need a step ladder for myself and LOML (and the grandkids) to get into a normal full sized truck.) It hurts my hip joints and knee joints - stepping up like that. I avoid it when I can. And I really get irritated thinking that I would have to PAY for the privilege of enduring the pain even more.

[LinuxRandal]

As has been said, the mattresses have been getting taller, with all that gel/foam gunk (some like it, others feel it is a gimmick and give us the old firm beds). Next, people ignorantly still refer to those fabric pieces of wood, as a box spring, when probably better then 90% of the ones out there, are just a box, with NO SPRINGS. So call it a box springs and your paying for something your not getting. You want a taller mattress, well this device could have just as easily shrunk to keep the proportions the same.
Are the bed frames the same, or higher? When I was a kid, most of the bed frames were metal, and had a wooden headboard (if they were fancy, a footboard as well). Those were always lower to the ground then the ones that used a wood frame. Now some of the wooden framed ones, have slats, that perform the same function as the box, and yet people still put boxes on top of them. Although that may be because they bought them at a club type shop, where they are sold as the pair. (some bed companies don't even want to split the two, the "box springs" is mostly profit, unless they have to keep/store them)

Now on the subject of trucks, owning both a Ranger and a Sierra at the same time, I have experience with both. The Ranger wasn't a 4x4, which has been handy. It also wasn't rated to haul the 1000lbs bed weight, that fills the entire bed (even then, some goes into the back seat), that I have to haul for work a couple times a year. I could exceed its bed weight capacity several times with what I haul (or take more trips in the Ranger). That is part of why I was gifted an older company truck, years back (I had the Ranger then). I did wish the Ranger was one of the older models with the diesel option to see how that would handle weight and mileage. But as the company replaced trucks, the newer ones (newest is a 09), had the mileage of my Ranger (22mpg with a four banger, manual verses 20mpg of the eight), with heavier capacity. The little trucks didn't keep up. (why I signed up for info when Mahindra was supposed to enter the market) I would love to know what a 4x4, Ranger with an ecoboost would do now, but they don't make them.

[Condoman44]

The height does not even address finding sheets for these mattresses. We have a very comfortable 6 inch mattress on a slab and find it hard to get sheets because the new fitted sheets are only for the very high ones. My wife did find loocing for old stock back when the slim models were the norm. Just sayin.

[leehljp]

Next, people ignorantly still refer to those fabric pieces of wood, as a box spring, when probably better then 90% of the ones out there, are just a box, with NO SPRINGS.

I recently noticed this tendency and probably overlooked it for the years we were overseas.

But our beds do have BOX SPRINGS which were the norm when we were given those by LOML's parents back in '75. Even our guest bedroom's beds have box springs. I have seen the wood boxes and could easily make a bottom wood box at 1/10th the cost of purchasing. We did go to a Sleep Comfort store after returning from Japan and the salesman did NOT want to sell us a SC without a bottom so called "box spring". If someone doesn't want to sell me what I want, I will do without or go somewhere else.

[capncarl]

My tempurpedic matress is on an "ergo premium adjustable base" which is yuppie tree hugger talk for a hospital type adjustable base. Why it has to be in a 12" thick box I have not a guess, but when it comes up on my list of things to do I'll probably be able to reduce the thickness 50%. That will probably come up sooner than I am ready to do it because the old girl isn't as agile as she use to be! Leehljp, I don't know how you have made it that long on a single mattress, we went through 7-8 in as many years before we bought the tempurpedic mattress.

[LCHIEN]

I think the only really high bed I've slept in was our wedding night. The B&B I booked on the way to the cruise had a bed with steps. I didn't need them but it was high. That wasn't the only thing we didn't care for we also woke up with bad headaches, I think they had an issue with the furnace. But it was a nice place and the breakfast was great.

...

you do'nt think the headaches had anything to do with the champagne???

[vaking]

I think traditional inner-spring mattress is dying. There is already only one major company producing them. Sealy, Simmons, Sterns & Foster, P-pedic - all used to be independent companies. Now they are just trade marks all owned by one company. You have been using one mattress for forty years and it is still as good as new - what kind of profit does it make for the manufacturer? 21 Century mattress must have a remote control. Sleep number mattress allows you to adjust firmness - separately for each side. And now you can adjust temperature too. Hospital style bed has so many adjustments - you need to read a manual to set it up. Give it a little time - next generation mattress will have Bluetooth, a phone app and a Facebook community. That is where the real value proposition is. And then you can integrate your mattress controls with your other house systems thru "Next".

[capncarl]

The next generation beds are already here, you can communicate with them via Bluetooth via cell phone. That makes no sense to me, using your phone to adjust a bed that you are already on and have a full function remote control!
That callls for a story. When we purchased our tempurpedic bed and we're trying to learn the controls we discovered that the power massage feature was waaaay too loud to use as directed. It felt nice on your back but it sounded like a truck running so it was only used when we first got into bed to help fall asleep. Several months later somewhere around 2 am we were awaken by a strange noise. In my stupor I first though someone was trying to steal a car out of our garage so I jumped up, grabbed my hand cannon and headed to the garage door. Nothing happening there. Then my wife shouts she thinks it's a tornado! So we head for the center of the house.... And I notice that the dang bed is making the noise. I guess a power spike set off the controller.

[LinuxRandal]

This thread is making me wonder something and if it is still done.
We have a local mattress company. Years ago, I knew that you could take your old mattress to them and they would strip it and effectively re-manufacture it to new. I know they were supposed to do some sort of heating/treatment process back then (don't know if it was a bed bug thing or something else, but it was a legal requirement).
They do still make box springs, as compared to what they call "foundations", that the other brands sell. They also make custom mattresses. (historic beds, like the old 3/4, mattresses for hide a bed's, a mattress that will even go into a waterbed frame, if you like your 1970's furniture, LOL)

I also know that this place would be supporting the local economy, and cost more. (have had multiple people who worked in mattress warehouses, tell me they could sell me ones severely reduced, marked damaged, no matter if they were or not)
I grew up on a mattress that was older then I. When I changed to a platform bed with storage, I got rid of one finally that must have been around 50 years old. Now "they" (whoever the marketing people seem to be) tell you that you need a new mattress every 8 years. Mine is probably going on 30 and I am just beginning to think it needs replacing, but am considering a larger bed (again with drawers for storage/space issues).

[leehljp]

LinuxRandal:

"Now "they" (whoever the marketing people seem to be) tell you that you need a new mattress every 8 years."

I am a firm believer in "If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and looks like a duck, it must be a duck!" I came the the same bed conclusion without hearing a single word from a salesman when we came home in late 2010. Looking at mattresses, all the fluff on top of poor foundations for mattresses and priced too high for the warehouse going out of business sales - I knew there was a change in philosophy in the bed / mattress industry. Plus the new mattresses were one sided only. One sided means it is not a lifetime mattress, plain and simple. It means replacement in 10 to 20 years. Reading review of even good mattresses and foundations led me to believe that current day general showroom mattresses were not manufactured to last more than 10 to 15 years, and that is with me trying to give the benefit of the doubt to the MFGers.

And no, I am not a paranoid/skeptic, I am just an INTP and I see patterns quickly, especially when they morph/change.