Having spent six years sleeping on the floor, I never saw myself upgrading to a real bed. But when my brand-new split king mattress showed up at my house earlier this week, everything changed.
I never really gave my bed much thought until recently. That all changed, though, as I became older and became aware of the aches and pains associated with sleeping on a worn-out mattress.
For example, I used to be perfectly happy sleeping on the floor when I was living alone in a little apartment with just one room. You see, I made the decision to have a living room instead of a bedroom at that time. When it was time to make the call,
This method mostly worked, aside from guests who kept asking me where my bed was. Until I met my wife, that is. Ignoring her floor mattress at the time, she insisted on obtaining a real bed after we moved in together and then bought a house, so that’s what we did.
For the first few years, our queen mattress worked fine for us, but as our family grew, it became obvious that we needed a larger bed. Our initial plan was to simply purchase a king bed, but when window browsing at a nearby furniture store that was closing, we spotted a deal that was simply too good to refuse.
Not what I imagined
I assumed it would be more harder to upgrade from a queen size bed to a king size bed and that I would need to remove one or more doors in order to fit our new mattress into our bedroom. As it happens, a split king really consists of two twin XL mattresses that are joined to create a king-sized bed.
We really only intended to browse the store and see if there were any offers when we went there last Saturday. My wife had her sights set on the prize and was trying out every bed as I examined some of the top gaming monitors and a Razer Blade 14 that were all marked down significantly in the electronics area. She eventually summoned me to come look at some of the mattresses in the store’s rear.
After testing out a number of mattresses from Saatva, Purple, Helix, and a few other higher-end manufacturers, we chose a Tempur-Pedic mattress. Normally, one of the greatest mattresses would have been beyond our means, but we opted to indulge a little because they were on sale and we wanted a long-lasting bed.
The hybrid, medium-firm Tempur-Adapt mattress is a great option for back sleepers, particularly those who experience back pain. It offers a 10-year warranty, balanced support, and good motion isolation. The Tempur-Adapt comes in every possible size and configuration, ranging from a twin to a California King, in addition to split king.
We knew we had found the perfect mattress when we tested the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt, even though we had originally come looking for a king-sized one. The only issue was that, rather than having a standard king-sized mattress, all they had left was a split king version.
Even though I had never heard of a split king mattress before, I immediately skimmed through some explainers from Tom’s Guide’s sleep section and saw the advantages of one. We went to the register, chose a bed frame to match our new mattresses, and made plans to have everything delivered on Monday.
Our old mattress still needs to go, but thankfully we’ve already found a wonderful home.
Surprisingly spacious even with the split
We are a growing family, so I knew that switching from a 60-inch wide queen mattress to a 76-inch wide king-sized one would give us the extra room we need. In addition to my spouse and I, our toddler occasionally makes an appearance in bed when he is ill or when we are too exhausted to get him back to his room when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Otherwise, our Labrador Retriever regularly joins us in bed.
Contrary to popular belief, the twin XL size doesn’t truly signify a broader mattress. As an alternative, a twin XL mattress is only 74 inches longer, measuring 80 inches. Even yet, with a small space between them, you receive the entire 76 inches that a king mattress would provide if you place two of them side by side.
If, like us, you happened to score a split king at a closeout sale and are concerned about the gap, don’t be; there are measures you can do, like utilizing straps or a bed bridge, to keep the two mattresses together. Although we haven’t used either of these yet, it’s helpful to know that we have choices in case the gap later causes us problems.
Sharing a bed but not a mattress
So why do we initially end up with a split king? There are numerous additional advantages, too, but for us, it was the sole remaining model of our favorite mattress on the showroom floor.
To begin with, you can use an adjustable foundation with a split king mattress. In this manner, one individual can read or watch TV while the other sleeps. Additionally, there are adjustable bases that raise your head as soon as snoring is detected and are intended to lessen snoring. The drawback is that the most of these are electric, so we decided to use a regular bed frame instead because our toddler enjoys poking buttons. (We could upgrade to an adjustable base when he gets older.
TEMPUR-Cloud Pillow (standard)
For extra comfort, the 100% polyester TEMPUR-Cloud Pillow conforms to your head, neck, and shoulders. It is the perfect pillow for those who sleep on their back, side, or stomach, and it also has a machine-washable knit cover that can be removed. You may even bring the TEMPUR-Cloud Pillow on trips so you can feel like you’re sleeping in your own bed because it compresses pretty readily.
The main advantage that we see is that sharing a bed with a split king still occurs, but the sharing of a mattress is eliminated. My spouse goes to bed sooner, but I frequently work late. I don’t bother her when I slide onto our new mattress in bed. Similarly, I don’t notice it when she gets out of bed in the morning. In addition, our dog frequently gets down to patrol the house in the middle of the night, and unlike with our previous mattress, it isn’t nearly as obvious when he runs and jumps back onto the bed.
Moving two twin XL mattresses is far simpler when using a split king as opposed to a regular king. No doors will need to be taken off their hinges, and moving a king-sized mattress up stairs or around a corner won’t be difficult.
Never slept so soundly
Although choosing a split king bed has proven advantageous thus far, my sleep quality has significantly increased thanks to the Tempur-Adapt hybrid mattress.
I usually sleep on my side, but I occasionally lie on my back to help me fall asleep. I was taken aback by doing so on the Tempur-Adapt right away. My shoulders felt really supported, but I also felt like my little back was sinking into the mattress—in a pleasant manner.
It felt like my spine was realigning itself just a few minutes of resting this way, after all those years of sleeping on a rough mattress. It was almost as if I had gone to the chiropractor while I was sleeping, in fact, when I woke up the following morning.
In addition to our split king mattress and new bed frame, the store included a set of pillows as a bonus. Even though we could have chosen any pillows we wanted from the store, we ultimately opted for Tempur-Cloud pillows in order to fully enjoy the benefits of Tempur-Pedic. I chose the extra-soft model with integrated cooling, and my wife received a matching pillow.
Check out our selection of the greatest pillows to get a taste of what your next bed can feel like, even if you’re not quite ready to replace your current bed or mattress. But bear in mind that you should choose a pillow based on your preferred sleeping position.
The upgrade I didn’t know we needed
In order to avoid fighting for room on our queen-sized mattress, my wife, I, and our dog had planned to purchase a larger bed at the beginning of the summer. To be honest, there were evenings when I had very little space on the bed since the two of them would take up most of it.
We recently got a split king mattress, so I don’t have to worry about falling asleep. In the same way, having no aches or pains when I wake up in the morning makes me feel much better. However, this improvement has improved things so much that I can’t wait to go to bed at the end of the day.
A split king won’t appeal to everyone, of course. But having your own mattress has several advantages even if you don’t intend to use it with an adjustable base. Additionally, you are not required to share a mattress; one person may choose a softer mattress while the other may prefer a harder one. You don’t need to buy a brand-new mattress for both persons if you just need to repair one side because everyone sleeps differently and uses their mattresses differently.
Even though our new bed wasn’t exactly what I had anticipated, I’m still quite pleased with it and am looking forward to sleeping in it tomorrow morning.