Having slept on the floor for six years, I never thought I'd make the switch to a real bed. But that all changed earlier this week when my new split king size mattress arrived at my door.
Until recently, I had never really thought about my bed. However, that changed as I got older and started to notice that aches and pains which come from sleeping on a worn mattress.
For example, when I lived alone in a small apartment with only one room, I would just sleep on the floor. You see, back then, I had the choice between a living room or a bedroom and I opted for the former. When it was time to go to bed, I would simply use a floor mattress to sleep in order to save space.
Aside from the constant visitors asking where my bed was, this approach worked for the most part. Until I met my wife. While she was willing to put up with my mattress on the floor at the time, once we moved in together and had a house, she insisted on a real bed, and so we did.
While our queen mattress It served us well for the first few years, but as our family grew, it was clear we needed a larger bed. We had originally planned on purchasing a king-size bed, but while window shopping at a local furniture store that was going out of business, we saw a deal that was too good to pass up.
Not what I imagined
I thought going from a queen to a king would be a lot harder and that I would have to remove a door or even two to get our new mattress into our room. Turns out, with a split king bed, you actually have two twin XL mattresses that fit together to make a king bed.
When we were at the store last Saturday, we went in with the intention of just looking around to see if there were any good deals. As I looked at some of the best gaming monitors and one Razer Blade 14 which were all on sale in the electronics section, my wife had her eyes glued to the prize and was testing out all the different beds. Finally, she called me to come look at some of the mattresses in the back of the store.
We tried several mattresses from Saatva, Purple, Helix, and a few other higher-end brands before deciding to go with one from Tempur-Pedic. Normally, one of the best mattresses it would have been out of our price range, but since they were on sale and we were looking for a bed that would last us a long time, we decided to splurge a little.
Although we came looking for a king-size mattress, when we tried the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-AdaptWe knew we had found the right one for us. There was one problem, though: the only version of this mattress left was a split king size instead of a traditional king size.
After quickly going through some explanations of the sleep section on Tom's Guide I realized that benefits of a split king size mattress even though I had honestly never heard of it before. After choosing a bed frame to go with our new mattresses and a trip to the checkout, we agreed to have everything delivered on Monday.
I still need Let's get rid of our old mattress but luckily we have already found a good home for our old bed.
Surprisingly spacious even with the divider
I knew that going from a 60-inch wide queen mattress to a 76-inch wide king mattress would give us the extra space we needed as a growing family. In addition to my wife and I, our Labrador retriever usually joins us in bed, and our toddler makes the odd appearance when he's sick or we're just too tired to bring him back to his room when he wakes up in the middle of the night.
While you might think that the XL in twin XL This would mean a wider mattress, which is not actually the case. Instead, a twin XL mattress is actually just longer, at 80 inches instead of 74. Still, having two of them side by side gives you the full 76 inches you'd get with a king mattress, albeit with a slight gap in between.
If you get a split king size bed at a clearance sale like we did and are worried about the gap, don't worry because there are some steps you can take to keep the two mattresses together such as using straps or a bed bridge. We haven't tried either of these systems yet, but it's good to know we have options if the gap becomes a problem later.
Share a bed but not a mattress
So why buy a split king size bed in the first place? For us, it was the only version of our favorite mattress that stayed on the show floor, but it has many other benefits as well.
To start with, with a split king size mattress, you can pair it with a adjustable base. This way, one person can sit up to read or watch TV while the other person sleeps. There are also adjustable bases designed to reduce snoring that will raise your head as soon as snoring is detected. The downside, however, is that most of these are electric, and since we have a young child who loves to push buttons, we opted for a standard bed frame instead. (When he gets older, we can upgrade to an adjustable base since the mattress we bought has a 10-year warranty, and there are plenty of things you can do to extend the life of your mattress even further.)
The biggest advantage for us is that with a split king bed, you still share a bed, but you no longer share a mattress. I often work late and my wife goes to bed earlier. When I crawl into bed with our new mattress, I don't disturb her. Likewise, when she wakes up in the morning, I don't feel it when she gets out of bed. Our dog also frequently gets up in the middle of the night to patrol the house and when he runs and jumps on the bed, it's not as noticeable as with our last mattress.
Another advantage of a split king bed over a traditional king bed is that it is much easier to move two twin XL mattresses. You won't have to remove doors from their hinges or struggle to get a king mattress up a flight of stairs or around a corner.
I have never slept so deeply
While choosing a split king bed has certainly had its benefits so far, it's the Tempur-Adapt hybrid mattress that has dramatically improved the quality of my sleep.
I am a side sleeper But before I fall asleep, I like to lie on my back for a bit. Doing so on the Tempur-Adapt surprised me immediately. While I felt plenty of support on my shoulders, I felt my lower back sink into the mattress – but in a good way.
After lying there for a few minutes, I really started to feel like my spine was readjusting after all those years of sleeping on a lumpy mattress. In fact, when I woke up the next morning, it almost felt like I had visited a chiropractor in my sleep.
Since we received our separate king size mattress and new bed frame in a set, the store also threw in a pair of pillows for good measure. While we could have chosen from the ones offered in store, we ultimately decided to go with Tempur-Cloud Pillows so we could get the full Tempur-Pedic experience. I opted for the extra soft pillow with built-in cooling while my wife chose a similar pillow that was soft instead of extra soft.
Even if you're not ready to completely upgrade your bed or mattress just yet, it's worth checking out our list of best pillows to get a taste of how good your next bed will be. Keep in mind, however, that you need to choose a pillow that suits your sleeping style.
The Upgrade I Didn't Know We Needed
At the beginning of the summer, we planned on buying a bigger bed so that my wife, dog, and I wouldn't be competing for space on our queen-size mattress. Honestly, there were nights where they both took up most of the bed and I was left with a tiny bit of space.
Now with our new king size mattress I don't have to worry about falling out of bed. I also feel much better when I wake up in the morning without any aches and pains. At the same time this upgrade has made such a difference that I now look forward to getting into bed at the end of the day.
Of course, a separate king size bed won't be right for everyone. However, even if you don't plan on pairing it with an adjustable base, there are plenty of benefits to having your own mattress. You also don't have to have the same mattress, and one person may have a softer one while the other prefers a firmer one. Since everyone sleeps differently and wears out their mattresses to varying degrees, you can swap out one side without having to buy a whole new mattress for both people.
I'm very happy with our new bed—even though it wasn't exactly what I expected—and now I'm looking forward to spending tomorrow morning sleeping in it.