Making your own Mattress?

[ErinC]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has ever tried making their own mattress & is it any good. I was thinking about making one, but had a few questions:

1. Does it smell wierd? (I know this sounds odd, but just wanted to know - does the straw get smelly?)

2. Is it comfortable?

3. Should I skip it and go buy a Tempur-Pedic Mattress?

Thanks!

Erin

[Cyngbaeld]

You mean a 'donkey's breakfast'? Spect it's better than the floor. Not something I would do by choice. LOL I think I read somewhere that Unk Will used to sleep on one.

[Iddee]

I have made my own, but I cheat a little bit.

I have 50.000 SQ.FT. of mattress making machinery.

[WanderingOak]

I have never made or used one, but I have read about it. One of the early Foxfire books tells you how to do it. You are supposed to use fresh straw, and change it out at least once a year. As far as the smell goes, I like the smell of fresh straw, so that wouldn't be a problem for me.

[FrankTheTank]

couldn't you just heap up a giant mound of cedar shavings and sleep in that??? it would be like a giant hamster nest

[LittleJohn]

I have been thinking of maybe someday trying to make my own mattress myself so decided to do a few google searches. I found amazingly little info on the subject. Did find one site that might be what your looking for.

http://sleekfreak.ath.cx:81/3wdev/VI...N1/BEDDING.HTM

If you want a futon type foam filled cotton mattress here is a good site.

http://www.nwrenovation.com/21futonchairmattress.html

Thought this was interesting may not be realavent though

http://timeslongago.blogspot.com/200...s-bedbugs.html

[ErinC]

Originally Posted by Iddee

I have made my own, but I cheat a little bit.

I have 50.000 SQ.FT. of mattress making machinery.

LOL...I wish! I'm afraid I don't have that luxury...

Thanks LittleJohn, will definitely use this!

Cedar Chips, eh Frank? Have you tried this? *Snicker* lol...

Thanks also to wandering oak - that was an awesome article!


Cyngbaeld: lol...

[Wolf mom]

Those poor neked chickens & ducks & geese...

Shall I begin to knit little sweaters??

[ErinC]

hehe, might be helpful I knew a gal once, her grandmother went outside to find all of her hens laying about the barnyard apparantly dead. She plucked them all, and had them set on her kitchen table to begin the nasty work, when they started waking up. The farmhand had put whisky in their water, and the poor hens were all naked for months. She actually did sew them all little jackets! ( I don't know how on earth she kept them on, but it worked somehow!)

[Qwispea]

Originally Posted by ErinC

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has ever tried making their own mattress & is it any good. I was thinking about making one, but had a few questions:

1. Does it smell wierd? (I know this sounds odd, but just wanted to know - does the straw get smelly?)

2. Is it comfortable?

3. Should I skip it and go buy a Tempur-Pedic Mattress?

Thanks!

Erin

I wish I could afford a Tempur-Pedic Mattress. They are about twice a high-quality conventional mattress.

We're going King-size soon..but probably not Tempur-Pedic. It'll be Sealy..or one of the other "S" mattress makers.

[ET1 SS]

We have a king-size waterbed.

The bag is a simple bag. 'full-wave' with no dividers or anything in it.

A store called: "Waterbeds Now" was running an ad on TV saying they had waterbeds starting at $99. We went down there and every waterbed was priced $4000, $5000, even $6000. big things with huge headboards. We asked about the advertised $99 bed. they pointed us to a pile of wood on the floor. the peices were not stained and they were not assembled.

We bought it. that was in 1985.

Since then we have lived in Scotland, Ct, Wa, Italy, Ct, and now Maine. We still use that same waterbed.

It is only real bouncy if you dont fill it all the way.

It is heated, so we can run the house temp down a bit lower in the winter at night. It saves us money.

[astrocow]

When I stayed in the Azores I slept on a corn husk filled mattress. The mattress bag had two slits in it so you could put your hands in to fluff it up.
It was not comfortable at all. I made a big hole where I first lay and that's where I had to stay.

[comfortablynumb]

the insurance co just bought me a tempur pedic type mattress, I tried out the tempur ones and they are not as good as this Serta brand one..

they shelled out 3K for this thing, its fantastic... sometimes it pays to let a triaxle dumptruck run you over, just for the insurance benifits..
lol

its the only thing besides drugs they have paid for in 21 yrs, so i was suprised when they said "ok! we will!"
i think thats before they saw the price... lol

well if ya got 3 grand for a matress... you sleep like a baby on them its like sleeping on a warm marshmellow.

I woulda never put out that much for a matress... ugh i was whining about the 150 i paid for the old one I bought!!

cheep cheep cheep....
(I wonder what else they will buy me if I whine? LOL)

now on a really cheep note... I got a 30 buck camping cot from wal mart, and kate HATES this new matress... it takes about 4 min to sink int it and it makes her sick.. (go figure) so... she started sleping on this cot. she raves about it every day.. she hasnt slept that good in yrs.
everyones different.
so... try the wal mart camp cot for 30 bucks... LOL

[how about a bag of cedar chips? the dog likes hers... lol]

[LittleJohn]

If your talkin about one of those folding cots that has springs holding some type of material and a maybe 2 inch foam mat on it I have use done on occasion and found it reasonably comfy my only complaint is length.

[Wolf mom]

Hey comfortablynumb: How about a spa next? Can I visit then?

Here's what I did:

Very hard mattress!! put on a foam waffle pad upside down THEN put a feather pad on top of that. Mattress pad to anchor all. Great for an achin' back.

[ET1 SS]

Wolf mom -
How about a spa next?

I will share ours. It is currently in our Motorhome though.

We have had a few different jacuzzis over the years.

This one company:
http://www.spa-n-a-box.com/

Sells this model for $1099, this 6 foot jacuzzi:
http://www.novacompanies.com/nova-SPA-SNAB6.html


Now in honesty, they are sitting on the floor, and the two ladies legs must be over-lapping with the guys legs.











It is really easy to put together. The sides are flat squares of laminated layers of styrofoam and fiberglass. Pretty stiff and they lock into each other along the corners. No tools, and it takes me about 20 minutes to take it apart or put it together again.




The liner has layers and a ring in it for the air jets.



It uses 8.9 amps with heater & all features operating, and takes 300 gallons of water. which is great as our Motorhome is on a 20amp breaker [most modern MHs run 50amps]. To start with, if you fill it with cold water it will take two days to get up to temperature. I fill mine with hot-water, so it is ready quicker.