To see how we got here, you may want to read this first,
Hunting for the perfect mattress.
or this
The following is the step by step photo construction of our new Sleep Innovations Mattress from Costco that appears to be what you would get if a Sleep Number Bed had an affair with a Tempur Pedic Mattress.
The first shot below is our new bed from Crate and Barrel. My wife loves it.
Then there is the warning about the memory foam smell. I had read a lot about this and was prepared for the worst. I have an extremely powerful sniffer that can pick up scents from across the house that others miss. I had to stick my nose into the foam to smell this warned of smell.
Here is the whole box. It was about four and some change tall.
This is the company name on the box.
Here is the mattress size. They also had all others including California king which I think is longer and narrower than a regular king but I am not sure.
This is why Americans better stop complaining and get to work twice as hard as they do now. Almost everything cool is made in China and we make what?
Here is the entire contents of the box laid out on the Crate and Barrel bed. Remember this mattress was around $600. I understand why some of the people who buy the Sleep Number bed freak out when they see the contents of the box that they just paid $3000 for. I have not actually put together a sleep number bed, but from my studies this appeared to be very similar, except with a thicker tempurpedic style mattress on top. See my foot in many of these photos for scale. (But I am not blaming anyone! 😉
Here are the fancy instructions. These did not impress me and caused me to waste about half an hour because the pictures were not nearly as clear and cool as on this blog. This is the only picture of the little controller gizmos.
Here are more of the instructions. Why they don’t have a photo step by step online like this one is beyond me, or maybe they do and I just don’t know it?
Here is the mattress sock. To understand the construction of the whole thing, think of a thin sleeping bag with fabric about as thick as a sheet, with a bunch of stuff crammed into it. That is the construction of the whole mattress.
Here is the mattress sock unfolded and unzipped. I broke one of the zippers on the mattress sock by the way on the final zip, but the bed still works fine. When I get around to it I need to get a replacement sock. By the way, at the beginning of installation find the holes in the sock near the head of the bed. The directions don’t tell you to find them until the end when it is impossible to find them. This caused me to rush at the end because i wanted it done before I left for work. If I had found the holes at this point, it would have made it much easier, and possibly saved a zipper broken from me rushing.
The next item which are these foam 2 x 4 thingys’ were in the middle of the tempurpedic-like mattress material crepe. It was a pain to get them out just because I was running out of room.
Here are the foam board thingys laid out.
You fit the four foam things together to make some sort of a structure.
Then there is a fabric piece that wraps around the very outside of the foam boards that are now in that square above.
The corners lock together as if it gives them some structure, but basically the only real structure comes from the air you fill it up with at the end. Otherwise it was like building a crepe out of smaller crepes.
Here are all of the corners locked, with the fabric strip around the outside. I was never sure if I get the fabric strip just right or not, but it is a piece of fabric for gosh sakes, and I could never figure out what it was for anyway?
Then you flip over some flaps of the original sock to sort of hold the foam board thingys in place.
You then put a piece of foam with slits in it on the bottom. Later on you will realize those slits are for the cords from the air bladders.
Here is the air pump and one of the air bladders. It is a fricken air mattress! It is actually of apparently the same construction, and the same material as the Coleman air mattress I bought at Target a few years back.
Who’s ready to go camping! Yayyyyy!!!!
In many write ups about the Sleep Number bed I heard complaints about a foam wall between the air mattresses. In this case they made it wide, and it tapers down to be very narrow between the air mattresses. There is no hard edge on this center piece of foam anywhere, so I think they fixed the error that others had experienced in the Sleep Number bed.
You then take the cords under the mattress and thread them through the holes in the head of the sock, which are now impossible to find unless you found them at the beginning.
You can also see the final piece of memory foam that is about to be laid out over the mattress. I was rushing at this point so threw it on and started zipping. Then I folded the top part of the sock that you see folded over the headboard, and then zipped the whole thing up too fast and broke one of the zipper claps. The sock still works with just one zipper clasp.
With the new fancy sheets.
The early reports on this are heaven. From the first second it feels amazingly comfortable. We played with it and you can make it feel a little uphill or downhill if you fill one side more than the other.
If you way overfill the mattress it can make you feel like you are sleeping on a pod that you might fall off of, as one other writer mentioned.
For us, so far the bed is wonderful, and I will do a full write up on the sleeping on it soon.
As far as the construction goes.
This is a thick sheet sock with a piece of foam and some air mattresses in it. That is really it.
It makes much more sense to me than a big heavy traditional mattress which is going to compress and wear out after a few years anyway. It is also very easy to move and remove if necessary because it is mostly fabric and air.
How long will it last? I bet a few years, maybe five?
Would I have been happy paying $3000 for it? Hell no.
For $600 or $700 it reminds me more of an expensive jacket, but one that I will be wearing every night for 8 hours or more for the next three years.
My final evaluation will come after more sleeping, but from all the analysis I have so far I will give it two huge thumbs up.
To repeat my previous offer to Tempurpedic and Sleep Number. I notice that this blog is showing up very high in Google for your terms. So to be fair if you guys want to send me temporarily your best mattress to try, we can set it up in the guest room and I will be happy to give it a go and make an honest comparison. If it is better than the Costco one, then I will be happy to tell everyone that fact.
And to my readers, please continue to leave comments. This site is gathering a lot of stories about these beds where the writer (me) and the commenter’s have not financial stake in the outcome of this discussion.
Sleep Well!
dk
Here is a summary of all of the posts I have written about beds.
Hunting for the perfect mattress
The bed affair continues
The Costco Bed Constructed
Dk- Now that it’s been quite some time since you first purchased your bed I’m interested in how happy you are with it. How has it held up?
We purchased a Sleep Number bed a few years ago. It was wonderful for about 6 months. Then it became a nightmare. Rolling down hill toward the middle or the edge of the bed was a definite problem and the loosing setting thing was also a problem. The sides did begin to bulge making matters worse. My husband and I are very different weights and we had very different settings. These problems all created a very small sleeping area for each of us. Let’s be honest… who wants to be confined to such a limited area for sleeping?! We’re very Unhappy with the sleep number. A few months ago we couldn’t take it anymore and decided to buy a traditional mattress with the separate coil system. Unfortunately it seems to be just as uncomfortable. Now we’re on the hunt for a new mattress again. I don’t want to make the mistake of buying something that becomes uncomfortable again and I’m (again) currently doing all my homework. We’re considering the generic version of the Tempur Pedic bed (totally done with the air bed idea) and came across your site. I’ve found it quite helpful as I didn’t know that Cosco carried these kinds of mattresses or that their return policy was this reasonable (by law a traditional mattress cannot be returned if there is any kind of spot on it anywhere). I’ll be looking into Costco’s selection. Anyone on here have advice about the Foam beds??? I’m worried about he heat thing.
It appears this bed is no longer available at costco. I am bummed because the price was great. Anyone know why costco discontinued?
Hi !
This is wonderful info..
but it seems this mattress is no longer available on the costco website.
Can you recommend any other mattresses being sold by costco ?
or is this mattress being sold anywhere else ?
thanks !
After reading this article I tried to find this bed at Costco (In store and online) but had no success. I just called, “Sleep Innovations” and was told that they no longer sell the “Air” bed. I am looking into putting one together myself with air chambers from WM and will probably have to sew my own “Sock”. Has anyone out there already done this and if so, how did it turn out? If I am successful, I will post my results. (Thanks for a great write up dk)
You can always put the mattress into a old water bed frame and the sides will not be pushing out. Works good…
Wow… lol You really have had a lot of comments on here,I just went online looking for me and my hubby a new Temperpedic matress OMG.. the one I was interested in is 6,000 for a Q/size,unreal.I am thinking we will give the one you bought a try? Can you tell me dk just how it held up? :/
I am interested in an old fashioned mattress and box springs with a pillow top. I don’t go for these new fangled inventions they call mattresses.
Does Costco carry these and how do you rate them?
Just a suggestion for those of you who can’t decide on Tempurpedic, sleep number, memory foam, etc. If you’re planning a vacation, check the up-scale hotels and find out what they use and you can have a few nights on one of these (We found a DoubleTree that uses Tempurpedic, a Raddison that uses Memory Foam). Hotels don’t want to replace mattresses often so the good ones generally buy very good quality(also for guest comfort). Rather than spending tousands for a bed you don’t like, try them for a few nights (Hey…you were going to stay in a hotel anyway, right?..so spend a few more bucks to eventually save LOTS). Just a suggestion. Oh…and I’m in Las Vegas and there are good mattress stores that will custom build one for you at reasonable costs…I think most big cities are the same. My mom had Sealy build a double bed (mattress and box spring) for her and we still have the mattresses 30 + years later and they are just as firm as the day they were built. The quality of the fabric is also important.
Wow, again! After all of Dr. K’s work, I sure hope we can find a similar CostCo mattress. Or, I also thought like Eldon, it sure sounds like you could just Make it yourself! How did it work for you????
You donot need the side inserts I”ve had my Queen for four years two bladders attached in the middle with two hook-up to air pump we never roll off of bed from not having side inserts I feel the extra pieces are to make you think you are getting your money”s worth we did need a king but this company will not commit to a king to bad for us cost was 350.00 at Miejer but they stopped carring them,every one need to find a company that can make the Bladders with air hook-ups and covers or socks if thats what you want to call them.Oh are”s was 6″ but we also picked up one at sam”s club for are Daughter 14″ thick from another company Queen this other company”s havent made kings yet in closeing remember these are air bags and these companies are just crazy with there prices good luck in huntting down that good nights sleep and not having to break the bank.
I have spent Thousands in the last few yeas and they all still leave me in pain. I recently took a contract position out of state and I spent 35.00 at Walmart on a double thick coleman air bed and am now pain free… HOWEVER I am looking at some form of air mattress as that will allow me to sleep well and for my wife and I to enjoy eachother to the fullest..I know a standard air mattress is not good for that kind of thing…Anyone have any experience with this situation?
I need to buy the bed frame does anyone know where to get one?
Thanks Betsy
Have you checked into the fire retardants used in these mattress. We have a concern about the toxic chemicals some mattresses are using.
We purchased a “Comfort Aire” brand airbed 11 years ago and have LOVED it! It is very similar to the Sleep Number Bed. We purchased a 4″ foam “topper” to add an additional layer of softness. My side is very “soft” while my husband’s is medium to hard. Having this mattress has helped my lower back tremendously and I am always delighted to return to my bed after traveling. Even after 11 years, this bed continues to be quite comfortable.
We purchased a “Comfort Aire” brand airbed 11 years ago and have LOVED it! It is very similar to the Sleep Number Bed. We purchased a 4″ foam “topper” to add an additional layer of softness. My side is very “soft” while my husband’s is medium to hard. Having this mattress has helped my lower back tremendously and I am always delighted to return to my bed after traveling. Even after 11 years, this bed continues to be quite comfortable. We have stayed at several 4 to 5 star hotels and can honestly say only one had a mattress that I would consider comfortable.
Thanks for the great step by step. I have a sleep number at home and want one for my motor home. Wanted to see what else was out there and found your site.
I have spent hours and hours searching for a bed that will actually let me sleep. (I have fibromyalgia) I just ordered the Sleep Number bed. I fell asleep in the mall on one. If you are a smart shopper, you will note that Sleep Number has a clearance center that you can buy a bed for less than half. I didnt spend $3000. According to their site, my bed will be here this week, and will post how i sleep and how it was to put together.