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Help on replacing old mattress

Paula asked
14th February 2015

Hi, Your website is really informative, thank you!

I need a new king size mattress, I have had low back pain for a couple of years , very stiff on getting out of bed. My current mattress is a 10 yr old orthopaedic open coil kingsize, which I sleep on alone. I recently bought a new guest bedroom mattress in a hurry, an inexpensive pocket sprung firm ( healthopaedic by Highgate beds) , and after sleeping on this for a couple of nights my back is so much better that I feel like an idiot for not realising sooner!

I now want to buy a better quality pocket sprung kingsize mattress for me. I am 165cm tall, and weigh 67kg. I think I want a firm feeling ( but not hard) mattress with good cushioning( have used a 3cm memory foam topper for a year or so). I have looked in local chain and independent shops (do not live close to a furniture village or John Lewis), the only mattress I have found which looked well made and felt comfortable is a Dreamworks Portobello Supreme, which has 2400 springs (presumably in 2 layers) , cotton and cashmere, hand stitched sides etc. However they couldn’t tell me a lot more in the shop about it, and their website doesn’t detail the construction.it is on sale for £750. Have you any opinions about how this would compare to either your Artisan 1500 or Artisan Naturals, which are the two I am considering on your site?

Many thanks Paula

1 Answer
Lee Staff
answered 9 years ago

Hi Paula,

Thank you for your question.

Unfortunately I can find no discernable information about the Portobello mattress or its internal components.  It is all very light on detail, for example it doesn’t state anywhere how much cashmere there is, if its an insulator pad or loose as a comfort layer.

For your weight I’d recommend a medium spring tension and not a firm.  Unless you’re pushing 17 stone or you want a punishingly firm sleep, medium is more than sufficient to give you the correct support.

BodyweightSpring tension
Upto 16 Stone / 50-101kgMedium (1.4mm)
16 Stone / 101kg UpwardsFirm (1.6mm)
Available in Bespoke Products (Please Call)Soft (1.2mm)

Too firm a bed means your awkwardly lying on top of a mattress and your body has to do all the moulding, sometimes resulting in stiffness or soreness. Ideally the mattress should do the moulding to you.

The Artisan 1500 and Artisan Naturals are excellent models and I wouldn’t even compare them to the Portobello. I doubt you could get the same components for less than our list price so at £750 in my experience that mattress will contain significantly high levels of synthetic fibre.  The difference between the 1500 and Naturals is the percentage of natural fibres.

The Artisan 150 has 53% natural fibre and the Artisan Naturals has a whopping 85% natural fibre and calico encased pocket springs – real luxury top end bed territory such as vispring and savoir.

As advised above, a medium spring tension in either of these will more than support you and then decide based on budget whether its the more natural model you prefer.

Any further questions please give us a call on 0161 437 4419.

Kind regards Julie

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