Just a year before I met my husband and eloped, my parents bought me a new bed and mattress set. (Parents--gotta love 'em!) Armed with their credit card number, I dragged my best friend to the local department store, where we merrily skipped from bed to bed, pressing, sitting, bouncing--and if it passed those tests, we flopped out, rolled around, looked at each other, and laughed. (Good thing he's a guy, huh?) Several days later, my Sealy Posturepedic Chelsea queen set was delivered.

For that year, it provided blissful rest. Ultra-firm support, soft-pillowtop cushioning, and a nice raised effect that made my lovely new bed the envy of my friends. I managed to turn it myself, according to Sealy's schedule, and in that year, heard nary a squeak or groan, even when the husband-to-be visited and sat on the bed to tie his shoes, or took a chaste nap. (I swear, mom, I swear!)

So naturally, when my husband and I married, I insisted we buy another Sealy Posturepedic. We agreed on a king-size--both of us are big people and bedhogs, and our naps on the queen-size were especially convincing. Off we trooped to the local department store, where I asked for the Chelsea.

Surprise. Like all the other big mattress manufacturers, Sealy has hundreds of different names for the same product. Chelsea was used only by the department store in Ohio where I bought the mattress--and here in New York, there was no way to tell exactly which mattress matched.

And, despite our impending nuptials, the hubby-to-be was less than thrilled about testing the mattress in the store. So I bounced and flopped solo, while he wandered through the television section. When I was certain I had a match, I whistled and he laid down the plastic.

Unfortunately, we did not live happily ever after--in bed, anyway. This Sealy Posturepedic Pillow-top king set, while ultra-firm, is far less so than the Queen set. Worst of all, its box springs (two twins) were completely shot within a year.

What do I mean by shot? They squeak. They squeal. They creak. They groan. If either of us so much as moves an inch, the bed makes its displeasure known, in no uncertain terms.

So all of its special features, like the pillowtop, or the specially shaped coils, or the edge-guard, all are pretty much useless to us. I find the bed quite comfortable. I've even slept on it a few times without sheets, and I'm impressed that the polyester fabric of the mattress doesn't get hot. He detests it completely and thinks it's too firm. He also thinks it's much too thick--and at 14" it is a monster to dress sometimes. But we agree that the noise is unbearable, and the Sealy Posturepedic has little time left in our house.

Lest you wonder, we've flipped this mattress faithfully--and that is no mean feat. It is quite heavy, and the handles on the sides pulled out the first time we tried to use them to guide the mattress.

When the bed first began misbehaving, we called the store, and the store told us to call Sealy. When we called Sealy, they insisted we had to call the store. So all the promises in the warranty (15 years, I believe) were really useless. That's a hard lesson for $1800.

Six years later, my Queen Sealy Posturepedic is still perfect and silent. But the King--the King must go. We need our rest.



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