Furniture and Furnishings - Carolina Mattress Guild

Anyone have any experience with Carolina Mattress Guild's products? My wife and I have been shopping for a new mattress, and we found one from this company yesterday. We really like it, and the price is well in our range. We've just never heard of the company. The salesman says they've been around for 10+ years now.

The particular mattress we are interested in is in their "Elegant Comfort" line and has a type of "memory foam" (now quite the generic term) to it. Very comfy! The feel of this mattress is very similar to name brand mattresses we've looked at that were close to double the price.

Is it all foam?
Most mattress companies don't make the springs or foam, they just put them together
If it's foam on coils, then you'll need to find out the coil count and any other construction features (edge guard, continuous coils, hand tied coils, extra coils in the lumbar...), and maybe who makes it (most coils are made by one company)
Then you'll want to find out who makes their foam, or technically what type it is exactly (there are only a few regional/national foam companies to choose from, and foam specs are pretty standard)
A little info like that and it can tell you if it's a guest bed, medium quality, or premium mattress

If CMG called me up and said they had a mattress they want me to carry in my shop, with the answers to these questions I'd know exacly what quality and how much it should/could retail for, even though I haven't heard of them

Smaller regional manufacturers can be a great place to get your mattress
10 years is really new, the biggies are all over 100, but hey, new guys don't have that 17 million doller advertising budget to support!

It's not all foam. It's a combination of coils and foam.

I don't recall who manufactured the coils, but I do recall that they were the more heavy guage coils. Seems like the manufacturer name started with a C (salesman said there were only a couple of coil manufacturers I believe). The Coil count for the queen is 551.

Quoting what little the literature says "With the Lura-Flex coil system each coil flexes independently for more sensitivity to body contours and more durability with less friction."

Regarding the edges, it says "A high density firm foam rail encasement offers enhanced edge support and greater sleeping surface."

The literature makes no mention of the foam type. Of course, the literature isn't really what a salesman would normally hand out. It's just what was copied out of a catologue by the store owner (he said they didn't have literature on this bed yet since they just got it).

While I know that a picture of the bed doesn't tell you much, here it is: http://www.carolinamattressguild.com/images/coh_elegant_comfort_visco.jpg


The three things we are looking for are comfort, price, and motion reduction (so my moving around doesn't wake my wife). This bed seems like a good fit, and is $699 (sale price, retail is $899) for the queen set including delivery and hauling off the old mattress.

A foam encased 551 coil is a good premium innerspring, the foam encased edge support works very well
That spring company (yes there are very few) is known for a "pocket coil" they make, technically called a "Marshal coil"
If that's what CMG calls "Lura-Flex" than that the best coil system for not transfering motion side to side
The biggest problem with pocket coils has traditionally been edge breakdown, and foam encasement is the best way I can think of to combat that
Relatively new, but very effective for any mattress

If it's not a pocket coil, look for helical wires that go from head to toe
Helicals are long spirals that hold the support coils together
Traditionally they go side to side and transfer a lot of motion
Head to toe transfers less
Pocket coils transfer none (any motion transfered is from the padding)

The picture does tell me it's a no-flip (you want that, trust me) Euro-Pillowtop
It would have to have some sort of high density or memory foam to be no-flip
It has a fair amount of padding for comfort, which you mentioned as something you were looking for
The foam encased 551 coil spring unit is a supportive unit and if it's a pocket coil it won't transfer motion
It is an $899 set w/o a doubt
Some retailers would mark it $1299 but for you, I like your face, for you,$899
And then if you balked or walked eventually they'd lower it to $699
I like the fact that this store said it's $899 on sale for $699
And delivery and hauling away the old
This isn't a chain store is it? or maybe a small local chain?

You both should try it together for at least 10 minutes to test the motion transfer and make sure you both like the comfort (if you havn't yet)
And find out what the non pro-rated part of the warranty is (though it's not that big of a deal)
Ex: 20 year warranty pro-rated after 10 years = 10 year warranty (forget the pro-rated part)
10 years is good (realistically any factory defects will show up real fast, 1-3 years, and "wearing out" is not covered, hence why it's not that big of a deal)

You won't find an S,S, or S at that quality level for that price that's for sure

Thanks for the good info Slickshift!

The store is locally owned, not a chain. The salesman we spoke to is the owner. He seems to really know his stuff, and the store has an excellent reputation. The fact that the guy didn't push us towards the lesser featured $899 Serta that we also spent a lot of time looking at told me he wasn't just trying to sell the most expensive mattress we were willing to consider.

The warranty is somewhat of a concern. It's listed as "5 year prorated, 10 year warranty", so you may as well call it a 5 year warranty.

The owner/salesman and I talked about mattress warranties. His take on them was that you often pay extra for long warranties. He also noted that to be able to be considered defective, many mattresses that carry long warranties have to be broken down to a point beyond what would be considered wore out. He mentioned one mattress that is considered defective if it has 1.5" of impression. Yet, that is WAY beyond the amount of impression that indicates a mattress is wore out. In other words, the excessively long warranty is useless.

He would be correct
And very up front with you
Long mattress warranties are ridiculous
They are a marketing ploy
They do cover factory defects, which is important with anything made in a factory
But factory defects will show up in the first year of full time use
Three years at the most
Let's face it, if your mattress had a defect, do you really think it would hold for 9 1/2 years (27 thousand hours) of use and then give out?
And normal wear and tear is not covered
So if you have a 17 year old mattress with a 20 year warranty and it's flat as a pancake, that doesn't mean it's defective...it's old!
That's what they will tell you, and they'd be right, but they shouldn't have put that 20 year warranty on it
You would be hard pressed to find a defect that showed up after 5 years

Just a note, keep in mind he may be making as much profit on the lower priced set as the higher "Brand Name"
That's not a bad thing-just something to keep in mind
The brand you mentioned is notorius for forcing retailers to cut their profits on their brand products to stay competitive
And as you noted, the product didn't compare
Those sheep ads cost a lot of money

Thanks again Slickshift!

I believe this is the mattress we'll be buying.

Good point on profit margins. He doesn't necessarily have the same % markup on all mattresses. He very well may make the same $$ on either, in which case selling volumes of the less expensive mattress is better for him, as he has less $$ tied up in inventory. (I know I'd rather spent $500 to make $200 than spend $700 to make $200...I have no idea what actual margins are.)

He basically said that the only reason he carried the brand name mattresses is for older customers who insist they want a Serta/Sealy/etc. I thought that was funny, but it's probably pretty much true.

I'm wondering if we will need to purchase queen sheets that have deeper fitted sheets for this mattress. We have to buy new sheets anyway so it's not a big deal. We currently have a full/double sized bed (by full, that means we use the full thing when we sleep on it, lol). I REALLY look forward to those extra inches! And (hopefully) a better nights sleep for my wife and I. :D

Your welcome
And you will have to keep and eye out on the sheet thing
Check the packages or ask the sales people if they'll fit a...ooo...how thick is that?...better call him up and have him measure the thickness, or pop down and DIY before sheet shopping
Sheet companies have caught up with the thicker matt thing but you still have to check

Your gonna love the extra 20% with the step up to queen!

I jumped over to WalMart's web site after posting that. They have a 440 threadcount queen set that will fit up to an 18" thick mattress for ~$60. This mattress is thick, but no way its 18".

Any tips on any good online stores for sheets? We will want to get a couple of sets of good quality sheets...at good value pricing, of course. :)

Of course, I'll probably leave the sheet buying up to my wife. She's the interior decorator in our house. :D

Of course, I'll probably leave the sheet buying up to my wife. She's the interior decorator in our house. :D
You'd better let her at least have some say in the matter or she won't be happy ha ha ;)

Honestly I'll have to ask my better half about the online sites, as she loves browsing that way
If something kicks in my brain I'll post it
Mostly we get that stuff from brick and morters (so you can touch it)
though I think she like W*M and Target for online browsing
I'll ask her

Hey Slick!

Just an update...the mattress was delivered Friday. My wife say's she needs a ladder to get up to it. LOL It's a full 30" tall. :D So far, I give it :thumbup: :thumbup:

LOL
30" is pretty normal these days, but it can be a shock when it's in your room
Especially if your old one was 15"-18"
They don't look that tall in the big showroom surrounded by others
Give it some time, after the shock is gone she may find she likes it
I personally find it much easier on the old bones to get in and out of a "taller" (these days average height) bed, mines at 30" with no comforter

If it really needs to be lowered you can get a lo-profile foundation (box spring) that's only 4" or 5" thick, or a lo-profile frame that lowers the whole thing to a few inches off the floor

It's pretty good that you like it so far, it can easily take a week to get used to a new mattress, longer if your old one was over 10 years old

Sleep Well!

i did a google on 'carolina mattress' and found this thread.

happens i had this exact mattress delivered yesterday and i'm over the moon about it. i have fibromyalgia as well as osteo arthritis in my hips and sleeping (or my ability to!) is a big issue.

this mattress is wonderful!

Hello, and welcome to DoItYourself.com forums!
Most people with problems such as yours find a softer top mattress helps
I'm glad you found one
I hope you poke around the site a bit
And I hope you are sleeping better
And thanks for the input