Separate mattresses - one bed frame - why?

So I have been looking for a mattress cover for a while now...not really seriously...just in passing should I happen to be out and about. What I really notice is that although our mattress is 140 x 200, it is nearly impossible to get covers and sheets to fit. We mainly end up buying at Ikea because it is the only place we can get bed paraphenalia to fit (which is fitting - no pun intended - as we purchased the mattress there).

All the great sales I come across in the flyers (woo I get flyers in our new building now) are for smaller sizes, the biggest I come across lately being 135 x 200. Most is like 90 x 100. Tom seems to think it could be that a lot of beds have a separated mattress where each person has their own separate sleeping area. It seems he might be right. I have been in a few hotels and pensions, particularly in Austria where the beds are all like this. Is this common in homes as well?

Why is that? Is there some significant reason I am missing? Just a curiousity for anyone who can shed some light...

Yes, in Germany, the beds at home are also like this.
I believe it serves two purposes.

Those being:

1. No one bogarts the blankets. You each get your own blanket and there is no pulling on it during the night when you are freezing to get some blanket back.

2. Separate mattreses so that you can sleep in peace. If you have a sleeping partner who is always flipping around, they will not wake you as you are not sharing the same mattress and you will not feel the bounce.

I think its genius, personally.

I think its great. A benefit is that you can have a different firmness for each side - e.g. if one person likes/needs a really squishy mattress and the other something less flexible

And if one person is heavier than the other, then separate mattresses mean you only roll together when you want to.
Otherwise the smaller person rolls down a slope into the bigger one.
My bed is like this but only because it means my bed is massive

It is indeed a great system. Furthemore when having friends to stay you can stick a non-couple together on one of these beds with no silly issues about sleeping in the same bed etc. So works for singles and couples.

Gee no one likes to cuddle anymore?? hehe Where has the romance gone? How can you spoon on separate mattresses?? Every man or woman for himself/herself eh?!

Secretly I like the separate blanket idea as one *someone* I share the bed with gets too hot whereas I am always cold...it IS a problem at times. They might be on to something there...

I thought it was really stupid and sad at first too, but you can still cuddle, no problem. You can put one elastic sheet over both mattresses, so that you don't fall into the middle.

Extra benefit: no gargantuan mattresses. Everything fits in your Mini or Polo, no problem! And with 300 year old houses, you can get the parts upstairs too!

I'm sorry, but I don't think this is a 'European' thing. A german thang, an Austrian thang, maybe, but it's certainly not common in Britain, France...

I love my queen-sized mattress. For 2 people long term, I guess I'd want to get two of THEM and stick 'em together. There's just something about sleeping diagonally on a bed that's already longer than my height.

I think they suck, except that I can stick my feet into the crack and its all warm and toasty and shit. It is like a boundary that disturbs my sleep.

if you have someonbe to share your bed with then i guess it's okay...but if you live by yourself that crack in the middle is just plain annoying...anyone else with me on that?

Bed crack is just wrong. I have two twins that are stuck together, I sleep sideways or diagonal...anything to achieve the least bed crack to body ratio.

I was on a trip to Denmark and was told that by a chap there that, up until about 50 or 60 years ago, if you visited a persons house and stayed the night, you took your own bed???!!! They had a spare "bed" room but you brought your own bed. Personally, I dont like separate mattresses but at least I dont get a knee in my back or the sensation that I am sleeping next to a hot coal when I am forced to use the two-mattress system!!!

Separate mattresses and blankets suck, they're bad for relationships.

if you have a blanket issue at night just keep an extra one at the foot of the bed and if you find yourself freezing grab it... i agree w/ those that are anti this system (the bed thingy)

Not only am I against the bed concept here, I also can't stand the comforter wrapped in the sheet. As far as I'm concerned, the sheet is designed to be separate from the comforter. And a blanket in the middle or on the foot of the bed is always an option for cold weather.

When I have to stay in a hotel with the mono-comfortersheet, I am usually roasting or freezing alternately throughout the night. The best I can manage is an in-between setting, where some ratio of my body is covered and the rest is sticking out in the night air as a heat sink. Of course, sometimes this backfires badly and one leg or arm ends up freezing cold at 3am

I've noticed this too in Austria and I am guessing that it's a Catholic thing - men and women sleeps apart

I read in a Feng Shui book and my FS master told me its bad luck to have separate mattresses and since i am superstitious, i go with that flow...hate the bed crack thing too though.

I think separate rooms work out best. So you dont end up keeping your spouse awake when you have guests over for the night.

uh...so your not going to invite your spouse to join you in your activities?

Blimeygirl, 135 x 200 is the standard douvet cover size for a 140 x 200 matress. You will never find douvet covers sized 140 x 200 but you should be able to find sheets in that size. If all you find is marked 135 x 200, buy them since are sized correctly for a 140 x 200 matress.

just to split hairs here btw, two single matresses in a single frame is not typical "european". First time i had ever come across such a thing was here in Germany.

I never understood them either, how can you cuddle properly if you have a big crack in the bed! Its rubbish. How can you spoon?

Someone always falls folly of that crack.. Bring comedy back into the bedroom, I say

I'm going to side with those who think that 2 mattresses are bad for relationships. It's like there are two different beds there, also bad for shagg'in the girlfriend - my knee always finds the middle.

When we bought our bed, the salesman looked at us funny when we ordered a 200 x 180 mattress. Also we had trouble finding an alergenic mattress cover that same size - we had to special order it!

wrong guess. Its also the norm in Sweden too, which is hardly a bastion of Catholicism

Well I have made the mistake of buying 135 x 200, it is just too small for the 140 x 200 mattress. It may fit but not when you take into account people moving and turning etc. Someone ends up without blankie. It's no good. We were able to get 155 x 220 at Ikea which although is quite considerably longer, you don't have to worry about being out in the cold.

I guess it is just something German rather than European...I just didn't want to generalize (I thought I had seen this in Italy as well but perhaps I am wrong). But there you have it.

Separate mattresses and blankets are a bummer, I find myself often lying on the crack and its not pleasant. The idea of both partners sleeping to their convenience is stupid, one could always get a big enough bed or blanket for both of them to roll and sleep comfortably..But I guess those who have been sleeping like this for decades now have forgotten the good old times and have just adapted to this abnormal/unromantic system.

Only good thing, is no fighting over the covers in the night. But that's about the only good thing !

except that you haven't addressed the point about some people requiring a different mattress firmness


how! each section should be at least similar to a single bed. Do you often fall out of single beds?

You find yourself lying on the crack when you go in for a cuddle. I don't like it either, Thank God for Ikea is all I can say.

you can hop over the crack though. Or get all that cuddling out the way before you fall asleep! But yeah I sort of know what you mean

When I used to stay with the in-laws for xmas visits etc - the only choice was bunk beds! Now that really does make things trickier than skipping across a crack in the middle.

I am in two minds about the separate matress thing. It is weird, but I have to admit my girl and I sleep much better on a bed with separate matresses as there is a kind of boundry that our bodies seem to take note of during sleep and we dont end up in each others space and waking each other up.

Having said that, we do have a single large matress in our own bed cos the cuddling and sex is just so much more important than the sleep. More than sepereate matresses however, I hate the separate sheet / Quilt thingy. Even though each gets his own, Its just too small. I brought a 13 Tog King Size quilt with me from the UK. Regardless of the size of bed, I always go for king size quilts as they are the best defense against the blanket stealing, rolling over syndromes and if its bigger than the bed then the extra width looks nice when it hangs down the side of the bed.

To solve the problem of finding sheets, etc, for such a quilt I buy them from time to time when i go home. Simple!

Cant believe i wrote so much on that subject ...

i like separate mattresses b/c of the protection against the other's tossing & turning. combine those with one big duvet and a mattress pad thingy and you have the best of both worlds (without the crack).

I agree that the separate mattresses are not as bad as the tiny separate duvet thing. A quilt each just doesn't work for me. Having to stay tucked under your own quilt to stay warm gets in the way of cuddles more than the mattress crack. And don't get me started on the pillows.

Wal-Mart in Freising have American/British style pillows for about 3 euro apiece. They're a bit on the small side but they make me happy. Another case of having to have what you're used to eh?

ok, see your problem now. the 135s are the "correct size" though. You just need the correct fitted sheet. What i do is have two 90 x 200 duvets instead of one big one for sleeping under. That way, there is no fighting for the blanket. In winter, i would also add a 135 duvet when it got really cold, that way noone gets frozen at night. (i sleep better with relatively low temps in the bedroom and nice big duvets.)

Can't be a Catholic thing - The church's official stance is: Get married and then have as many children as possible, the more souls to save, the better...

My boyfriend and I just bought a new bed - it is 180cm x 200 - would be a king size bed in American standards. You would not believe the hassle it was to find one! I told my boyfriend under no circumstances would I do the 'bed crack' thing and separate comforters. Everyone tries to push you to buy two 90cm beds. However, if you are a 100 lb woman with a 220 lb man, then it makes sense. Luckily, the bed we wanted and eventually bought does not take into consideration the difference in weight between partners.

aah, someone else who has had this problem. we now also have the 155x220 blanket & it is much better to cuddle under. if i'm too cold, i can roll over and get some heat.
i also would not do the separate mattress thing unless my love gains 50 kgs, then he's too big to cuddle with anyhow!