a sapira mattress for my parents from leesa.

This post is sponsored by Leesa, a mattress company with the simple goal: “to help people sleep better.”

In the house where I did most of my growing up, I can slide my feet over the sloped floorboards with my eyes closed and still know precisely which room I’m in. The house was built in the mid-18th century, and in some places those floorboards pitch so impressively that as kids my sisters and I could take bounding leaps and sail across them like reckless cross-country skiers in stockinged feet. Try as you might, square corners are not a thing you will find in this house. But if you’re looking for musicality, at its advanced age the house conducts an impressive symphony of creaks and moans. The rooms are damp and musty in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s a place that demands a certain kind of endurance to care for it, and for the past twenty-six years my mom and dad have been its devoted custodians. Devoted custodians who deserve a good night’s sleep.

When Leesa reached out at the beginning of the year to see if I would be interested in giving their Sapira mattress a try, I knew precisely who should take a luxury mattress for a test-drive. I won’t claim that my parents were sleeping on a straw-stuffed pallet on the floor or tightening bed ropes nightly, but suffice to say the mattress they’d been sleeping on needed an upgrade. One might view navigating the quirks of an antique house as something of a pleasant pastime, but navigating the quirks of an antique mattress is something else entirely. So on a recent winter weekend, we took a trip to Connecticut to help them unveil their new brand-new mattress.
Like the Leesa, the Sapira ships direct-to-consumer in an improbably slim box. In addition to three layers of foam, the Sapira has an additional layer of steel springs working to support sleepy bones. As my dad and I unpackaged the mattress, it unfurled itself with a satisfying pop and poof. Moments later it was fully robust.

My parents made use of their existing bed frame (and the fabric-covered plywood headboard that I remember watching them make together in the 80s), but to ensure that their new mattress would have a firm surface to rest on, they paired their mattress with the Leesa Foundation. The slatted foundation came together in a matter of minutes and provided just the kind of solid support that makes the mattress shine.

How are they sleeping at night? As folks who hadn’t endeavored to purchase a new mattress since the phenomenon of mattresses arriving to back porches in boxes began, my parents viewed their new mattress with optimism, but also a whisper of incredulity. My mom wanted to confirm that it was flame-retardant free (it is), my dad wondered if it would have an odor (it didn’t), and they were both concerned that a foam mattress would feel too soft. A few weeks into their test-drive of the Sapira, they tell me they’re eager to climb into bed each night.

Much to their surprise, their biggest adjustment was firmness, just not in the way they expected. After years of sleeping on the same mattress, the Sapira actually felt firmer than what they were used to and it took them a few nights to get used to the extra support. Now, they welcome it. Each of my parents has been sleeping on the same side of the bed since they were married thirty-seven years ago. Which is to say that my dad sleeps on the left and my mom sleeps in the middle. My parents happily report that the Sapira feels “uniformly solid, from side to side and top to bottom” and that they’re not worried that the middle might start to sag. And, if not for their decades-long spooning habit, my mom claims that the foam cushioning would mean they’d barely be aware of each other in the bed.

To the question of whether the Leesa Foundation seems to be doing an adequate job of keeping everything afloat, my dad quips, “solid as a rock.” To his delight, the mattress edges fully support his morning ritual of pulling on socks and shoes while perched on the edge of the bed.

The house might still creak and moan, but the mattress doesn’t.

If you’re interested in taking the Sapira or Leesa plunge yourself, today marks the beginning of their Presidents’ Day Sale. Today through February 21, 2018 at 12:00 pm ET, you can get $125 off the Leesa mattress or $200 off the Sapira and receive a free pillow with your order. (And if you miss that offer, you can use the code TEALEAVES at anytime for $100 off the Leesa mattress, or $200 off the Sapira mattress, plus free shipping.)

Also! You can now test-drive Leesa Mattresses in person in select Pottery Barn and West Elm stores.

For the curious: We treated my mom and dad to a few bedroom improvements in addition to their mattress: the duvet cover and shams are a gift from Parachute Home and the bedside lamps are a gift from Schoolhouse Electric. 

This post was sponsored by Leesa. All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that support Reading My Tea Leaves.