I'll never forget walking into my great aunt and uncle's bedroom when I was in college. I was touring their gorgeous island home in St. Thomas on my first spring break visit there with my roommate.
As I walked in and my eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, I noticed two twin beds pushed side by side, each with its own bedding.
"Hmmm. That's interesting," I thought to myself.
I had never seen a master bedroom with two beds pushed together. My parents always slept in a queen bed, and every other master bedroom I'd visited had a queen or king. I was intrigued.
A Bit of Personal Bed History
Fast forward 20 years: I've been married for 10 years and can now totally understand why someone would want their own bed in a marriage. Especially since I got married at 28, it was a big adjustment to share my bed with another person every night.
When my husband and I got married, he already had a queen bed, so we figured we'd use that. Unfortunately, he'd had it for a while and always slept in the middle, so it had a serious dip. For the first 3 years of our marriage, I hugged the edge of the bed and tried not to roll into the middle. Not fun!
It got so bad that when I was pregnant with our daughter, I just slept in the guest room. Keeping a very pregnant belly out of the dip in the middle was too much work for this mama!
When we moved into our current home 7 years ago, we had a bigger room and badly needed a new mattress. My husband can sleep almost anywhere, so the sagging mattress didn't bother him, but I couldn't take it anymore!
We went to the mattress store, lay down on a few options, and had a new bed delivered the next day. It felt like a dream compared to our old mattress. Yet we still tossed and turned a lot at night. After a few years, my husband's side sagged badly, and his shoulders and neck started to hurt.
By the way, I made the headboard as one of my first DIY projects. You can find the DIY headboard tutorial here. And the nightstands are a $35 dresser hack I still love 7 years later!
Time for a New Mattress
So when Saatva Mattress reached out to see if we'd like to try their beds, I jumped at the chance. We needed something new, and I'd heard great things about the quality of their beds.
I was also intrigued by their adjustable frames. So fancy!
And if you want a king-sized bed but also want two separate adjustable frames, you can simply get two twin XL beds and push them together. (That's what we did!)
So I convinced him to give them a try.
Let me just say it: we LOVE them. We couldn't be happier. I'll share more of the pros in a minute, but the bottom line is that I'm SOOOO glad we chose the two XL twin beds with adjustable bases.
What Is the Best Mattress Firmness?
When we ordered, a big question was which comfort or firmness level to pick. Saatva offers 3 comfort levels: plush soft, luxury firm, and firm. I believe I read somewhere that 80%+ of their customers choose luxury firm.
I was nervous about buying a bed online without trying it out first. But their website did a great job of helping me find the right comfort level for us.
My husband prefers a softer bed than I do, so I worried that luxury firm would be too hard for him. But I knew I could buy a pillow topper for him if needed.
The great news is that you can use the bed for up to 120 days and return it with no hassle. That took all the worry and anxiety out of the process for me.
You will want to take good measurements and do your research first. But if the bed truly doesn't work for you, they will take it back minus the $99 transportation fee. (The adjustable bases aren't refundable.)
Perks of Sleeping in Separate Beds
When we were deciding which beds to get, my husband was hesitant at first about sleeping separately. He didn't want it to cut into any cuddle time. #ofcourse
But I had heard that other couples sleep in separate beds and seem to be doing just fine. And remember my aunt and uncle? They were married more than 60 years.
Keep in mind that I'm talking about two twin beds pushed up next to each other, not totally separate bedrooms. But do you! Whatever works best for your marriage is what you should do! #imnotacounselor #ha
Pros of sleeping in separate beds side by side…
- We don't feel each other move in the night. He doesn't wake up when I go to bed late, and I don't wake up when he gets up early. Yay!
- Before, when he fell asleep, I could feel his every move, and it kept me awake. Now I feel very little movement, if any, and I fall asleep faster and more easily.
- Because we aren't waking each other up in the middle of the night, we're sleeping more soundly and getting better quality rest.
- Have I mentioned how nice a good night's sleep is?? LOL As parents of little kids finally coming out of the fog of the baby and toddler years, sleep is a precious treasure!
Downsides of Sleeping in Separate Beds
Honestly, there aren't really any drawbacks, just a few things to consider when buying separate beds. We have the Saatva Adjustable Base Plus, so if you use different bed frames, your experience may differ.
- New Fitted Sheets. We did have to buy new fitted sheets for the new XL twin mattresses because they have two separate adjustable bases that move independently.
- But good news!! Target sells the fitted sheets on their own in our favorite sheet line! We grabbed a couple of sets, and we're all set. We still use the same flat sheet, duvet, and blankets on top.
- The beds can separate in the middle if a lot of pressure is put on them. Honestly, in our everyday use, they don't come apart. The only time they do is when the kids climb in and start playing, and then they separate a bit. It's not a problem. We just push them back together!
Since we bought this bed, we've moved into a new home and bought a bed frame. The frame simply sits around the adjustable bases, and they work perfectly! We skipped installing the slats, and it has worked fine for more than 5 years now!
Final Thoughts on the Saatva Mattresses
Like I mentioned before, we were hesitant about ordering a mattress online and unsure which comfort level to choose.
We loved their coil-on-coil construction, which lets each layer do a different job. For example, the bottom coils provide a supportive base, while the top layer has individually wrapped coils that respond perfectly to your body shape and reduce motion transfer.
So even if you choose to share a bed, you still won't feel your partner move as much as you would on other mattresses.
In the end we chose the Luxury Firm comfort level because I like a firmer mattress and my husband prefers a softer one. It seemed like the right fit for us. The top has a euro pillow top, so it's comfy yet firm.
Now that we've slept on it for almost 3 months, I can tell you it was the perfect choice for us! It strikes the perfect balance of soft and firm. It feels firmer than our previous mattress, yet we sleep better than we ever have. My husband has rather broad shoulders and used to wake up with a lot of shoulder pain. He hasn't had any shoulder pain since sleeping on our Saatva mattress.
Also, the white glove delivery service was fantastic. You can watch the video I took when the local delivery crew brought our mattresses. They had glowing things to say about Saatva's quality and customer service. They were professional, on time, and extremely helpful! They ran into a mechanical issue with the adjustable bed but quickly fixed it, and they hauled away my old bed frame and mattress too, even though setup took them 10 extra minutes.
The whole process was seamless, and I can't recommend them enough. I never recommend anything on the blog that I wouldn't recommend to my best friends, and this is no exception.
I've been singing Saatva's praises to family and friends alike! If you're shopping for a new mattress, I 100% recommend Saatva.
Shop for your own separate beds with adjustable bases at Saatva today!
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments! What are YOUR thoughts on sleeping in separate beds or using adjustable bases? I'd love to hear them!
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