Eddie35

Hi,

We don't know whether to ship our beds which won't arrive for 8 weeks or so and buy cheap beds in the States while we wait- or to sell/give away before we leave.

What have people found the most cost effective please? If we bring the beds does that mean the cost of our shipping will be considerably more and are temporary cheap beds and mattresses actually cheap in the States? On the flip side will we find decent beds costing us alot when we could have brought our beds from the UK?

Thanks!

mikelincs

Don't bother, bed and sheet sizes are different so when you come to buy new bedding in the US you will need new beds, I suspect others will say the same. I would just buy new when you get there.

fozzyb

We got rid or our mattresses (getting to the end of their lives anyway) but shipped our (wooden) bed frames, and bought new mattresses in the US - Not realizing that US beds are different sizes to UK ones - ended up having to buy an extra bed and some sheets etc in the US anyway.

Then when we moved back to the UK we shipped everything, and now have a rather random mix of US and UK size beds and bedding.

In practice the difference is not to big on single beds - UK sheets fit on US matresses if.you tuck them under a bit (or is it the other way round I'm not sure). In fact my two girls are in (UK) bunk beds - with one having a US mattress and one a UK one. Curiously the mattresses only fit one way round - the one mattress will fit on the bottom bunk but not the top one.

For double beds the difference is a bit more - we have a separate set of sheets that will only fit on the guest bed not on our bed, but that's not too big an issue.

Springy6

We're going through this process but decided, as we're not paying the costs, to ship our beds. We've only just bought a new £700 mattress for our bed which, after years of insomnia, I don't want to get rid of!
I'm not sure how often you put new sheets on your beds, but we plan to take a stock of new unopened sheets and duvets with us. We're also duvet fans rather than sheets and blankets/comforters which was another factor in our decision. I'm yet to see a proper duvet in the US.

Mr Weeze

We bought a proper duvet form Macy's of all places, and you can find bedding sets for it pretty regularly on sale (for example through myhabit). As far as fitted sheets are concerned, then you can buy them online from UK retailers - M&S have periods of free shipping etc.

We brought with and have been gradually changing as things age/get beat up. Our UK superking frame gradually died through being taken apart and put back together with moves, so we just changed that. Looking to change our UK king right now, which is the spare bed. It looks like it with be +/- $500 to change it for a US queen which is about the same size.

hungryhorace

A double bed is the same in the US and UK as far as I'm concerned. We have a Vi-Spring double bed I brought with me to the US and US double bedding fits perfectly for it.

petitefrancaise

"Full" sized bed linen is the just about the same size as a UK double. The "full"mattresses however are not quite the same size. Sooo, if you've got a decent mattress and frame that you don't envisage changing for a few years then I'd bring them. Next and M and S both deliver bedlinen to the US as well. I'd bring a nice extra duvet set since they don't have the same stock for international delivery.

When we moved over, we knew we'd have 6-8 weeks before the furniture arrived so seeing as we are seasoned campers, we brought our blow up mattresses + sheets + pillows and summer duvets on the plane with us. They were great. Kids were happy to have their own bed-linen so that there was at least something familiar for them in their new rooms.

Blow-up mattresses from Walmart are cheap and any household stuff you need to buy as a temp measure can be bought at Ikea.

Edit: Our shipping costs were paid for as part of relocation package. Not sure if it's worthwhile bringing them if you're paying. Why don't you ask your removal company? Ikea US has decent beds so you could compare prices there.

GeoffM

IKEA, for one, sell "proper" duvets.

MsElui

we have had us brought duvets on our bed since we got here.

we brought one king bed but ended up buying new and making the uk one the spare bed once it arrived and used the uk bedding we brought with us (wasnt used much so never wore out. we got rid of it recenctly as we didnt need a spare king anymore.

NatashaB

Aren't Ikea bed/bedding sizes different to standard?

petitefrancaise

oh yes......

duvets, pillows and their covers are the bane of my life.

If you buy Ikea duvets you're pretty much stuck with their covers unless you fancy making some of your own.
I have a wonderful goose down duvet that I bought years ago in the UK(not in Ikea) and have had to buy covers for it just about every time I go back to the UK. My summer duvet is a thin Ikea one which needs covers all of it's own. The kids' duvets are now all ikea and they're a bit fed up with the design choice. The quality of the kids' duvet covers at IKea can be pretty awful too, I'm about to take one back because it still feels like cardboard after a couple of washes.

And then there are the different pillow sizes - all my french ones are completely different sizes to the UK and US ones. Am about to start making my own....

GeoffM

Nope. Random browse through their beds and the sizes match the US standards. We've got a mix of Target duvet covers and Ikea duvets and they fit. Which reminds me, I think Target also sell duvets.

hungryhorace

If anyone is looking for a US size duvet, I recommend a visit to this site: Luxury Comforters | The Company Store

Shame Siberian or Snow Goose is not available, but they do have Hungarian which is pretty darn good.

Orangepants

Lots of places have duvet covers ranging from Bed, Bath and Beyond, Target, Macy's, Wayfair and Amazon (online) and my favourite West Elm.

Steve_

The most cost effective thing is to buy a new bed most likely, but I don't recommend you do. Quality of beds varies massively, I think I went through eight mattresses last time I changed, before I found one I could sleep on, I put a thread on here somewhere if you want to find it.

What you have to bear in mind is that you will look at a mattress by maker X but they have factories all over the place so QC and spec varies. Serta, Simmons, etc. all the major brands have the same issue. Only the really high-end ones and IKEA (Mexico) all come from one factory, even Tempur-Pedic has multiple factories. The use of polyester is very common in the US as well, and polyester has to be about the worst possible thing to make mattresses out of.

If you're moving abroad, you will be very stressed the first few months and you will need to be able to sleep well. It just isn't worth arguing about the price of shipping frankly, ship the thing, at least you will know you will have something you can sleep on.

Bed sizes are slightly different, roughly speaking a US Queen is the same size as a UK king and a US King is the same size as a UK Superking but they're different enough that fitted sheets won't fit.

But bring your sheets with you, it's just not that big of a deal, worst-case scenario you have to mail order a mattress sheet from Europe.

It does also depend somewhat on the weather, I personally don't think memory foam is comfortable in hotter climes. So if you're moving somewhere hot, that might be an issue.