The bed that's in every room of the Westin Grand Hotel on M Street NW brings to mind the Grand Canyon -- or the princess and that pesky pea. A cross-section of the "Heavenly Bed," as it was dubbed at its introduction five years ago, shows that it has strata formed of sheets, duvets, pads, down, pillows and 900 individually wrapped coil springs.
Anita Philyaw could buy one through the hotel, but she's had it up to here with coils.
Instead, Philyaw, a nationally known artist who lives in the District, journeyed up Rockville Pike to visit her favorite bed, a Tempur-Pedic made of "viscoelastic," a type of "memory" foam developed for astronauts' seats. She plopped onto the bed as traffic whizzed by outside, closed her eyes and tried to get a sense of what it would be like to be in dreamland.
"Do you see how this mattress is molding itself to my shoulder?" she asked. "The bed I have now [an innerspring mattress] hurts my body -- it fights me. The only nonrenewable resource we have in our lives is time. And when I sleep badly, that's wasting time," said Philyaw, who would only describe herself as "of a certain age" -- but was around for her share of lumpy futons in the 1960s. She then told a salesman to place her $2,800 order for a king-size version to accommodate herself, her cat and reading material.
Philyaw said her desire for a new mattress blossomed after she slept on a Tempur-Pedic while on vacation. Still, her purchase made her part of a national craze.
The craze isn't just about foam. It's not even just about mattresses, though they're a big part of it. Sleep, sleeplessness and expensive beds are all the buzz right now. Why? Because of news reports about how stressed-out Americans don't get enough shut-eye. Because lots of people with money to burn have decided that they are mad at their mattresses and they're not going to take it anymore. Because creaky bones and the one-third of life that humans spend unconscious are marvelous marketing opportunities. It's also true that spending thousands on a better night's sleep is easier to justify than spending them on, say, a convertible.
Philyaw is a case in point. She said she thinks her offending mattress isn't kaput, still would be fine for someone else -- but. "I might gain three days a month [on the Tempur-Pedic]! I might paint a masterpiece in the time I'd be tossing and turning in the bed I have at home."
Although lots of age groups are getting picky about where they slumber, manufacturers, retailers and trend-watchers say it is primarily the moneyed portion of 76 million people born between 1946 and 1964 -- the baby boomers -- who are fueling a jump in sales of pricey bedroom accouterments.
"Everything related to sleeping is big, especially luxury mattresses and pillows, thanks to baby boomers who are now more interested in their health and . . . [can] splurge on the best of the best for their aching backs, their rest, their well-being," said Reinier Evers, whose company, Trendwatching.com, monitors consumer products, business and trends.
"Maturialism" is what Evers calls boomers' eagerness for -- and lack of compunction about -- purchasing a wide spectrum of creature comforts, such as restaurant-grade stoves, hot tubs, professional-grade power tools, flat-screen televisions and even designer dog beds.
