Featherbeds: Fluff? or Not Fluff?

Why would anyone want a featherbed?

You know, one of those puffs noblemen four or five centuries ago in drafty castles used to put between themselves and their straw-and horsehair mattresses?

One of those things John Denver sang about?

(Granted, that song was redeemed by the Muppets.)

They exist, though. They're still in use commonly in certain cold climates. On Apartment Therapy, a few people casually refer to their "beds," as in, "In winter, I use a down bed..."

If you have a great mattress, do you need a bed on top of your bed?

One Sleeper reader squirms at the idea of a mite-filled fluff that you can't wash coming between you and your clean sheets. You can buy featherbed sheets. Could it possibly be worth it to have to manage yet different-size linens?

But what if featherbeds are little-known source of pleasure? Like down pillows your whole body can sink into. If that's the case, would you then be tempted to crawl into an eiderdown-filled nest and stop eating and die? I think that's what happened to the mice introduced to the Scandia Contessa pillow.

But seriously, what if featherbeds are like mother's love?

Sleeper has just unpacked a featherbed — an old-school model, since she's a purist — and is about to get to the bottom of the matter.

Comments

[Alanna]

Oy vey! I'm worried for you. I hope it works out. I tried one before my current bed-purist aesthetic and it felt pretty cozy until the feathers pricked and poked me. I suppose that was a cheap featherbed.

I used to love the idea of sinking into a squishy, warm embracing featherbed. Until I spent 3 straight sick days with the stomach flu stranded on a grand, four-poster canopy, king sized, pillow-topped mattress. Now the thought makes me break out in a cold sweat.

Good luck. I'm sure it will be cozy.

[AwakeAt3AM]

I do have a feather-filled topper on my bed and I like it. At first I too was bothered by the feathers poking through (I don't remember how much I paid for it, but it was probably in the middle range. Here's where thread-count probably really counts.) My solution was to put an extra sheet over the topper. It does make the topper less lofty, but it still can give me that sinking-into-bed feeling that I love.

[Sleeper]

I don't know whether thread count matters as much as filling, in this case. The feathers didn't bother me, although I can imagine a down-filled featherbed being a much different experience. Stay tuned for Sleeper's featherbed update.

AwakeAt3AM, do you use the topper just in winter?

Have you ever used a fleece (i.e., pure wool fleece) mattress cover? I'm curious about them and suspect they might be useful year-round.

[Nicole]

So you're saying the thought of a four-poster and the rest makes you ill because of the memory? That flu turned you off of featherbeds and pillowtop mattresses? That's too bad, because goosedown feather beds are a joy to sleep on. I use one all year. And I'm tough about fetishy household items. Pretty tough. We do have a melon baller.