Mattresses

Shopping for underwear sounds either mundane or glamorous, depending on your point of view -- but it can also be daunting. "People have no idea what they're doing," said Bonnie Kaufman, "because it's like buying a mattress. What do you really know about mattresses?" Kaufman, the president and founder of the Creative Woman: The Wizard of Bras boutique in Monrovia -- which stocks 49 brands of brassieres -- is talking about women and bra shopping. More specifically, she's calling out the sorry state of sagginess that exists in the average American woman's bra wardrobe.

Manufacturers can say all they like about the attributes of their mattresses, but there's one test that matters most. And your intrepid reporter took on the tough job of lying down. Here's what my husband and I found: Palmpring: I can't help it. I am a sucker for organic, green substances and an Asian aesthetic, so the coir and latex foam of Palmpring appealed. The coir "spring" layer is ingenious and deliciously firm and even. Topped with the organic latex, the mattress feels both sturdy beneath (you actually can feel the firm under-layer)

Until a week ago, Veronica Long was wondering how she was going to explain to her four children that Santa might not make it this year. Her husband, Jonathan, used to make a good living as a music engineer and producer. But when the economy tanked two years ago, work dried up and he was forced to pawn his equipment. For a while, the family rented a room from a friend in Corona. But when the friend was evicted earlier this year, they suddenly were homeless. They are now staying in a room at the Union Rescue Mission on downtown Los Angeles' skid row. Last week, the shelter converted its chapel into a Christmas store where parents could pick out free toys and books for their kids.

Tempur-Pedic International Inc. is getting into bed with rival Sealy Corp. for $2.20 a share, the companies said Thursday. Together, the mattress-makers will become a bedding giant  worth $2.7 billion in an industry already crowded with competitors such as Serta Inc. and Simmons Bedding Co. Lexington, Ky.-based Tempur-Pedic has been around since the early 1990s and is known for its pressure-relieving memory foam products, which according to...

When guests book a hotel room, most ask about rates, beds and check-out time. Often neglected is the potentially life-saving question: Are the rooms equipped with sprinklers and smoke detectors? If this is a question you ask regularly, you greatly increase your chances of surviving a hotel blaze. When used in tandem, sprinklers and smoke detectors can prevent up to 90% of fire deaths, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, the fire safety branch of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Dear Liz: My 82-year-old father, who is in a nursing home after multiple strokes, had always told me that he set up a revocable living trust for himself and my mom. I've been going through his papers and can find only unsigned copies of his trust. My dad now suffers from some dementia, and my mom knows nothing about where he might have put a copy of the trust. I do not think a lawyer was involved. I am worried about what will happen when my dad dies. Are revocable living trusts recorded somewhere?

When I can't sleep, I blame red wine, lack of exercise, caffeine after noon or being stressed out. My mind never goes to my mattress. Still, it is an alluring fantasy to believe that with the right mattress it wouldn't matter how much wine I drank, how little I exercised or how stressed out I was -- I would still sleep like a baby. My mattress could be the acupuncture, spa treatment and Ambien of my sleep world. Not likely, sleep experts say. "There is zero research to support claims that mattresses promote sleep or better sleep," said Dr. Alon Avidan, associate professor of neurology and director of UCLA's Sleep Disorder Center, a new state-of-the-art sleep laboratory.

LOVE the article on new bed technology ["Memory Foam Mattress? That's So Last Night," May 3]. Very informative and helpful. Too bad we didn't have it three weeks ago when we bought our expensive Simmons mattress. You should do a follow-up article about sheets. Our mattress is 17 inches thick and a California King. I purchased the appropriate sheets for deep mattresses; however, the flat sheets are not adjusted for the deep mattress, and I cannot tuck the ends under. When will the industry formulate a new size for the flat sheets?