akka furniture » Mattress

Beating the January blues

admin — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:09:38 +0000

The end of January is renowned for being the most miserable time of the year with the grey clouds and the endless wait for spring. But you don’t have to jet off to sunnier climes to find happiness. Look around and you find lots to make you smile.

Take a look in the flowerbeds to see some pretty little snowdrops nodding their heads.

Learn something new; take a course in pottery or learning a language boosting your brainpower will raise your spirits.

Act happy by faking it until you really feel it. Smiling is contagious and if you walk around with a big grin it won’t be long before the beams are coming back at you.

Buy a hula hoop, space hopper or jump on the trampoline – exercise cheers you up and these are fun, nostalgic ways of getting fit.

Do something kind for someone else – a sure way of getting that fuzzy warm feeling! You could have a declutter and give away your unwanted stuff to a charity.

Cherish the small things in life and scientists report that those who say thank you more often are generally happier people.

Get more sleep

If your bedroom is not conducive to spending more time in it, then take a look at AKKA Furniture. AKKA bedroom furniture comes in a variety of styles, made out of warm American Oak or elegant Walnut. To help you get more sleep, AKKA’s mattress supplier Dreamworks, have a vast array of products, ranging from cage sprung, pocket sprung and memory foam mattress. These mattresses have a spring count ranging from 1000 to 1700 springs to suit every need and they come in sizes ranging from 3ft up to 6’ft.

Of course, it’s not just beds that AKKA offer but a range of wooden bedroom furniture, including tallboys, wardrobes, drawers, bedside cabinets, dressing tables and a variety of storage accessories including underbed drawers and blanket boxes. Every piece is hand crafted, created with attentive, loving care, to ensure you have wooden bedroom furniture that will last a lifetime.

New Year Resolutions

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:00:28 +0000

So now we are in 2012 and AKKA furniture would like to wish a very happy new year to all!

At this time of year, most of us are desperately trying to keep their new year resolutions, be it cutting out unhealthy elements in our life or doing more good things, like increasing our exercise regime. One very healthy resolution that often gets overlooked is ensuring that you get a good night’s sleep which has a massively beneficial impact on well being.

Healthy adults should get between 7 – 9 hours sleep a night. Not getting enough sleep can lead to a number of health problems including an increased risk of depression, obesity, diabetes as well as a decrease in the ability to concentrate.

Here are some tips to aid a good night sleep.

Establish a regular sleeping and waking pattern, even on weekends

Create a regular, relaxing bedtime routine

Sleep on a comfortable mattress and pillows

Avoid watching TV, using a computer or reading in bed

Finish eating at least 2-3 hours before your regular bedtime

AKKA bedroom furniture comes in a variety of styles , made out of warm American Oak or elegant Walnut. To make sure the beds help you sleep as well as enhance your bedroom, AKKA’s mattress supplier Dreamworks, have a vast array of products, ranging from cage sprung, pocket sprung and memory foam mattress. These mattresses have a spring count ranging from 1000 to 1700 springs to suit every need and they come in sizes ranging from 3ft up to 6’0ft.

Moonlight and Bedrooms

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 06:51:41 +0000

While the sun might be dimming, over the last couple of nights the sky has been lit by the beautiful Harvest moon. This is the full moon, which falls nearest to the autumn equinox and this year that occurs on September 23^rd. While it is a stunning sight to see, there are many myths surrounding a full moon. It is said that to stare at it will send you insane, hence the word lunatic. Plenty of people claim a full moon interrupts with their sleep. That may be the case, but lets face it, it’s mostly that they don’t have a very comfortable bed.

AKKA beds are about comfort and style. These two elements are completely intertwined in the creating of all AKKA bedroom furniture.

AKKA beds come in a variety of styles including the classic Toulouse and the contemporary Milan range, made out of warm American Oak or elegant Walnut. To make sure the beds enhance your sleep as well as your bedroom, AKKA’s mattress supplier Dreamworks, have a vast array of products, ranging from cage sprung, pocket sprung and memory foam mattress. These mattresses have a spring count ranging from 1000 to 1700 springs to suit every need and they come in sizes ranging from 3ft up to 6’0ft.

It’s not just beds that AKKA offer but a range of wooden bedroom furniture, including tallboys, wardrobes, drawers, bedside cabinets, dressing tables and a variety of storage accessories including underbed drawers and blanket boxes.

AKKA bedroom furniture is hand crafted with care from quality wood, with style and comfort in mind to make sure your bedroom encourages a good night’s sleep. Full moon or not!

Do we need to change our bed? Part II

admin — Thu, 05 May 2011 09:00:00 +0000

So you have decided that you and your partner now need a new mattress. How do you go about buying it? The first thing you need to be prepared for is to lie on each mattress you are considering for five to ten minutes! I know you’ll be saying ‘Ican’t do that!’ however you really should as this will give your spine time to mould to each mattress.

If the mattress is too soft the spine will be out of alignment causing slouching. Too hard and the body and your spine will not be relaxed. The way to tell if the mattress is the right one is when your spine is fully supported and aligned. Facts prove that 80% of buyers spend just 2 minutes laying on mattresses. We sleep on them for up to 2,900 hours if you sleep 8 hours per night!

Akka Furniture’s mattress supplier Dreamworks Beds manufacture all of their products in the UK. Some of the most popular are:

Open coil

The most common type of mattress on the market and the cheapest. The mattress has an outer rod which strengthens the edges of the mattress. Inside this are springs which lay in rows and are connected at the top and bottom by a helical wire.

Continuous spring

As the name suggests this is a single length of wire knitted into interwoven springs which run up and down the bed vertically. This mattress is priced mid-range because generally it has a hight spring count.

Pocket sprung

The mattress houses small pockets of springs which support the body individually. You do not get any roll because of this. Mid-range pricing.

Do we need to change our bed?

admin — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:38:04 +0000

At AKKA Bedroom Furniture we continualy hear customers say ‘ we have had this bed and mattress since we were first married’ or ‘we just got this bed cheap and have made do ever since’.

There are normally tell tale signs when your bed and mattress need changing. Do you wake up in the night with an aching back or keep rolling into your partner? Have you ‘turned’ the mattress and now fall into a hollow part of the mattress formed by your body posture? When you lay towards the edge of your bed, does the mattress not support your weight and is showing signs or wear?

Research done by sleep expert Dr Chis Idzikowski found that people with uncomfortable beds and mattresses sleep one hour less than people who have comfortable beds! The Furniture Industry Research Association shows that beds and mattresses can deteriorate by as much as 70% over 10 years!

If you are one of those people who need to change a bed or mattress why don’t you have a look at AKKA furniture? We stock eight different styles of wooden beds ranging from 3ft to 6ft in size, in either American white oak or American black walnut. To complement our beds there is an extensive range of wooden chests, wardrobes and accessories. Our mattress supplier has chosen to accompany us on our journey is dreamworks beds. They have a strong passion like us to provide a comprehensive well designed product.

Furniture -Beds

admin — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:13:37 +0000

Beds have been around since before the Egyptians, who also used the bed as a place where you could eat as well as sleep.

The Romans often decorated their beds in precious metals such as gold and silver. Mattresses in those days featured materials such as wool, feathers, hay and reeds.

The 18th Century saw a big jump in terms of sleeping because cotton was used for the mattresses. This meant that the vermin would not cohabitate your bed! Iron bedframes became quite popular at this time.

In the 1940’s the Futon bed started to make an appearance in North America, whilst in the 1960’s water beds came to the market. The 1970’s saw the bunkbed become popular with children and the 1980’s saw the introduction of air beds.

The bed has been seen by many people as the most important piece of furniture in the household. Everyone feels more revived after a good nights’ sleep.

Nowadays beds are available in all shapes and sizes and can be constructed from numerous different materials, i.e. wood, metal, plastic, upholstered fabric or painted. Standard sizes range from 3ft, 4ft 6″, 5ft and 6ft, however many local companies can make beds and mattresses to any required size. Todays market is competitive and customers will often try to haggle on price whether the item is on sale or not!

History of the mattress

admin — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:33:23 +0000

Today, most mattresses are manufactured according to standard sizes. This standardization was initiated by the industry to resolve any dimensional discrepancies that might occur between companies that manufacture beds and companies that make mattresses. The sizes include the twin bed, 39 inches wide and 74 inches long; the double bed, 54 inches wide and 74 inches long; the queen bed, 60 inches wide and 80 inches long; and the king bed, 78 inches wide and 80 inches long.

The “core” of a typical mattress is the innerspring unit, a series of wire coils that are attached to one another with additional wire. The upholstery layers are affixed to the innerspring: the first, called the insulator, is fitted directly onto the innerspring and prevents the next layer, the cushioning, from molding to the coils. While the insulator is fairly standard, the number of cushioning layers can vary widely in number, ranging from two to eight layers and from 1/4 inch to 2 inches (.63 to 5 centimeters) in thickness. Moving outward, the next component is the flanges, connecting panels that are attached to the mattress’s quilted cover with large, round staples called hogs rings. The top, bottom, and side panels of the mattress are stitched together with border tape.

While a wide variety of springs are designed to accommodate special needs and situations, the four most commonly used coils are the Bonnell, the Offset, the Continuous, and the Pocket System. The Bonnell springs are hourglass-shaped and knotted at both ends. The Offset design is similarly hourglass-shaped, but its top and bottom are flattened to facilitate a hinging action between the coils. The Continuous innerspring consists of one extremely long strand of steel wire configured into S-shaped units. Finally, in the Pocket System, each coil is encased in a fabric casing that also connects it to neighboring coil-casing units.

A typical mattress contains between 250 and 1,000 coil springs, and mattresses that use fewer coils normally require a heavier gauge of wire. It is not uncommon for an innerspring unit to require as much as 2,000 linear feet (610 meters) of steel wire. The individual coils can be joined in several ways. One common method is to use helicals—corkscrew-shaped wires that run along the top and bottom of the springs, lacing the coils together. Rigid border wires are sometimes attached around the perimeters to stabilize the unit.

Most manufacturers also produce foundation mattresses or boxsprings that lie directly beneath the mattress, resting on the frame of the bed. One of the most common types of box spring foundations uses a spiked coil configuration, in which the springs are narrow at the bottom but spiral to a wider diameter at the top. While a spring system provides the most common type of boxspring support, torsion bars are also sometimes used. Other foundation mattresses contain no springs at all but consist of a built-up wooden frame.

History of the Mattress

admin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 09:36:12 +0000

From the available evidence, it seems fairly certain that the concept of the mattress originated during prehistoric times. By lying on piles of leaves, straw, and animal skins, early humans were able to sleep more comfortably and more soundly than they could have on hard surfaces. As greater numbers of people left a nomadic, hunting existence for a settled, agrarian lifestyle, primitive furnishings, including the bed, began to develop.
To a large extent the development of the mattress is closely linked with that of the bed. In many ancient societies, the bed was considered the most important piece of furniture in the household; often, it provided a central gathering place for dining and relaxing as well as sleeping. Over the centuries, bed frames became more elaborate for those who could afford luxury; however, mattresses themselves remained unsophisticated—and uncomfortable. Until the twentieth century, they generally consisted of lumpy pads filled with horse hair, cotton, or rags. Poorer people relied on ticks—fabric sacks stuffed with straw, corn cobs, or other crop debris. In addition to offering an inconsistent texture, such primitive mattresses were difficult to clean—and they generally started out dirty, stuffed as they were with agricultural debris that often entered the pad or ticking with soil and insects. However, they offered one concrete advantage: made at home from cast-off farm goods, they were cheap. Even late in the nineteenth century when small local manufacturers began to produce mattresses commercially, the items remained inexpensive because early mattress makers continued to rely on extremely inexpensive stuffing (usually, unusable fabric remnants discarded by second-hand tailors).
Mattresses with stabilizing interior springs, probably the single most significant advance in mattress design, were first developed during the mid-1800s. By placing a set of uniform springs inside layers of upholstery, mattress manufacturers could imbue their product with a firm, resilient, and uniform texture. However, because so-called innerspring mattresses were expensive to manufacture, only luxury ships and hotels that could pass the cost along to their affluent patrons purchased them initially. It was not until after World War I that innerspring mattresses were mass-produced by Zalmon Simmons, Jr., the president of a company that had theretofore produced bedsteads. Despite the fact that Simmons asked 40 dollars—more than twice the cost of the finest horse hair mattress available at that time—for his innerspring mattress in 1926, his products proved so comfortable that millions of Americans purchased them.
To render potential customers more willing to spend what must have struck many as a small fortune on his innerspring mattress, Simmons promoted the advantages of a good night’s sleep. The effectiveness of this marketing strategy has only increased over the years, as subsequent research has confirmed that abundant, high-quality sleep constitutes a fundamental component of good health. Today’s sophisticated mattresses improve sleeping comfort in several ways. First, through a variety of enhanced innerspring designs, modern mattresses distribute the weight of the body over a broad area; this also helps to prevent differential wear on the mattress. In addition, mattresses offer surfaces of appropriate softness and flexibility to help keep the spine in its naturally curved position. However, contemporary mattress manufacturers carefully avoid excessively soft surfaces that would distort the position of the sleeper’s spine, resulting in discomfort or even pain.
Presently, the consumer demand for mattresses is fairly consistent. In 1990, approximately 16 million mattresses were sold in the United States. Together with foundations, mattresses accounted for about $4 billion in retail sales. With the exception of a few large companies, most mattress manufacturers are fairly small, community-based operations. Of the approximately 825 mattress factories across the United States, most are still owned and operated by the founding families.