When it was time to replace the old bedding at home, I decided to make some changes and selected a twin mattress for one bedroom, and a queen for the other. Naturally the new beds also came with complications I didn’t see coming.
First, I had a choice of height for the twin mattress, so I picked a slightly higher one, which meant that the sheets I owned would not fit. I needed to shop for new ones, and this became more difficult than I would have imagined. The department stores available carried only a few select sheet sets in twin, and none seemed to have deeper sides on the fitted sheet to allow for tucking in. It took some looking before finding the perfect set, and it required ordering online.
Fitted sheets are in themselves a problem. In the old days, the gathering was limited to the corners, so the sides could be tucked in flat under the mattress. Today, most fitted sheets seem destined to look and fold like rectangular shower caps, with elastic all around. Strangely, they don’t fit snug, and turning in one’s sleep produces bunching and wrinkling. So much for improving on a classic. Obtaining a good fit from a fitted sheet now requires a device such as sheet suspenders which can tighten the fabric from underneath.
The queen bed was my best decision, as most stores carry queen sheets, and there was no need to pick a mattress height (at least it wasn’t offered to me).
What I didn’t know was that there are many more mattress sizes than I imagined. Besides twin and full sizes and their XL versions (adding five inches to the length), queen mattresses come in varieties such as RV queen (for those who want most of their motorhome taken up with their sleeping quarters), and Olympic queen.
Then we enter the realm of king-sized, with California king, Texas king, Wyoming king and Alaska King at 108 inches on each side. I assume that is the type of bed one would find at an old oil baron’s estate, and if sheets aren’t available at the stores in town, one could ask the seamstress to whip up a set on demand.
I have gathered up all the old sheets and surrendered them to the animal shelter for use in potential adopted dogs’ and cats’ temporary lodging. I’m sure the linens will hold up for a long time, as they did for me. Time will tell if the new sheets for my new beds will pay for themselves.
Or maybe the beds will give out first.
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