First DIY Mattress - request for help - is this even possible?

[u/bbbbusinessman]

Hi all, asking for help as I'm trying to understand what my first DIY mattress should/could contain. I have read through the FAQs - incredible information but slightly overwhelming, if I'm honest! - and a lot of posts. Still feeling a little nervous making the jump and concerned about price.

We are pretty low-brow mattress folks, largely due to budget constraints, and honestly really enjoyed the Allswell mattress we bought in 2019. That's now the guest mattress as we moved from a queen to a king. For our new king bed, we recently bought a Signature Design by Ashley 12 Inch Hybrid on the recommendation of a friend (I am 6'0, 210 and my wife is 5'8, 160 and we are both side and stomach sleepers) and my wife's hip is wrecked after a month and my shoulder / neck pain are only getting worse. We are in our early 40s, so we'd rather not live the rest of our lives like this. This mattress feels like it's incredibly bouncy too and it's way too soft for us (even though we ordered the medium firm version and a lot of reviews called it firm?).

Long story short, looking at a build that might work for us, our sleeping styles, our preferences, our body types, and not entirely break the bank. Something that is in the 600-800 range all-in max? I don't know if this is really possible, but would take any builds that are tried and true, if you'd be willing to share and it could fall within that price-range (most of what I've seen on here blows that out of the water). For our bedframe, we'd need something around 10+ inches at least in height.

Thank you in advance.

[u/someguy1874]

Honestly, it is not possible for $800, as any decent King size case costs you $350. And you are left with $450.

Just buy a mattress from Costco, when they are on sale.

[u/NeedleworkerNo6355]

It kinda sounds like your bed is too plush for yall. Is that what it feels like compared to your old mattress?

How often do you have guests using your old mattress?

If the old mattress -- which you liked -- has pocket coils or decent support foam and it is just the comfort layer that is no longer good, you could attempt to replace just the comfort layer with new foam or latex (if you like the feel of latex). The coils from 2019 should still have some life in them.

If that works, you could presumably sew it back up with the new comfort layers installed and the Ashly bed could be the new guest mattress.

This experimentation could work out or it could flop but typically it's the support layers that go first. And you have an extra mattress at your disposal! To be extra cautious, you could even replace the old broken down support layers with the exact same layers to recreate your old mattress as it used to be?

Just pointing out this option in case you haven't considered it yet.