Hacking a Pillow-top Bed

Pillow-top beds are great and all, but over time one's butt has a tendency to mash down the top layer of foam padding. This curvy bed might be nice for a back-sleeper, but as a stomach-sleeper I was getting pretty tired of waking up with a stiff back. Hence, I performed an autopsy on my bed to determine if it was in fact just the top surface or a deeper cause. As it turns out it is quite simple to mod a bed of this type for optimal sleeping performance. The following steps will show you how to hack your own bed for maximum sleepability.

Step 1: Stab It.

Examine the mattress. The mattress is made of several layers of foam and springs and it is all wrapped up with a soft looking textile, kind of like a burrito. The pillow-top layer is a bunch of foam quilted together and then sewn onto the wrapping material. It turns out that you can pull this wrapping away from the underlying foam.

So the first step is to pull the wrapper off the bed and stab it with a nice sharp knife. Be sure to cut below the pillow-top so you will be able to remove it as a whole piece. Also, be sure not to stab your foam, it may be very soft.

Step 2: Circumcise the Bed.

Take the knife and lead it all the way around the perimeter of the bed, use the edge of the top to help keep a straight~ish cut. Be sure to always cut away from your body, this is an instructable about how to mod your bed, not how to clean blood out of it!

Step 3: Expose the Underfoam.

Once you've separated the top wrapper you may find a secondary tyvek like material still sewn into the top foam pad and attached to the side walls of the bed. You can go ahead and slice this too, or I found it was only stapled to the foam sidewalls and was easily removed with a firm yank. Go ahead and peel the whole top off of the bed.

Step 4: Make Your Bed.

Once you've removed the top foam pad you'll find a nice flat foam pad. This stuff is pretty squishy, and if you're into a firmer top you could go ahead and rip this off too. So now you've got a nice flat bed and all you have to do is find somewhere to stash that pillow-top (or maybe use it to pad some outdoor furniture), and put on your sheets!