Who’s getting the best sleep? It depends what they’re sleeping on! More at http://www.WhatsNewAtHome.wordpress.com

The latest bedroom furniture trends may having you opting for a bedroom makeover sooner than later. Read more at www.whatsnewathome.wordpress.com

It’s said that America’s favorite color helps us relax.. maybe that’s because blue simulates the sky and encourages us to blue-sky, or dream, happy thoughts all night? But it’s the way the blue is used in this bedroom room that’s most interesting. Read more at roomstoraveabout.wordpress.com

If a fancy new bed isn’t in your budget, check out a great idea at www.roomstoraveabout.wordpress.com.

Of the 8 million or so searches for furniture on the internet every month, nearly 3M of those searches are for ‘bedroom furniture’. The next closest room? Patio furniture at about 2.3M, outdoor furniture at 1.2M, and garden furniture at .9M (that would actually put outdoor furniture ahead of bedroom furniture… but that’s a separte discussion!).

Why the popularity of bedroom searches? I’ve got to think it’s at least partly thanks to the luxury hotel industry. As many more consumers experience awesome hotel rooms (and given current vacancy rates, they’re getting cheaper to experience!), who doesn’t want to duplicate the look and feel of a hotel-style retreat back home?

So you might share my fascination with the new CityCenter hotel in Las Vegas (opening late 2009). According to Hotel Design magazine (Dec ‘08), here are just a few of the guest amentities in each room….

* each room will feature a 42″ LCD HDTV that acts as communication central - allowing guests to connect their laptop and get a big screen monitor, watch TV, plug in videos, game consoles, cameras and MP3 players, and displaying voicemails and more

* night stands will feature a 7″ panel with touch-screen technology that navigates the settings in the room… music, tv, room temperature, wake-up calls, draperies, privacy notification on the door, etc.

Technology is going to continue to find its way into bedrooms, offering great opportunity to re-think what kind of furniture is needed there!

If you missed NBC’s morning show report on buying a mattress this fall, here’s a few phrases that Meredith Viera, secret shopper Janice Lieberman and a consumer came up with to describe mattress shopping…

“can be madenning”
“why is it so difficult to shop for a new mattress?
“you may need some rest before you set out to buy one”
“it was rediculous… my friend had so much trouble figuring it out”
“it’s SO frustrating for the consumer”
“you need to do your research, but it can be difficult”
“every store seemed to have a different set of mattresses but that wasn’t really the case” 
“doing research is a lot of work… figuring out how much foam and how many coils is a lot of work for the average restless sleeper”
“seems like a racket… how do you cut through the marketing gimmicks?”
“it’s a tough industry to beat” 

Do mattress makers need to reconsider marketing practices that make shopping so tough for consumers?  Maybe a universal system that helps consumers understand mattress benefits even if different stores have different models? Or something else? See what you think - click on the link below, and click “launch” to see the video.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15004001

Being a night owl, I often think about making my own appointment to sleep every night. So how about a mattress store that encourages customers to schedule a nap on their dime? 

Mattress Inn, in Nashville, TN, offers its customers a sleep appointment right in their store… a great way to get consumers excited about sleeping better at night on a new mattress (and to make lying down in a mattress store less uncomfortable!). Here’s how it works…

1. The bedding store boasts its own “General Bedding Concierge” who sets up ‘private sleep room’s right in the store, complete with fresh pillows, sheets and comforters - on the bed(s) of the customer’s choosing.

2. Customers are invited to spend up to 3 hours in their own private sleep room, complete with flat-panel TV, soothing sound machines, DVD players and their own light switch (many consumers prefer to relax on the beds in the dark so they can simulate their room at home)… all at no charge.

In a tough economy, mattress sales are brisk for the retailer. They get up to 10 sleep reservations a week - some by phone, others by seeing the “Please ask about our Private Sleep Rooms” signs in the store. And 90% of those reservations turn into sales.

Their full-service model also includes Concierge Delivery, where they call customers 45 minutes before arriving at their home, and go over the warranty during a phone call after the sale.

In an interview with Advertising Age (Oct 20), Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for VISA said the following when asked if the company would re-think their branding concept “Life takes Visa” in their efforts to keep consumer confidence up. 

“We need to establish a better balance between rational and emotional mind-sets… we need to help increase the (rational) cash and check transactions… but I also believe that especially in times of uncertainty, when more people are spending more time at home, uplifting people or providing that message of “what life should be” would be equally important…. It’s probably more important than ever.”

The idea of uplifting people at home is compelling. We could all use a little uplifting right now, and furniture might be in a better position to do that than we realize… more tranquil bedrooms where we can get a better night’s sleep, more exciting home entertainment rooms to watch our new flat screen TVs, and more comfortable dining rooms where we can spend quality time with family… might be just the kind of messages that are needed right now. 

Medical research shows that 4 out of 5 consumers will experience back pain at some point in their life. Those same researchers recommend a new bed as a way to help relieve that pain.

Currently, 75% of consumers say ‘pain relief’ is important when buying a new mattress. But while bedding and furniture retailers only sometimes speak about pain relief when customers are in the store, even fewer of them advertise pain relief as a direct benefit of buying a new mattress.  According to a research study by Furniture/Today and HGTV, 31% of furniture stores NEVER promote pain relief in ther advertising. 61% say they promote it sometimes, 8% never promote this big consumer benefit.

If you’re thinking about relocating your cash to a place that feels safer than your local bank, you’re not alone. A luxury bed is now available that lets you literally safekeep money under your mattress. Hollandia, a luxury bed manufacturer has introduced a SAFE-T Bed that features a heavy-duty safe located in a built-in vault underneath the pillow. But at $20,400, you may just use up the cash you wanted to stash to buy it.

Sadly, cash under the bed isn’t insured to theft and fire. All the same, safety vaults built into furniture is something we should see more of.