The Empty Nester
The spare room. Finally.
A spare room mattress is a mattress your guests will remember. The Empty Nester is our entry build, a 22 cm medium-firm pocket sprung with a memory foam top, and it costs less than the hotel you would otherwise be putting people in.
At 22 cm it fits guest beds, day beds and most ottoman and trundle frames, and it is the same build we sell to students as The Uni Student, so it is built to cope. Pull-out sofa beds with a folding metal action need a much thinner mattress, so check the limit before you order.
Who this chapter is for
- The kids have gone and the spare room is finally a spare room, with the mattress they slept on for fifteen years.
- Airbnb hosts and landlords who need something guests will not complain about, at a price that works across three rooms.
- Anyone who wants the family to stay over more than one night at a time.
| Single 3ft · 90 × 190 cm | £189 |
| Small double 4ft · 120 × 190 cm | £299 |
| Double 4ft 6 · 135 × 190 cm | £349 |
| King 5ft · 150 × 200 cm | £439 |
Chapter opens early 2027. Prices shown include delivery.
7/10
What it feels like, and who it suits.
No showroom, so we tell you everything a showroom would. If the feel is wrong after 30 nights, we swap it.
This chapter is 7 out of 10 on our scale, where 10 is a board. The dashed band, 6 to 7.5, is where most people sleep best.
Good
Good
Good
Up to about 16 stone per person. Heavier than that: The Bad Back Years in Firm tension.
Any sprung or platform-top divan, or a slatted frame with slats no more than 7 cm apart. Not for adjustable beds.
Standard fitted sheets fit (22 cm).
Pocket springs move independently, so you feel little of your partner turning. For very restless partners, look at The New Parent.
Rotate head to toe every three months in the first year, then twice a year. Use a breathable protector. Never fold it. It is one-sided: do not flip it.
Roughly 25 to 30 kg in a double. Our two-person team carries it in; you never lift it.
Every layer, by density.
This is the spec sheet the factory works to. If a layer is not listed here, it is not in the mattress. The cutaway is drawn from the spec, to scale, and the same scale is used for every chapter.
Read top (sleep surface) to bottom (base). Heights are to scale. Spring counts are stated for a 5ft king, the industry convention. Foam densities are the figures we specify to the factory in writing for every layer.
What happens when you order.
1. We make it
Your Empty Nester is made to order in Yorkshire in 10–14 days, with the build date on the label.
2. Two people deliver it
Flat, never rolled. Carried to the room you choose, unwrapped, placed on the base, packaging taken away. Old mattress collected if you asked.
3. 30 nights, then 10 years
If the feel is wrong after 30 nights we swap it within the range, in one visit. After that, the 10-year guarantee covers the build. Full terms.
The Empty Nester, answered.
Will it fit a sofa bed?
It depends which kind. Guest beds, day beds, trundles and ottoman guest beds take a standard mattress, usually up to 25 cm, and this is 22 cm. Pull-out sofa beds with a folding metal action only take a thin mattress, typically 8 to 12 cm, and a 22 cm mattress will not fold; those need a replacement sofa-bed mattress instead. Check the frame's stated maximum, and the size, because many sofa beds are a 4ft small double rather than a full double.
Is it good enough for guests to sleep on for a week?
Yes. It is the same mattress students sleep on every night for three years. Medium-firm suits the widest range of people, which is what you want when you do not know who is coming.
Do you do a discount for landlords buying several?
Ask us. We make to order, so three or more of the same size in one delivery is cheaper for us to make and deliver, and we pass that on.
Why is it £449 when the same factory sells mattresses for £299?
Because we specify every layer by density and hardness in writing, and pay for it: 50 kg memory foam, 35 kg CMHR, 1.8 mm wire, a foam rail, and a ten-year guarantee. A £299 mattress from the same building uses lighter foams that go soft in three years. The spec sheet is on this page.
Something else? Ask Chapter answers from our pages in seconds, or email hello@chaptersleep.co.uk and a person replies.
Read before you buy.
What mattress should an Airbnb host buy? The bed is the review
A rental mattress is slept on by a hundred strangers a year who write reviews. What to buy, how to protect it, when to replace it, and the two rules experienced hosts follow.
The best mattress for a sofa bed: depth and size first, then everything else
Sofa bed" covers four different things, and only one of them takes a normal mattress. How to tell which you have, the depth each can take, what to buy for a metal-action pull-out, and when to replace the whole bed instead.
Guest bed: single, small double or double? Choosing the size for a spare room
The spare room is usually the smallest bedroom, and the bed size decides who can stay. The sizes, what each allows, room dimensions that make the decision for you, and why small double is the underrated answer.
Mattresses for rental properties: the fire label, the protector, and buying in threes
What a landlord legally has to provide, what the fire label means, why a furnished let needs a different mattress from a home, how to protect it, and how to buy several at once.
How much should you spend on a spare room mattress?
Guests notice the mattress and never mention it. What a spare room needs, what sofa beds and guest beds can take, what Airbnb hosts should buy, and where the money stops making a difference.
The next ones.
A mattress lasts eight to ten years, and life moves on. These are the chapters people go to next.
Be first when we launch
A mattress lasts eight to ten years. We will write to you once when we open, and again when it is time to think about the next one. That is the whole list.