^^ I have to admit that I was looking for a new mattress, as our current one with springs had actually started to buckle in the middle, but even so it was still very comfortable. So when investing in a mattress, you really need to like it, as they can be so cumbersome, awkward, and not to mention just plain annoying to send back if you don’t like for some reason. I think, this was the reason my husband and I had just stuck with what we knew, our old squashed sprung mattress, even though we’d had the mattress for eight years and knew it was time for a change.

^^ When this foam mattress came up for review I didn’t immediately jump at the chance of getting it. In my mind, foam is soft and squashy, but not necessarily firm enough for a mattress, surely? So I decided to give this a try. Hoping I wasn’t going to regret my choice. Did I?

^^ Honestly, this mattress has many magical features mixed with a few not so magical ones. (Not bad as such, just things to point out that could be a bit niggly for some). Firstly the good –

* Packaging – I know you’re not meant to talk about packaging in a review, but in this case I’d be remiss not to. The packaging is a huge selling point. When it arrived I found it much smaller than I anticipated. Although very heavy, (you should have seen the face of my courier as he huffed and puffed it to my front door) it comes boxed and despite its weight, it’s still easier to manage than struggling a huge, standard mattress into the house and up the stairs. BIG BONUS for me.
* In addition, it’s easy to remove from the packaging, just carefully cut it out of its protective vacuum-packed plastic , lay it in place, out and watch it magically unravel and grow from a flat rolled up thing about 4-5 inches thick to a full sized mattress approximately 10-12 inches in height. It’s just magical to watch it expand! LOL
* It’s very comfortable to lay down on. It took both my husband and I, two or three nights to feel used to how different this mattress felt. There was nothing wrong with it, but we did notice the difference going from a traditional sprung mattress to a foam one. At first I wasn’t sure at all – it’s hard to explain but it did feel very different to sleep on, even though we both agreed it was very comfortable and cosy.
* We’ve also noticed we’ve not woken up with any odd aches and pains since. Always a good thing! (Not that we’re old and decrepit), it’s just our old mattress definitely had seen better days, and I don’t think we’d realised how much it was affecting our quality of sleep, and perhaps even our health.
* The quality of the mattress is very good, there’s no doubt about that. The cover is a pleasant cream colour with grey stripes along the top end. It has several layers within – each with their own reason for being there to encourage a really comfortable good night’s sleep.
* To explain this: Leesa say “the top layer is Avena foam which they have exclusive right to use, and which includes an airflow system to help prevent overheating at night. This layer works with the memory foam layer in the middle of the mattress which provides body contouring and pressure relief, and is supported by the support layer at the bottom to ensure each individual gets the support and comfort they need”. In general, I find this to be true, with the exception of the points below.

^^ The not so magical points –

* When you sit on the edge of the mattress, or just sit up in the centre to read, it’s so squashy you really sink into it. In itself, this is not a totally bad thing, but it is an indication to what happens when you sit up in bed to read, or do anything which requires you to be in a sitting position. I find myself sinking down, in a way which is almost too much. When laying down, your body weight is spread out more, so I guess this is why you don’t find yourself sinking down into it in quite the same way one does when the weight is more focused and going through one area- your bottom.
* Because of the vacuum packaging, it does have a strange smell when you first open it, and I could smell it for a couple of nights before it faded completely. This is normal, and to be honest probably expected from having something as large as this squashed down to practically no size at all. It didn’t really bother me, but it is something to take into consideration if you’re looking at purchasing this.

^^ Incidentally, Leesa has a wonderful returns guarantee, (although I have not personally used it – it sounds good), but it lasts longer than Amazons return policy. If you’re worried about having to send this back, do check out the details on both sites.

Overall: Bearing in mind my points above, lots of good, a few not so, I would still recommend this. We’ve been sleeping on this now for a couple of months and have found it to provide a good quality of very comfortable sleep. We’re actually waking up less, and this is probably due to the fact that we’re not disturbing each other if one of us is wriggling around in our sleep. The memory foam does appear to keep our bodies separated better, so the lighter one of us (me lol) is not rolling into the heavier ones space… Not to be rude or anything, but you know what I mean, right? (Had to say that, just in case he’s reading).