$30,000 Beds Not Bunk, Journal Says

(MoneyWatch)  I guess it's the men who wear the pajama pants in the family, because according a new report from the Wall Street Journal, makers of luxury beds and mattresses costing upwards of $30,000 have raised sales by targeting men.

The report by Ray A. Smith (which came to my attention thanks to New York 1's Pat Kiernan) indicates that mattresses costing $2,000 or more represent 7.6% of all mattress sales. Note to consumers: you're supposed to stuff the money UNDER the mattress, not IN the mattress.

Still, that statistic from the International Sleep Products Association tells me, if it's truly a guy-driven market, that we're not dealing with the Princess and the Pea, but rather the Prince and the Pea.

And you know what else these Princes want, according to the Wall Street Journal? TVs.

The paper cites an actual buyer of a $30,000 bed with a 32" Sony flat-screen TV built into the footboard (yes, for $30,000, it retracts when you don't want to look at it). Hollandia International, the maker of this piece of wonder furniture, has models called "the Elite," "the Sanctuary,' and "the Groove." If you want to spend $50,000 (because really, what's another twenty thousand when it comes to the most important hours of your day?) you can buy "the Sphere," which comes with a built-in champagne cooler.

Is this the point where I point out that I am not making any of this up, or should I have done that already? Okay, fine.

Those of you who don't want to spend your kids' college tuitions on a bed, take heart. Let me state that I have never seen a bedroom sell even a luxury property ... it's always the layout, or the view, or the kitchen. And remember, if you spend your household monies on an expensive new countertop, the kids aren't going to ruin it by jumping up and down on it.

Bed jumping image by midom via flickr, CC 2.0