Since we'll be moving our stuff by boat, it doesn't matter much to add more stuff.
If we take our mattress, will we find bedding and a bed that fits? Are sizes the same between the US/Canada and Switzerland?
We love our mattress, and it's new (2 years old.)
No, they're not the same sizes, certainly as the US, would help if you stated your Canadian size.
But typically mattresses would be 140, 160 or 180 *200 cm, and of course beds and bedding to match. Quilt sizes are also different from US, France and the UK.
And Ikea messes that all up here with their sizes for bed linen
OP, the same applies to bedclothes.
If this list is true:
https://www.tmasc.ca/mattress-sizes....5144f97aab4a3f
Than I do not think you'll find anything here, we use the decimal system for mattresses.
70/80/90/100/120/140/160/180 * 200/210/220
Surely if you really want you can use a piece of foam to fill up on the headend, or ignore that the matras is slightly smaller than the bed or sticking over, personally I'd go crazy with such.
We always buy our bed stuff in Germany (even before we moved to Switzerland) good quality and a good money saver.
Thank you, it looks like we won't be bringing our mattress then.
Don't you have to pay taxes if you buy your stuff in Germany and bring it back to Switzerland? It's still worth it?
Yes it is still worth it.
Unto 300,- CHF (ex. VAT) per person (unless one item is more expensive since you can't split single items for custom purposes) you pay no Swiss VAT (besides some extra restrictions on meat and some other products)
You can (if the store agrees which all in the border region do, but ask upfront about how and what) get your German VAT back.
But do a check, some things are cheaper to be bought here like televisions and computers, but beds, meat, daily groceries and clothing to name just a few are cheaper in Germany (and not unlikely to be much cheaper)
I brought my US mattresses, and simply bring sheets/duvet covers/mattress pads/etc back from the US as I travel back and forth often. When we moved here, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, box spring mattress were very hard to find, so it was a no-brainer for me to bring mine from the US.
I have 220x240 Ikea duvets that work well with US queen duvet covers. You can occasionally find the right size covers here, but I have not been happy with the quality available. Hence I buy my bed linens at Lands' End, LLBean, etc.
(Both the above ship to Switzerland, LLBean even does so with free shipping. But be careful of the customs charges.)
* Large size duvets do not fit in most home washing machines and so have to be commercially cleaned - costing an arm, leg, and kidney. Seriously, the cost of cleaning is twice the cost of the duvets, twice a year.
Single size duvets can often be washed, but I hate using those. YMMV.
Proper ones can't just be simply washed at home anyway since it would wreck them. And twice the price of the duvet.. well only if you buy the very cheap ones I don't think professional cleaning would cost me over 2.000,- Euro's
PS: I don't know about Switzerland, but German stores have a truckload of 2.20*2.40 covers
We can wash our 210x200 down duvet in the 9kg washer then dry it in the tumble dryer with 2-3 tennis balls. It’s a bit of a pain to be honest so I’ve taken it down to the cleaners more than once...
2.40*2.40 Goose down of over a 1.000 Euro's, I'm just not going to risk it doing it myself (that besides if the machine could fit it, or the amount of work)
Of course I buy the cheap ones. When three wriggly mutts sleep on your duvet, you quickly learn that cheap and cheerful is the way to go.
IIRC I paid something like 49 or 59 Chuffs for mine (Ikea years ago) but they are actually rather nice duvets. Better quality than what I have seen at several times the price elsewhere. No idea what quality Ikea sells now, but back then it was a good value. As with any duvet I have to ransom them back twice yearly at between CHF 85 and 120 a pop. And that's just machine washing. (I don't like down, another reason for the cheap option.)
I have a 9kg machine, but there is no way my 220x240 heavy duvets could fit in there. So I pay the ransom...
Oh there is no such thing as best for all, I've tried diff things over the decades and just liked these the best.
And I praise myself happy which pets that do not sleep on the bed.
We did the opposite. We bought our mattress here but use linens from the USA because all the stuff here seems so scratchy. Deep-pocket queen sheets from the USA will work on a regular-thickness 160x200 mattress here. Just. The beds here are a bit wider but also a bit shorter so it still works.
We bought our duvet here as well, because our awesome LL Bean duvet would not possibly fit in our washing machine. I still miss that duvet.
I've often washed goose down quilts without problems. Just use a gentle 30deg wash cycle and tumble dry.
Yeah Gentle might be a problem, I used one setting on the machine for the last 3 yrs and cloths that can't handle that are just an issue of buying the wrong clothes
Still leaves the issue of the size and the machine also.
I started to write this response to the OP last night but I got distracted and erased it.
OP, the US bed system is not only a different size, it is a whole different infrastructure.
US: Headboard, footboard, bed rails, box spring, mattress, mattress pad, fitted sheet, flat sheet, blanket, bed spread.
Europe: Platform bed frame with sommeil, mattress, mattress pad, fitted sheet, duvet.
So, it is not just a question of whether you are going to find sheets that fit, (the twins and doubles fit nothing, the queens fit a 160 x 200, the kings fit a 200 x 210 if you do a bit of tweaking, California Kings fit nothing). It is a question of whether the mattresses fit the frame, do we even need a box spring, where DOES one find a flat sheet, etc.
If you are bringing over the ENTIRE SYSTEM, then bring enough sheets to last for however long you are going to be here. If you are only bringing over PART of the system, then good luck.
For us, because we love our California King bed and all of its' lovely components, I just chose to go to Paris in January or June for the sales at Galerie Lafayette to the Calvin Klein or Ralph Lauren bedding section and stock up at 50% off on flat sheets and all the other accoutrements for our decadent US bed.