Why the use of imparfait in "je voulais vérifier quel type d'oreillers..." Wouldn't that be like saying I was wanting? The English used I wanted,

Question

so I used the p.c.

Accepted Answer

There are so-called verbs of state, which describe a state of being or a state of mind. These are almost always used in imperfect because a state is by definition something that persists longer. Some examples of verbs of state are:
aimer - to like, love, croire - to believe, espérer - to hope, être - to be, penser - to think, sembler - to seem, sentir - to feel, vouloir - to want

Answer

Also following on from Chris's answer, she hadn't stopped wanting yet, she still wanted to check at the time of the conversation. If she only wanted to check in the past (e.g. a week ago) but that desire had finished, she might have said "j'ai voulu vérifier ... " but that wouldn't make much sense in this situation (in my opinion anyway - that's how I looked at it).