Time For Bed
Ok, we’ll let you in on a small semi-gross secret. Our master bedroom mattress was way way old. Hugh Hefner old. And it was a hand-me-down. In fact, John’s sister graciously donated it to us when we moved to Richmond three years ago (after decades of use with it herself). They say mattresses get stiffer with age and we can definitely vouch for that fact. Ours was as tough as a brick and about as comfortable as one too. But it certainly did the job over the past three years and we weren’t in any place to purchase a new one off the bat as we embarked on our extreme home makeover one room at a time. Paint, primer, other furnishings and accessories- even a kitchen remodel- came first. And every night we retreated to bed sore and tired and woke up more achy than the night before. Here are John and Burger demonstrating how not fun our old mattress was. Look at those sad faces.
But three glorious years later, the time finally came for us to bid a sweet we-won’t-miss-you-at-all farewell to our ancient mattress and welcome a new sleeping companion into our lives. Now we won’t go to bed with just anything these days, my obsession with all things eco made me yearn for a pure and organic mattress free of fireproofing chemicals and made from 100% natural materials that are just as good for the planet as they are for people.
After hours of googling I found a great little organic mattress comparison site, which led me straight to the arms of our new bedroom companion: the Organic Serenity Natural Dunlop Latex Mattress By Savvy Rest. It was the top ranked mattress and it was actually the most affordable one as well (other than the much lower rated and thinner one at the bottom of the page).
At $1999 for a queen mattress, it’s hardly a drop in the bucket. In fact it’s pricier than every piece of furniture in the entire house. But when you think about how much time you spend on a mattress, and how this baby is warrantied for a full 20 years, it really breaks down to pennies a day and the added fact that it’s so good for the planet and our bodies really was a selling point for us- even if it upped the price a bit. So after a few months of saving (we literally had a “mattress fund” in our savings account) our new bedmate arrived in three different boxes. And yes I did that squealing and clapping thing that I do when I’m excited.
Possibly one of the most amazing features of the Organic Serenity Mattress is that you get to customize the firmness. It’s made up of three three-inch layers of natural latex encased in a certified organic cotton & wool cover so each layer came in its own box (another added bonus is that it shipped from nearby Chrlottesvile, Virginia so it didn’t have to travel many miles to our door- hooray for buying “local”). Here’s one of the layers along with the organic cotton and wool cover:
The fun began about a week earlier when we got to personally select each layer’s density online during the ordering process (choosing between soft, medium, or firm) so we could create the perfect customized mattress just for us. You can even split each layer up the middle so if John liked a soft mattress and I liked a hard one, we could have chosen different latex densities on either side of the mattress for an individualized result. Since we both like a moderately firm mattress (not brick-firm like our former one, just not too soft since we’re back and belly sleepers) we chatted with one of the phone consultants and ended up going with one layer of “medium” followed by a second layer of “medium” and a layer of “soft.” And needless to say when those three layers arrived in their own boxes we couldn’t wait to put everything together. You know we like DIY projects around here! First we cleared out our old mattress (which we Freecycled by the way):
Then we followed the so-simple-Burger-could-do-it directions that came in one of the boxes. First we laid out the bottom part of the organic cotton & wool cover:
Then we took out the layer of natural latex marked “bottom, medium” and stuck it into the cover, wiggling it around like we were shaking out a rug until it was centered and even across the bottom of the cover. Even with just one 3″ layer of hole-riddled latex our bed was eons more comfortable than our old inner spring antique.
Then we placed the “middle, medium” layer of latex on top of the “bottom, medium” one and followed that with the “top, soft” layer, which you can see John adjusting below:
Once each layer was stacked evenly and aligned in the cover, it was time to bring in the top of the cover and zip it around all three pieces of latex to hold them in place for the long haul (20+ years according to the warranty).
John worked his way around the whole mattress, zipping as he went, and before we knew it we had a fully functioning new mattress to call home. And since each layer is 3″ thick plus there’s the quilted organic wool & cotton cover, our new mattress is a decadent 11″ thick (as opposed to our crochety old 6″ inner spring variety). Words can’t express how much we love our 2 year anniversary present to each other (cotton’s supposed to be the 2-year anniversary theme, and by golly the cover is actually pure organic cotton!). Look how good life is when you have a new mattress. You start posing like they do in those commercials with the wine glass on the bed:
So that’s the story of aching backs, researching, ordering, and assembling which resulted in sleeping like babies ever since (no more pinned featherbed required). Our actual anniversary isn’t until July 7th but we sure are glad we saved our pennies for something that we’ll appreciate for years (and years) to come. And speaking of the passage of time, look who was still hanging out on our new mattress hours after we assembled it and retreated to the den to watch some tube. Yup, Burger was sold from day one.
How about you guys. Are any of you in need of a new mattress or another household staple like a couch? Any wedding anniversaries coming up with cotton (or something else) on the agenda? Do tell.
Psst- Looking for an update on how we like our mattress? Check out this follow-up post where we detail how we feel about our big mattress switcheroo after a good amount of use.
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Comments
Do you guys use organic pillows too? I would like to find an organic toddler pillow and was wondering if you have any good places to look for organic pillows? Thanks.
We actually got two pillows from Savvy Rest while we were at it, but there are a bunch of places online that sell ‘em. Just google “organic pillow” to find a few. And we even saw an organic option in Bed Bath & Beyond the other day. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Hi youngsters,
A somewhat late and only loosely related question for you. We have a similar style bed in the sense that it’s from IKEA and has slats as opposed to a box spring. We like the functionality of it, but have found our slats appear to be a bit too short and will, from time to time, slip off the perimeter rails. We’ve resorted to putting a cut-down furring strip between the two slat sets, which is better but still doesn’t completely solve the problem for some of the shorter slats. I was wondering if you guys have encountered the same thing or if perhaps we got the slats that slipped by IKEA QA. Worst case, we can always cut longer slats ourselves, but it would be a pain since we’ve already spent the money on purchasing these. And unfortunately, our nearest IKEA is a day trip (and a border crossing) away, so it’s not terribly easy to pop by the store… Thanks!
Hey Julie,
Every once in a blue moon we jump into bed or toss something super heavy on one side of the mattress (like furniture when we’re painting another room) and some of the slats slide off, but it’s only three times a year or so. Which isn’t annoying enough to spur us into any type of preventative action. It sounds like yours might be shorter and they might come off more regularly so DIYing something to keep that from happening might be your best bet. Good luck!
xo,
s
I’m considering purchasing the Malm myself. But I’m not sure how my husband would feel about giving up the boxspring (both due to his being traditional, and the amount of moola he spent on it in the first place). So my questions to you are: if you were in the same situation, do you think that the bed would look ok with a box spring on top of the slats? (maybe adding a fitted sheet to cover it’s ugliness? If you have a few spare minutes (hehe), would you mind telling me approximately how many inches you have between the top of your mattress and the top of the headboard? Pretty please? I would guess about 18″? Many thanks!
Yup, it’s about 18.” We think you could add a box spring under the mattress but your mattress might slide since it won’t be recessed into the bed frame so it won’t be held in place. Does that make sense? I can assure you that it’s super comfy with just a nice mattress (and you can always add a featherbed, which might be more functional than the shifting mattress over the box spring). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Sherry,
Thanks for the quick response — it’s helpful to know if others share our issues or not! I guess it’s back to the work bench for my hubby to cut longer slats… Or just deal with replacing them when we hear that telltale “clunk” on the wood floor.
Melanie, we went from a traditional box spring/ mattress combo to a slat bed and didn’t notice a difference in comfort. I was concerned too, but have no regrets. The only change is that it’s tricky to incorporate a dust ruffle, if your heart so desires.
Yes, we heavily considered it and it’s a fabulous budget-friendly and non-toxic option. To explain it very generally, that mattress is about an 8 on the eco/green scale and Savvy Rest mattresses are an 11. They just go above and beyond to use 100% organic wool and 100% organic cotton and zero chemicals to keep things firesafe. They even fill their mattresses with 100% naturally grown latex instead of metal springs or batting in the middle. They’re like the kid in your school who ends up with a 4.5 GPA thanks to all the extra credit they did. But the Ikea version is about a thousand times greener and less toxic than the average mattress so they’re a great compromise if that’s what you’re looking for. Goodness knows we understand the concept of having a budget and sticking to it!
xo,
s