Is Your Bed Bad For You? Part 3

If you are new to this little series be sure to check out Is Your Bed Bad For You? Part 1. and Is Your Bed Bad For You? Part 2.

We have now arrived at part 3 and I have to say I am a little sorry.  I have found that I start to breathe differently when I speak to people about this issue.  I have passed the point of passion and become a little too invested.  I want to bring the world up to speed on the heaven of bed comfort and non-toxicity, to the point where I believe I may be taking it a little too far.  I care too much.  I have fantasies about being a bed/bedding consultant (my title needs a more clever name) and basically being the guru of interpreting people’s various sleep needs.  I’m a strange girl though, we all knew that.  Anyway, part three here will tie up any loose ends and reveal to you the most heavenly of beds…MINE.

First I promised to tell you about the linen comforter cover I ordered custom from an Etsy seller out of Australia.  Her customer service was really amazing and I was annoyingly in touch with questions and indecision.  I aspired to have sheets like the Smooth Linen sheet found at Rough Linen and a duvet like the Orkney linen from Rough Linen.  Every penny counted though in my quest so I took some gambles and after a lot of research I chose two different Etsy sellers to provide me with the sheets and duvet cover.  The sheets came from The Shed Limited as I’ve said before, and I couldn’t be happier with the quality.  The duvet came from House of Baltic Linen.  I’m thrilled with everything about the duvet cover.  I asked her to move the buttons down and hide them, and to make my duvet cover smaller than my down comforter so it will always look billowy and lofty and like a cloud.  As you may have read in a previous post, our down comforter has faced some hardship and is being replaced because it has shrunk considerably.  It still looks lofty and lovely in these photos, but being who I am, I expect there to be no empty spaces even in the corners and that issue will be addressed with the new comforter.  Still the same one from L.L.Bean.

The mattress itself is from Mattresses.net and I cannot recommend their customer service highly enough.  It comes in three boxes and you assemble it yourself.  It takes 10 minutes.  (Why do this when you can order a latex bed locally?  Because you will pay a minimum of 3,000 for it and that is without the foundation.  Our King sized mattress cost us $1,399.  Factory direct baby.)  We also ordered the KD wood foundation which has slats specially spaced for talalay latex to ensure it doesn’t sink over time.  It comes with a matching bamboo cover that you can staple to the frame, but why?  The frame alone is so rustic and asian and simple and clean.

The mattress comes with a bamboo cover that has wool batting inside.  Wool acts as a natural fire retardant and is non-toxic and some of you probably don’t know this but wool is one of the most absorbent materials in the known universe.  Natural known universe that is.  (There is of course “Zorb” and I’m embarrassed that I know about it because it is a testament to my other ventures into information overload-this one was into the world of cloth diapers.)  I know of wool because it was what I chose for Weston’s crib mattress protector and puddle pad.  It is non-toxic so it was a perfect choice for baby.  Then I purchased wool diaper covers and discovered how amazingly absorbent they are!  Wool simultaneously absorbs and repels moisture.  I still didn’t understand the power of wool until recently when the comforter and mattress were peed on by an animal.  Not our animals, but a dog and let me tell you, not one drop of that pee made it through the cover to the latex!  Truly unbelievable.  The mattress was peed on directly-and dogs can really pee-and still the small amount of wool batting in this mattress cover absorbed it ALL.  Plus, it was cleaned with Borax and retained NO smell whatsoever.  Wool is also anti-bacterial and anti-microbial and if left to air out, will essentially clean itself.  That guy up there in the clouds is pretty smart if you ask me.

Moving right along.

The king mattress comes with two 6 inch core halves and one two (or three) inch topper.  You can customize the density of each side to your preference.  Talalay is a process that injects a lot of air into the latex, as you can see by all the holes.  It is the newest, and purest way to pour the forms.  There is no settling so the density stays even all over.

Put them all together, zip on your (totally amazingly protective) cover and bam, you are ready to add your bedding.  Of course you know what I would recommend.  100% linen.  Why?  Because in addition to the temperature regulating qualities of latex (i.e. it keeps you cool naturally), linen is also incredibly absorbent and temperature regulating.  It will keep you cool in summer and warm in winter, and I assure you, it is not at all ROUGH.  It is the most pleasing and delicious material the hubs and I have ever slept on.

I chose the heavier fabric (ordered custom from the mill that House of Baltic Linen uses in Lithuania) for the duvet cover because in the summer our down comforter will be too warm and we can just take it out and simulate the Summer Cover (from Rough Linen) and use the cover alone.

*I should note here that I aspire to order linens from Rough Linen and I can’t wait for the day that I have a closet full of linens, but for now I simply had to cut some corners.  I used her as my measure for everything I ordered because I so admire her work and her craftsmanship.  The thing is, not only did I save a little money, I received truly beautiful and amazing pieces of bedding from House of Baltic Linen and Shed Limited.

I happen to love the look of a bed that is just slept in and inviting.  Not messy, just beckoning me.

As recommended by Tricia of Rough Linen, we are sleeping with a flat sheet with tucked hospital corners, a duvet, and a duvet cover.  I was skeptical of losing the top sheet at first, and even before the cover arrived I was not convinced, but since adding the linen cover I get it.  The linen drapes over your body in this lovely cradling way that makes a top sheet just…redundant.

So, there you have it.  I feel like I’m missing something but I am more than available to answer questions should they arise.  Also, this is not a styled bedroom reveal, simply the bed reveal.  I will at some point do a toddler boy room tour and a tour of our bedroom, which is close to finished, but not quite there yet.  It’s basically white, as that is my favorite of ALL the colors.

Also, important to note that I am probably a little bit developmentally disabled.  Why?  Because I am the queen of healthy comfortable sleep and yet it completely escaped me until two days ago that the tension headaches I’ve been living with for weeks (read; since I decided to sleep on a 16×16 ikea insert until I could afford to buy all the amazing pillows I want) could be caused by my pillow.  I was blaming pregnancy, food, dehydration, lack of sleep.  Oh no.  It was my pillow.  I am so so slow.  I have been reading and writing about proper spine and neck alignment and still I didn’t consider how screwed up it is to sleep on an insert from ikea.  I switched to (gasp!) a tempurpedic pillow that I already had (shoved hatefully into the back of a closet) lying around until my new buckwheat pillows from HERE arrive.  It has been three nights and guess what?  No headache.  I will, of course, do a full review of said pillows once I give them a go.

Source (and also, read THIS about dust mites and buckwheat hull pillows)

(As an aside-or review: The healthiest pillows are non-toxic and aid in proper alignment of neck and spine.  The best options are non-fumigated and organic buckwheat hull pillows (the number one choice in Japan), wool (which is, as we have discussed, cooling and able to be molded into shape), latex (either contoured or shredded to mimic down), and organic kapok which is from the silk plant and extremely pressure sensitive, relieving pain from sleeping on the ear.  All are naturally dust mite resistant.  Pillow density and material is so personal even I with all my opinions couldn’t possibly tell you which one is best for you.  Oh, and cotton is not dust mite resistant.  Remember that when you think ordering new cotton sheets will save you some $ and be as good as linen.)

Next up the three month belly shot, and a review of the lotion that has kept all stretch marks at bay.  Hopefully it keeps its good reputation through this pregnancy.

-Bee