The mattress hole
Background.
Our dog sleeps in the bed with us...Not normally a problem, but within the past year, he developed a propensity to run in his dreams. This means very little sleep for whichever of us is on the receiving end of the running. We tried for months to transition him out of our bed, but suffice to say his severe nighttime separation anxiety won.
Enter king size bed.
Having a totally empty bedroom during these repairs provided the opportunity to better evaluate whether or not a king size bed would actually fit in our somewhat small bedroom. Thanks to blue painter's tape on the floor, a couple of solid recommendations from friends, a visit to a natural mattress store, and a few more nights of poor sleep courtesy of our pup, my husband joined the king size bed train.
Enter copious research.
Since I'm on this kick to eliminate unnecessary VOCs from our household, I wanted to try to find a reasonably-priced mattress that met some standards. Thankfully I have friends and google.
- GreenGuard Gold - limits VOCs
- Okeo Tex Standard 100 - limits VOCs
- GOTS (Textiles) and GOLS (Latex): At least 95% organic fibers plus environmentally- and socially-responsible manufacturing standards
My husband and I checked out the mattresses at our local store and learned a lot. We liked the Dunlopillo Legacy Firm but neither of us was sure we wanted a fully foam mattress. The company that makes the Dunlopillo was very responsive to my questions, and even provided me with a link to the foam manufacturer's website, so it has stayed in the running.
Then I found two "bed in a box" options that intrigued me with their material sourcing, trial periods, and easy return policies.
Option A: Happsy
- New company (started in 2017)
- GOTS cotton, GOLS latex, Greenguard Gold
- Free delivery, free returns, 120 night trial
- Mattress composition: cotton - wool - latex - coils - cotton
- Manufactured in same facility as Naturepedic
- Product ships within 7 business days
Option B: Avocado
- New company (started in 2015)
- Voted #1 mattress by Consumer Reports in 2018
- GOTS cotton, Eco-INSTITUT latex, Oeko-Tex wool, Greenguard Gold
- Free delivery, free returns, 100 night trial
- Mattress composition: cotton - silica fire barrier - wool - latex - coils - latex - cotton
- Made to order, so ~3 to 4 week delivery time.
I opted to try the Happsy first, partly due to its faster shipping time.
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Update 1/16/19: Happsy was super easy for delivery, setup, etc. After ~90 days, we ended up returning it because it was just too soft for my husband to use long-term. The company is awesome, though, and the product is beautiful. I'd definitely recommend to anyone interested in a medium firm mattress.
We have been sleeping on the Avocado for about a week and both of us really like it. It is firmer and my husband sleeping better. It is also has handles (which the Happsy didn't have), which has made for easier positioning on our bed frame.
The Avocado delivery was more complicated than the Happsy, though. The company with whom they contract to deliver the mattress would only come to our home between the hours of 9a and 1p, and the delivery required a signature. Unfortunately, this wouldn't work for either of our schedules that week, so we ended up driving to the company's loading dock near the airport to pick it up. Ultimately, the whole thing was quite easy - just more time consuming. The box fit easily in my car, and we used a small utility cart we had at home to get the box from the car into the house.
We also went back to look at the Dunlopillo again - we still both like this option a lot, but it is more expensive than the Avocado, and I have some VOC concerns about the foam (it is ~5% soy-based). Our local store also recently stopped carrying it because the UK-based company has decided to stop manufacturing in the US. Unfortunately, this means more $ if we opt to purchase later down the road.
Fingers crossed on the Avocado.