I’m hoping to get some input on a mattress build. Some background first; The wife and I have been struggling to find a good mattress for years now. We both experience significant back pain from our mattress. We are currently on the Nectar foam mattress seems like an ok mattress (the company itself was horrendous to deal with) but just feels to soft and not supportive enough. We have My wife is 110lb and a back sleeper. I am 200lb and a side and back sleeper.
We went to a local mattress store ‘It’s Bedtime’, located in Silverdale, Wa to try out a true latex mattress and really ended up liking the Posh+Lavish Refine mattress. I was surprised by this since it is advertised as an Ultra plush and I had thought that we would need to get a firmer mattress since all of our others had felt to soft. The problem was the $5000 price tag and the lack of a return policy.
So I have been trying to ascertain how that mattress was put together so I can do a similar DIY version through Foam Sweet Foam. The salesperson told me it was a base layer of Dunlop followed by several layers of Talalay. It is a 12" mattress. Foam Sweet Foam offers a 13" mattress that is completely customizable with 3" layers. Foam Sweet Foam recommends on their site having only the top layer be Talalay with Dunlop on the bottom. I was thinking doing a base layer of X-firm Dunlop, then firm Dunlop, then med Dunlop, then Soft Talalay. Any thoughts on if this may be comparable to that Refine mattress? Im not expecting it to be exact of course, but similar. I’m not even 100% sure if a more ‘plush’ mattress is truly the best for us but by having individual layers we can customize it ourselves with the layers we bought or exchange one through Foam Sweet Foam since they allow for one exchange. Thanks for your time
I would have concerns about the 3.5 lb memory foam used in the Nectar, as it is a lower density than I would normally recommend. And unfortunately, your customer service issues seem to be quite common with them from feedback I’ve received and from other site members recently.
The Posh + Lavish is an all-latex mattress, where your Nectar uses polyfoam and memory foam, so they are disparate products and would have quite different feels. Latex has the ability to provide plushness but also support (it has a higher compression modulus) as compared to memory foam, which has poor support characteristics.
The Refine is the most plush item in the Posh + Lavish all-latex lineup, using a 6" Dunlop core from Mountain Top and then a 1" layer of “transition” Talalay latex on top of which is 5" of plush Talalay latex from Talalay Global. The cover is a cotton stretch knit surrounding a wool layer. This mattress uses good quality materials that would generally not be a concern regarding durability and quality, but it can be in a bit of a higher price point, so many people might wish to make a careful “personal value equation” regarding this product.
While I’m not familiar with the exact ILDs of the Refine, the combination you proposed would most likely not be quite as soft overall as the Refine you tested. What you’re considering is a very “typical” progressive design, and should allow for a degree of conformation while sleeping on your side, but hopefully not so soft that it would allow you to sink in too deeply when on your back.
Dunlop does have a bit of a “firmer” feel overall as compared to Talalay at a similar ILD range, as it “firms up faster”, and it is popular for use in deeper support layers, as FSF mentioned. The most dramatic comfort changes will be felt with the uppermost comfort layer changes, so staying with a softer Talalay layer should keep you in a “similar” range to what you tested with the Posh + Lavish. Of course, all of the layers of a mattress work together to provide you overall comfort, so you’ll only know for sure how this works for you once you personally test out the configuration at home. There’s a little more about different sleeping positions and things to consider when selecting a mattress in this article.
This is one of the advantages, and for some people the “curse”, of having a configurable component-style mattress. I’ll strongly recommend attempting to mimic a configuration that you have tried in person and have liked, and after that I’ll recommend that you seek the guidance of an experienced manufacturer (such as FSF) with their recommendations, as they will know more about how their materials will work with your request, as well as their experience helping others with similar needs and their knowledge of items that you have tested in person.
You may wish to read option 3 in post #15 here and the posts it links to (and option #1 and #2 as well) so that you have more realistic expectations and that you are comfortable with the learning curve, uncertainty, trial and error, or in some cases the higher costs that may be involved in the DIY process. While it can certainly be a rewarding project … the best approach to a DIY mattress is a “spirit of adventure” where what you learn and the satisfaction that comes from the process itself is more important than any cost savings you may realize (which may or may not happen).
Thank you for the prompt and thorough response! I appreciate the advice and am glad you were able to find the details on the Refine mattress. While I am still quite interested in pursuing the DIY approach, I think it wise for my wife and I to test out some more latex mattresses in our area to get a better sense of the differences. The store we went to only had 5 or so all latex mattresses with 2 of them being 100% Talalay whose feel/support we did not like. A larger test pool is probably a good idea. Any recommendations for stores in the Gig Harbor Wa area, especially ones that have a configurable/DIY option that you would recommend?
I have discontinued the provision of listings of potential retailers in various geographic regions (unless they are already approved site members), because of the difficulty in maintaining such lists in a retail landscape that is constantly changing, and most importantly the confusion it was creating with the consumer members who incorrectly assumed that these businesses had indeed gone through the strict vetting and qualification process that is part of becoming an approved member of The Mattress Underground. Such an assumption is unfair to both the consumers seeking assistance, as well as the very businesses and manufacturers who have indeed qualified the be members here of The Mattress Underground.
You can perform a forum search on Seattle or Tacoma (that would be the closest major area to you discussed here on the site) and see what other businesses have been discussed in that region which may be helpful to you. The good news is that you have some “natural” mattress stores in your area.
Whatever business you’re considering, I would always confirm that any retailer or manufacturer that you wish to visit is completely transparent (see this article) and also make sure that any mattress that you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines here.
If you have any questions about specifications or certain products you discover, feel free to post back on the forum and I’ll do my best to be assistive.
