First time posting and have thoroughly enjoyed and possibly oversaturated my self with latex mattress info. I’ve done a fair amount of research and feel I have a decent understanding of the types of latex mattresses out there. I’ve found and like the Stearns & Foster Latex Italian Garden Villa mattress but have had a bit of difficulty in finding very detailed info regarding this mattress. I’ve also read where other’s love the S&F mattresses and some not so much. Also understand that going brand name is not the best choice in a lot of instances. I couldn’t find specific info as it relates to this line of mattresses and wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations or possible alternatives, ie. sealy icomfort latex, Jamison Lady Clark, etc
I’m considering this one as it’s seems to be offered at a decent price at around $2200 for a king when compared to similar models of many different brands. It’s just a bit more than I really wish to pay but if this is a good mattress at a fair price then I may give it a try.
We don’t seem to have a lot of stores selling latex mattresses in the area of Baton Rouge and I’m not sure I’m brave enough to give the online purchase a shot without being able to try it out prior to purchase. If the new Costco was open I might would try their Novaform Latex mattress and the Sam’s equivalent doesn’t appear to be as good from what I’ve read. Even though consumer reports gave it a decent rating.
So any information on this Stearns & Foster Italian Garden Villa would be much appreciated!
Quality and Value?
Mattress pad requirement for warranty coverage?
Purchasing mattress only and putting it on a platform or slat style foundation?
Many Thanks!!!
Hi 1CHILLSLEEP,
The first place I would start your research is the tutorial post here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to make the best possible choices … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones. This would include the mattress you are looking at along with other major brand mattresses or any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the quality of the materials inside the mattress (see this article).
The Stearns & Foster Italian Garden Villa is a great example of the type of mattress that would be a good idea to avoid. You can see from the specs here that it has 3.5" of polyfoam on top of the latex so you would be sleeping on polyfoam more than on latex. This is a lower quality and less durable material that would be a weak link in the mattress and would be much more subject to softening and foam breakdown than latex. I would normally suggest that you make sure there is no more than “about an inch or so” of lower quality or unknown materials in the upper layers of any mattress you are considering and once you are at about 2" or more then the odds are much higher that foam softening of lower quality materials will lead to the premature loss of comfort and support which isn’t covered by a warranty (see post #174 here).
In addition to this … the latex in the mattress is synthetic which is still a good quality material compared to polyfoam but is a much lower cost material than latex that has a higher natural rubber content. For example you can see see an example of a mattress that uses 9" of the same material here and another one that uses 8" of the same type of latex here and both of these have the ability to customize the mattress both before and after a purchase and don’t have any weak links in their design. In other words … even if it didn’t have a weak link in the design in terms of durability it still wouldn’t be great value based on the materials in the mattress.
Needless to say … I don’t think it’s a good mattress or a fair price.
It’s always a good idea to use a mattress protector to keep your mattress in a hygienic condition. protect a mattress against body fluids, accidents, and skin cells, and which can be easily removed and cleaned. Post #89 here has more information about the different types of mattress protectors and the pros and cons of each but they are meant to protect a mattress while changing or interfering with its feel and performance as little as possible. A mattress pad (see post #10 here) is thicker and while some of them will also protect a mattress … they are meant more to change the feel of the mattress and add some additional softness which may or may not be necessary or even desirable.
You can read more about box springs and foundations and which types are suitable for different types of mattresses in the foundation post here.
The better local options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Baton Rouge area are listed in post #191 here.
Phoenix