Latex mattress in Atlanta, GA area

Hi,
I am so glad I came across your mattress forum. My husband and I are considering an all natural latex mattress.

I wanted to find out if you could recommend any local stores to visit in our area, zip 30152.We are willing to travel within an hour from us.

First we want to try some different ones to see what we like. We have been to OMF who have 2 models a very soft one, which I did not like and my husband did not try it when I said tooooo soft. They had another which I would say was medium firmness had some softness but also some support. I realize theirs are blended latex BTW. We have found several of the online retailers who are members and have talked with them, we haven’t decided who to buy from yet.

We are very different sleepers. He is 6 ft 175 lbs stomach sleeper, I am 5’5 150 lbs side and back sleeper, occasional stomach sleeper but mostly to relieve pressure points. I did not toss and turn as much on the memory foam we had for 2 weeks.

I feel we need to get a bed that is customizable to his/hers so we can both get what we need comfort wise. We would love to try some more latex mattresses just don’t know where to go locally. Before we make another purchase we wanted to narrow down further what we each like, OMF unfortunately only offers the 2 options to choose from. He is ok and likes the firmer bed. I could probably live with it. We’d like something in the 9" range.

I believe we have narrowed down some likes and dislikes. I like memory foam but would rather have a healthier bed that we can both sleep on. My favorite 2 are the Tempurpedic cloud luxe and supreme. I am not sure what layers of latex would offer a similar feel to those. They are soft but have plenty of support and have a plush feeling on top. We both felt warm on memory foam, so it’s definitely not the way to go. In the whole process we are open to trying different bedding materials, bottom line we each want to be comfortable! It is not too much to ask. 1 st change is from queen to king, then from traditional spring coil to something more forgiving on the joints and rest of the body, preferably 100% natural talalay for the 3 layers.

My husband likes the softness and quilted feeling on a pillow top, but still likes support, he isn’t too crazy about memory foam. I believe he doesn’t like the stuck in the same spot feeling.

We also just retuned a Sleep Science memory mattress from Costco,after 2 weeks. We were told it is supposed to be medium soft bed. I have to say they have a great return policy and we chose that route because we weren’t sure how we would like it. Needless to say my husband couldn’t fall asleep and played musical beds for 2 weeks. It was too firm for him. I was ok with the bed but it was on the firm side for me.i slept fairly well on it. I liked that it provided support and pressure relief but not the settling feeling that made it hard to get out bed.

Any help/ advice would be great taken into consideration. This is not a very pleasant shopping experience since we can’t agree on a sleeping surface.

We went to Mattress Firm to see what options they offered. We felt like we had to walk out with a new bed that day. Won’t be going back there, but was a great way to try all the memory foam.

Hi Kenshireen,

The better options and possibilities in the Atlanta area are in post #2 here. You have some good options in the area :slight_smile:

The OMF latex mattresses are good value but are on the softer side. They also display them on an “active” foundation which is a little unusual (most manufacturers suggest a firm non flexing foundation for their latex mattresses unless they are quite thin) so it can sometimes make a difference if you ask to test them on a more solid base (like an adjustable bed).

You have several latex options in the area. There are also several ways to accommodate the different needs of people with different body types (including as you mentioned a side to side split). You can read more about this in the first part of post #2 here. The most important thing is that you don’t “rule out” that some mattresses you test may surprise you and work well for both of you … even if you don’t know the reason why. I would also not prejudge the thickness of the mattress that may work best for you unless of course there are other reasons that 9" may be necessary.

Memory foam and latex are about as close to “opposites” as you can get and there really isn’t a latex layering that approximates the feel of memory foam. while very soft latex may come the closest, they would still be very different because latex is a fast response and very resilient material while memory foam is a slow response material which has very low resilience. The choice between them is really a matter of preference but they are very different materials.

Regardless of materials though … the goal is always to make sure you match your needs (pressure relief and posture and alignment) and your other preferences (see post #46 here for the many preferences that may be more important to you). Even though the materials you may choose are a matter of preference, it’s important that no matter what materials you prefer that you use the highest quality of each that your budget allows … especially in the upper layers of the mattress which are the “weak link” of most mattresses.

Costco and the other big box stores are a good way to “experiment” and sometimes “roll the dice” if you are in an experimental mood because their return policies reduce the risk of an online purchase but they are not very knowledgeable or helpful about their mattresses they sell and it takes some knowledge to be able to tell the better quality from the worse quality (which are the majority) that they sell and in most cases you would need to get lucky to find a suitable mattress there because they don’t provide any guidance in making a choice that is suitable to your body types or sleeping positions…

If you haven’t seen this already … the best advice I can give you is to read post #1 here which has a series of steps (and links to information) that can help you find the most suitable mattress with the best possible quality and value. Most importantly it will provide you with lots of basic information and help you connect with the “experts” so that you don’t have to become one yourself :slight_smile:

As you will see from the guidelines that are linked in the post I mentioned … walking into a chain store will do more to frustrate you and waste time than anything else. In almost all cases they are not worth any consideration compared to smaller local or independent manufacturers that are either sold factory direct or through better local sleep shops (or online if you are comfortable with the extra risk or there is not a lot of good value choices available locally).

I’m looking forward to hearing about some of your local testing and finding out what you end up with.

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix,

We will definitely make it a point to check out the local vendors you mentioned. We’ll be making some phone calls today to figure out who has what we are looking for and make a fieldtrip of it this weekend. Most seem to be about an hour + away from me.

I had done quite a bit of reading the website, sleepinglikethedead.com and numerous online vendor sites, before I posted last night and had learned quite a bit. So will be taking my checklist of 5 things when we shop. Our preference is to buy locally if at all possible. We will give that a try before we do any online shopping.

I agree with you in that we may find a bed that is equally good for both of us without any customization. I will keep my mind open to that option.

I will go back ot OMF and ask they place the harder of the 2 latex beds on a solid foundation or floor to see if it makes any difference. It might, and they are 15 mins away, so that will be my starting point tonight or tomorrow.

I am going to try to erase the memory foam out of my head since that is an option we will no longer consider, due to sleeping hot, the fact they will off gas and can be unhealthy, even if they don’t smell. That was something we knew about before we made our Costco purchase but chose to ignore at the time. I am glad that is no longer in the picture.

You are absolutely right about the chain store shopping. We both felt we were pressured into walking out with a bed at the spur of the moment.

I will say the OMF in Kennesaw, (Paul, I believe is the salesperson) were very friendly and pricing seemed fair, no pressure and educated us quite a bit. He really seemed to know what he was talking about. The only concern I had was that I did not have any more than 2 choices, which I felt is limiting, when there could be more suitable options out there to our liking. I don’t like being boxed in to what the ‘average’ sleeper may find suitable.

I’ll keep you posted on our final decision and will let you know if I have any more questions, I am ready for a restful good night’s sleep and hope to have it real soon.

Thanks for your reply.

Hi Kenshireen,

I think that OMF has some very good value but I agree it would be great if they had more latex selection. This could be important for customers that were attracted to a latex mattress with good value but didn’t “fit” one of the two options they offered. It would also increase the attractiveness of their exchange policy for their latex mattress customers who wanted to take advantage of it but there was only one other choice available.

I usually include manufacturers or retailers that have better possibilities within about a 50-100 mile radius. The thinking is that with a preliminary phone call to make sure they have a selection of the types of mattresses that you want to test and to make sure that they are knowledgeable and transparent about the materials in their mattress, that even with some extra travel time that the search will be far less frustrating (dealing with someone who is knowledgeable and focused more on educating than on selling) and in many cases the travel time can save the time that would otherwise be spent in more “typical” stores which ends up being wasted because you have no way to know the quality or value of what you are really buying. Besides OMF … there seems to be five possibilities that offer latex of some type (at least according to my google maps which isn’t always that accurate in terms of time) that are within an hour of Kennesaw (in Atlanta, Tucker, and Alpharetta) although not all of them have “all latex” mattresses or will have the same “value” as OMF.

I’m looking forward to hearing about your experiences and feedback with some of the other Atlanta options. :slight_smile:

Phoenix

Hi Phoenix

So I am ready to report after a full day of trying beds. The stores I chose had to sell all natural latex mattresses. We went back to OMF for comparisons though since that was the first store we went to and we wanted to have a reference point as well. Their 2 latex mattresses are blended and contain poly foam in the comfort layers.

The results:

Tucker Mattress: Stuart is a very knowlegeable, no pressure sales person, this is his factory since 1985. He has taken over from the family who started this business almost 100 years ago. He has 2 talalay latex beds in the show room, 34 ild 6 in core with 1.5 in comfort layer soft latex 14-19 lid, and 40 ild 6 in core bed with same 1.5 in comfort layer. These are 2 sided mattresses that he put puts together. My husband preferred the 40 ild mattress. I liked the 40 with the addition of a 2 in soft topper 14-19 ild. For me the topper provided the cradling feeling and pressure relief. At the same time the 40 ild felt very supportive. The 34 ild felt good too with topper , but we had the concern of it being too soft when you sit on the edge of the bed. Sleeping wise I would be fine with both as long as I have a topper. That made a huge difference to me. I felt his prices are reasonable, but there is no return or exchange policy at the store. They custom make each bed, within certain guidelines. I don’t think he would make a mattress any thicker than the 2 sided he sells, but is open to a different core if we want it. He recommended purchasing the topper for the cradling feeling I want.

Atlanta Mattress: Rich is the sales person we dealt with. Also seems very knowledgeable. The store carries a variety of hand made mattress that are 10k+, various memory foam brands, and Pure Latex Bliss. They have 4 models on the floor. The Pamper, firm to me, the Nature, also firm to me, a tiny bit softer the Pamper, the Beautiful, very supportive but cradling as well. I liked this one a lot. My husband felt it too soft when he was on his stomach. Btw husband was ok with the 1 st 2 plb’s. my favorite is the World’s Best Bed. Husband found this one too soft as well.

I added the 3 in topper to the last 3 mattresses to try how it feels. I can go with or without on the plush beds but have to have it on the Nature.

I don’t know that all these layers are necessary to achieve the feeling of support and cradling of the plush plb’s. I think as a somewhat fair compromise, I would do a mattress like the Nature with the added topper. I felt for me that gave the necessary support but felt the pressure relief, when I am on my side or back. I can easily feel my spine being out of alignment or pressure points on my hips and shoulders. The pressure relief is extremely important to me at this point. For my husband, he is not convinced about it.

Plb’s Nature in a king with3" topper, we were given a price of right around $4500. I am not sure what to think at this moment as I haven’t shopped around to see other pricing on them. I think it’s a high price, but am not sure what is a fair price and if Latex International price fixes their prices on them like Tempurpedic. I like the softer foundation (solid wood+4 in of latex i think)if we go with the Nature at least for my side. He is ok with the solid wood foundation.

I do know that some online retailers are way less. The question is this: if we go with an online retailer how do I get the same feel of a plb’s nature, beautiful, or best? Can you give me any of the layering advice to build the same mattresses?

I am still open to having the same latex throughout but how do I achieve the extra pressure relief I need with that option?

If we do a his/hers how do we end up with a mattress that’s the same height. I am having a hard time visualizing that!

I think value wise the online retailers who are members may be our best value.

Thank you for your feed back in advance.
Shireen

Hi kenshireen,

I don’t know anything about your body types (weight/height etc) or your sleeping position but you did mention that your husband spent at least some time on his stomach in which case I would be very cautious about the Beautiful or the World’s Best Bed (either with or without the 4" latex foundation). These are mattresses that would be best for people who slept on their side and in other sleeping positions they could be quite risky for alignment … particularly for heavier people.

The prices you mentioned for the PLB Nature plus the 3" topper are also on the high side even compared to the MAP (minimum advertised price) for PLB which is already higher than many manufacturers who make all latex mattresses (such as Tucker). The Nature has a MAP in the range of $3499 (king set) and the 3" topper (in king size) is @$589 (or $599 in the Active Fusion version) which together comes to under $4100 so I’m not sure where the extra cost is coming from. Because this is the minimum advertised price (which is controlled) … this is the most they should sell for and even here it is significantly more than other options you have (including Tucker) that would be significantly less for a similar amount of latex (the Nature is 10" of latex and then a topper and the Tucker is 9" of latex and a topper).

If all else is equal … I would also tend to go with firmer choices rather than softer choices because as you know you can always add a topper to a mattress that is too firm but if you buy a mattress that is too soft you’re stuck with it (and the back aches it can cause).

A fair price IMO would be in the range of about 20% - 25% more than you could buy a similar mattresses from an online merchant (this takes into account the lower risk involved in buying a mattress that you can test first). To give you an example … there are several 9" latex mattresses available in the list of online manufacturers that are members here (see post #21 here) that are under $2000. Any of these plus a foundation and a 3" topper (if this was even necessary) would be significantly less than the PLB. They also have the advantage in many cases of being able to customize the layering choices or either re-arrange layers or exchange them.

Out of the local choices you mentioned … I would certainly go with Tucker mattress (and their 2" topper or with a topper purchase elsewhere depending on the softness you want and pricing) because I am guessing it is much better value (based on my conversations with them). There is no point in paying for an amount of latex which has no benefits or improved feel and performance for you (and again this would depend on your body type and sleeping positions and on any differences you felt between mattresses). The Tucker mattresses also have the advantage of being two sided and flippable which will extend their life even with a material as durable as latex (and of course is more costly to make when the mattress is finished on both sides).

You would need to know the layering of the Nature and then tell the manufacturer you were dealing with what it was so they could help you choose the model that they carried that would be the closest approximation (they wouldn’t be an exact match because they may not offer mattresses with the same layer thicknesses or layer ILD’s as the PLB). They could also help give you feedback about the suitability of this layering for your body weight and sleeping positions based on the averages of their customer base with similar circumstances.

You can see the construction of the old version of the Nature here

The new version has removed the bottom 1" layer and added it to the second layer. I don’t know the layering of the new Nature for sure but a reasonable estimate would be …

2" of Active fusion Fast Response talalay 21 ILD
2" of Blended Talalay 28 ILD
6" of blended Talalay 36 ILD

I would also consider a slightly firmer topper in the range of 19 - 24 ILD rather than the very soft 14 ILD (although again this would depend on body type and preferences).

While the PLB mattresses are very good quality, without a significant discount (which are often available with retailers that still have the old models) … I wouldn’t consider them at this price unless there was a compelling reason to do so outside of “value”.

With a side to side split … each half of one or more of the mattress layers uses a different firmness level of latex and they are all enclosed in the same cover. In effect you have two mattresses in one. There is either a quilted cover or a latex layer over any split layers to even out the feel of the split itself.

You can read a little more about the benefits of split layers in post #2 here and some of the ways that can be used to accommodate a couple with very different weights or needs and preferences are in the beginning of post #2 here.

Phoenix