Apparently we spend a third of our lives in bed. When you’ve got a young child it doesn’t always feel like it, but hopefully I will get to catch up on lost lie-ins later on! With so much time spent in bed, it’s important to value the quality of the materials that surround us when we are asleep.
***Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk. If you buy anything after clicking on one of these, a teeny-tiny percentage goes to support the running costs of my website at no extra cost to your lovely selves.***
Natural Mattresses
The Better Sleep Council recommend replacing your mattress after only seven years, and ours was getting on for twice that age. When the springs got too prominent to ignore (possibly caused by my son using it as a trampoline) it was time to find a new one and I wanted my new mattress to be free from artificial fibres and chemical fire retardants. Here are some of the options I found:
- Devon based Naturalmat have UK-made pocket-sprung and all-natural mattresses with three firmness options.
- Abaca are a welsh company who do a wide range of UK made mattresses using 100% natural materials including horsehair, organic wool and natural latex.
- The Wool Room* make pocket-sprung wool mattresses which are free from synthetic materials.
- The natural latex mattress from Una Mattress* is made from three layers of fairly traded latex from India wrapped in an organic cotton and wool cover.
- Green Fibres have a range of mattresses including organic cotton and organic wool are certified by the Global Organic Textiles Standards (GOTS) and the 100% natural latex, coir, and horsehair, certified to the QUL standards.
After sleeping on a natural latex mattress when housesitting for some right-on friends in Brighton, I was keen to have one of my own. I like the firmness and density of un-sprung mattresses and I finally decided on the Una Mattress*. They offer a 100 night trial, which is a good safety net when making such a big purchase. I’ve been sleeping on it for around three years now, and me and my partner both love it. It is free from metal springs, so hopefully there’s no danger of being ruined by trampolining this time!
The mattress is very thick, with three layers of different densities which can be stacked in any order, meaning you can change to soft, medium or firm whenever you like! We’ve chosen medium, and it’s very comfortable. After developing back and neck problems from years of sleeping on my front, I’ve trained myself to be a side-sleeper. The medium mattress layer supports my hips perfectly, without feeling like I’m sinking.
The Una Mattress is made from 100% natural materials and is free from flame-retardants and certified carbon neutral.
Bed Frames
Although we are keeping our old Warren Evans bed frame, we’ve just got a new rubber wood Kingsize Tatami frame from The Futon Company for our loft. Rubber wood is a sustainable option as it is a byproduct of the latex industry. Rubber trees have a limited lifespan for productivity in plantations. When a tree has come to the end of it’s time producing latex, it is important to find a good use for the wood. I love the fact that our new mattress and bed frame come from the same plant. At the risk of sounding like a complete hippy, I send my gratitude to the Hevea brasiliensis for providing me with a natural and comfortable place to nest.
The Natural Bed Company are also worth checking out if you need a new bed frame.
We’ve recently added some solid wood underbed storage drawers from the Feelgood Eco Bed Company in Devon. They are great quality and mean we can store our spare bedding in an easily accesible and dust-free place. They make their products to order in the UK and if we ever need a new bed frame I will get one from them.
Covers
If you’ve got a kingsize bed, make sure you’ve got the right size of duvet! I’ve shared double duvet on a kingsize bed for 10 years, and just didn’t realise that I had got it all wrong. After buying a kingsize wool duvet from The Wool Room* I finally have coverage, without the familiar nocturnal duvet tug-of-war! Wool is naturally dust mite resistant, and reassuringly heavy without being too thick. There’s now plenty of room under the covers even when our son hops in for a snuggle.
With a new duvet size, I also needed new bed linen. I found a beautiful Laotian silk cover in the sale from The Natural Bed Company, and an organic cotton percale, Oeko-Tex certified set from La Redoute*. They also have options in 100% hemp and 100% linen which are Oeko-Tex certified.
Natural Collection* and Ethical Superstore* and The Wool Room* also do a range of organic and fairtrade bed linen sets.
Children’s Bedding
Our son has a wooden Flexa bed, with a natural wool and coir mattress from Little Green Sheep. His bed has colourful plain cotton sheets and duvet covers from La Redoute* and a gorgeous animal-print pillowcase from Anorak.
We use dust-mite proof cotton pillow and mattress protectors from The Healthy House to help manage his allergies, and a waterproof mattress protector from Little Green Sheep. We have recently switched to a Spundown duvet and pillow from The Fine Bedding Company* as they are both washable at 60 degrees which kills dust mites.
Little Green Radicals also have a small range of organic cotton children’s bedding with colourful prints. Expect more information for kids rooms in a full Green Shopper post about natural children’s bedrooms and products soon!
*Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk. If you buy anything after clicking on one of these, a teeny-tiny percentage goes to support the running costs of my website at no extra cost to your lovely selves.
1 thought on “The Plastic-Free Bedroom”