I love this site and all of the info! The only problem is I’ve read so much info that now I’m struggling to find the right mattress setup for us and I’ve become a bit frustrated. Or I should say my partner is getting frustrated. It feels like we are living in a mattress store with the three mattresses we are testing in our apartment! 
I recently moved in with my partner and she was sleeping on a 15 year old mattress that was compressed/sagging in the middle and on a homemade platform bed that was also sagging in the middle. She made due with it by just sleeping in the middle. Once I moved in, the sagging bed had to go, so we started sleeping on an air mattress while we shopped for a mattress. I knew I wanted something as natural and chemical free as possible, and I had a latex topper in the past that I liked, so we’ve focused on latex. I also started reading this forum and learned all I could.
We first tried the Pranasleep Organics models at City Mattress. My partner is 5’7" 200 pounds, I am 5’6" 130 pounds. We are both side sleepers and occasional back sleepers. She has some back pain, I have an old shoulder injury. In the store, she loved the plushest model (Super Hatha), I preferred the model more in the medium to plush range (Hatha) or even better a cushion firm (Bhakti) We also both liked the hybrid (Earth in plush). These were all out of our price range, but we wanted to get a feel for latex. We tried each one for at least 20 minutes. I learned that she definitely prefers the plushest possible, however, she was also comfortable on anything I liked. I also suspect that trying out the plushest in the store would be different than sleeping on it every night, so she may not want as ultra plush as she thinks she does. A week later we were at a furniture store and tried a Beautyrest Black just for the heck of it. We had been sleeping on an air mattress for a week, and the Beautyrest felt so amazing and we were so sleep deprived, we were very tempted to just buy it. But I knew that wasn’t what I really wanted and wasn’t the best value.
We went home and decided to order two bed in a boxes: the Brentwood Home Oceano (even though we both hate memory foam, we thought we’d try it, since the Beautyrest Black had felt nice) and the Brooklyn Bedding Bloom Hybrid (soft). We received the Bloom Hybrid first. It was fairly comfortable for both of us, though I had shoulder pain and didn’t feel like it was very pressure relieving. The Oceano arrived a week later, so we changed to that one. We weren’t too impressed with the Oceano. It looks beautiful, but didn’t feel that plush. I’m also very sensitive to temperature and it slept hot and gave me nightmares. The biggest thing that bothered us is that it smells like chemicals and paint. Even the cat won’t sleep on it. So after a few days we switched back to the Bloom, which after the Oceano, felt pretty comfortable and my shoulder no longer hurt. But we still didn’t feel like the Bloom was quite right.
Next we went to a store that carries Pure Talalay Bliss and fell in love with the Beautiful. It was more than we wanted to spend and I had some concerns: layers are glued together so they can’t be changed, cover has polyester, top layer of talalay is pretty soft and may not hold up as well, price is high and not the best value. My other concern is that if it didn’t work for us and we needed to return it, we’d be stuck picking something else from that store and they didn’t have anything else we would want.
I found Sleep EZ on here, so I contacted them and spoke with Ramon, who was very helpful. Based on what we had liked in the stores, he recommended a 9" all talalay mattress (firm-med-med) with a separate 3" talalay topper (soft). The mattress and the topper would each have a stretch cotton cover. We received it 2 days ago and it was packaged very well. I did have an issue with the mattress cover because when I ordered, I had confirmed that the covers on the topper and the mattress would match, but they didn’t. The mattress cover is quite thin (can see the holes of the talalay through it) but the topper cover is nicer, thicker, and not see through. The mattress cover also had a small hole in it near the zipper. I contacted Sleep EZ and the returns specialist Roger explained the covers do not match and he was sorry for the misunderstanding. He is sending me the organic cotton/wool cover for the mattress instead, which he thinks I’ll like better.
Last night was our first night trying the Sleep EZ, so we aren’t really sure about it yet. For me it slept quite hot, similar to the Oceano, so I was bummed about that. The Bloom Hybrid never felt hot to me. I don’t know if it’s because the Bloom has coils and more air flow? Maybe solid latex won’t work for me? My partner feels that the Sleep EZ is too firm and prefers the Bloom. I explained to her that it should soften over time. It would seem that we should just go with the Bloom, but its not that simple. After researching more, I’d really prefer to have an all latex mattress instead of a hybrid. I like that the Sleep EZ is natural talalay, as I want our mattress as natural as possible (the Bloom is blended. Does blended talalay sleep cooler than natural talalay?). I like that we can change out layers in the Sleep EZ in the future. I like being able to see and know what’s in my mattress.
Sleeping hot is a deal breaker for me, so I really want to figure out how to make the Sleep EZ sleep cooler and give it a fair try. We have 100% organic cotton percale sheets. I ordered a St. Dormier wool mattress protector, though I think it will be thin and I’m not sure the small amount of wool will help with the heat. I thought about seeing if I could change out the stretch cover on the topper for the cotton/wool cover to see if the inch of wool would help (the Bloom has an inch of wool in their cover, and slept so cool and comfy for me), but I’m not sure if Sleep EZ will let me swap covers on the topper. And if I change the cover I’m worried it will make the topper feel firmer when my partner already thinks its too firm. I know we were trying to replicate the feeling of the Beautiful by using the stretchy cover, but if that makes it too hot, that won’t work for me. The Pranasleep Hatha didn’t have a stretchy cover (not sure what it was made of) but it still felt nice and plush, as does the Bloom.
Also, right now the mattress is on the floor. Maybe that would make it feel warmer and firmer? I had ordered a bed from the furniture store but then cancelled it when I realized it was made from a softer wood and particle board. I’m ordering a custom solid hardwood bed frame with center support but it won’t arrive for almost a month. Unfortunately, that will be at the end of my 30 day comfort trial with Sleep EZ, so I won’t be able to do a free exchange if the mattress feels significantly different once it’s on a bed. I imagine it will feel softer on a bed frame with slats than it does on the floor? If I had known I’d be waiting so long for the bed, I would have waited to order the Sleep EZ so that it would be on a frame during the 30 day trial.
I thought we were on the right track with all the info on Mattress Underground, but we haven’t found the right combination yet, and aren’t really sure what to do next.