Habitat Furnishings

Full review
I had my last mattress for only 8 years but I had been having a lot of back and neck pain for a few years and decided that I was going to start an extensive research for a new mattress. I am sure everyone that looks for a mattress has that fear of buying a new mattress that turns out to be 'wrong'. So, in researching I also included a generous return policy in my parameters. The first thing I needed to decide was if I wanted a traditional bed ( I have been sleeping on a high-end, soft pillow top ), a air bed, tempurpedic or recently discovered by me the latex. I am very wary of 'fad' items and who wants to spend that kind of money on something that does not live up to the hype? But the more that I researched the more I was attracted to natural latex mattresses. I am not a big environmentalist but the eco-friendly part did appeal to me, I cannot lie. Most importantly was the comfort factor though. Reading reviews there was not much bad I could find about natural latex beds though I was concerned about the level of firmness because I was used to a soft mattress...but again having a lot of back pain, could the soft mattress be making it worse? I found the Habitat site after going through a lot of the traditional makers that usually ended up having little latex and many with latex that was not natural ( I do have allergies and found that natural latex was suppose to be great for them ). I actually made the leap based soley on reviews and company policy ( 6 month return policy, basically no questions asked ). I went all the way with my purchase: King Sky bed and foundation which included 2 king latex pillows and bed cover. After paying the fairly significant cost, I was a little concerned, after all the bed was going to come rolled up in a box how well made can that be? And I would have to assemble the foundation. But I kept think 6 month return policy! I ordered the bed in January and recieved it the beginning of February. WARNING, and I cant stress this enough: HAVE HELP and DO NOT OPEN the mattress until you have it where you want it. I am a lady but not even a burly man could handle this by himself. Luckily I had 2 nice friends who took it all up to my room. We opened the foundation first- VERY well made and easy to assemble. I was very happy with the quality. Next, the mattress. We got it out of the box, up on the foundation and then jumped back as we unwrapped the mattress. It IS heavy. My old mattress was much thicker with the pillow top, it was weird to see how much smaller my bed was. I experienced very little smell that some said would be present for a few days. I made up the bed and was excited to try it that night. My experiences: the first week, I admit was strange. It is a different feeling sleeping on latex, not bad different, just different. After the first week of getting use to it my only concern was the level of firmness, which was much more than my previous bed. I have to say, my back was starting to feel a bit better so it appeared firmer may have been the trick. After a month, my back was definetively starting to feel better but I still did not care for the level of firmness. I like to read in bed on my side and normally sleep on my side and found that the shoulder that I laid on was getting stiff and sore and a bit in the hip too. I am tall at 5'11 but not overly heavy so I did not feel that I should have that much discomfort so I called the company. After talking with customer service they suggested since I felt it was a bit too firm that I might like a 2" latex topper ( at cost ). I went ahead and ordered it. About a week later I got the box but while on the outside it said king topper it was actually a twin. I called the company and they were very appologetic and sent me a king at cost ( I kept the twin for my daughters dorm bed ). I have had the topper for about 2 weeks now and I love, love, love the bed. It solved the firmness issue and is very comfortable. I am sleeping well at night and my back feels so much better. I do not use the latex pillows under my head as they are a bit too thick for me but I do use them if I am on my side as a leg pillow and they are great! I am very happy that I bought the bed, who knew that a too-soft mattress was a huge part of my back problem. I would definetly recommend this bed!