Natural bedding - any suggestions for an alternative to a bed?

[phatdave]

Im re-decorating my very brightly coloured london bedroom as the colours are finally getting to me!

It will be fun experimenting with some homemade clay and starch paint.

I wanted to try sleeping on the floor, but I dont think the rock hard planks of the floor are going to be as nice to sleep on as the earth/grasses/leaves etc outside. Therefore I was looking for a natural material that would be a nice alternative, considering my girlfriend would really raise an eyebrow if i started bringing that sort of stuff inside to sleep on!

I thought of natural rubber, but didnt like the idea of sleep next to latex (dont know why, just slightly odd stuff given that people can be allergic to it no?) and I also considered bamboo matts but they are only a few mm's thick. Hmm.

Maybe a nice thick wool blanket? Hmm.

I remember hearing some guys saying they just throw down a blanket and thats it, which is great - but I cant help that think maybe thats a little too 'hard' (however is probably a lot better than much much too soft like beds).

So what are you primative (yet indoor) sleeping habits/materials?

Thanks guys!

(ps just found a site called paleoplanet which is alot of fun! Maybe we could meld the two and make a super duper paleo site!!  )

[Ioanna]

okay, I just moved 1200 miles and didn't take anything with me except what would fit inside my car... and my dog took up half that space

So I just went through the sleeping dilemma.  I hate bed mattresses... I don't sleep well on them unless they are extra extra firm, but I don't like sleeping on the level of the floor either, though I do sleep just fine on the floor.  And, to be honest, there is a side of me that would feel weird to have guests see my bedroom that has not some conventionalism to it.  So.. I looked into Japanese bedding... they have platform beds with the bamboo matting I think you wrote about.  I then visited a futon place here and told the owner my dilemma.  He said he is similar and made for himself an extremely firm mattress (firmer than what he sold in the store).... that's what I got!... it's awesome!... I sleep so well on this mattress!! So I ended up getting a wooden slat platform and this futon mattress. So I'm high off the ground with a relatively thin, firm mattress.  My mom is the only visitor I've had so far , but she loved it and said she slept really well on it... enough that she commented in the morning how much she liked it. 

Hope this might help as I did babble on long enough   Let me know what you end up with!

[van]

  I searched and thought for years.   I finally got it.  Most futons will eventually go hard as the material packs down.  I got four four inch thick wool mattress toppers and stacked them.  You have to offset them or the sides,top, and bottom, will be thicker than the middle portion.  Wool is great.  It breathes, there is no smell and it resists mold. I had a slat system made for my sleigh bed so that air can circulate from underneath.  If they pack, and it's been about a year now,  I can always shake them and rotate them around.  I should be airing them out in the sun about now anyway.  I cover them with a couple of sheets before I put on my bottom sheet so that they stay like new.     With four of them,  like Goldilocks, I found just the right amount of soft and firm.  May go five in time though.  Shepards dreams makes and sells them.  All organic wool with organic cotton covers.

[PaleoPhil]

... I then visited a futon place here and told the owner my dilemma.  He said he is similar and made for himself an extremely firm mattress (firmer than what he sold in the store).... that's what I got!... it's awesome!...

What is it?

I just got an extra-long full size loft bed that can only fit a 3.5" to 4" thick mattress without causing me to bang my head on the ceiling, and I think that's about the thickness I think I prefer anyway. Mattresses and pillows have gotten ridiculously thick these days. For now I'm using a firm 3.5" thick twin size artificial latex mattress on top of a plywood board. The mattress is too short and thin for the frame. I'm pondering what to get. I'm currently thinking of a mattress pad, such as this:

SonnoRx Standard Regency Pillow Top Mattress Pad, Deluxe 3" Loft (nearly 3" thick)
http://www.planetbed.com/regency-pillow-top-mattress-pads-deluxe-3-loft.html
$139
25 oz of fill per square yard (36" x 36") = about 80 oz of fill

Is a 3" mattress pad going to be enough, do you think, given that I do OK on a 3.5" firm latex mattress?

 I searched and thought for years.   I finally got it.  Most futons will eventually go hard as the material packs down.  I got four four inch thick wool mattress toppers and stacked them.

The wool mattress toppers I found were expensive. Any reasonably priced ones out there?

[Josh]

Also interested in this and also found mattress toppers expensive.

Ioanna, would it be possible to give details of how your futon is constructed? As the best option might be to get someone to make up something similar.

[William]

I spent years tent camping, and found that a Thermarest pad with wool blanked is best.

[RawZi]

    We're buying a new mattress.  My husband likes conventional things.  He's agreeable also when the majority of whatever the group feels any particular way.  Help me out guys.  Give me some mattress recommendations.  Thank you!

    Phatdave, what did you wind up getting?  Are you happy with it?

[PaleoPhil]

Yes, more suggestions please. Especially those suitable for couples, if you know what I mean. I did some research of Chinese beds and found most of the traditional ones to be topped with thin mattresses of one to three inches thick that were used for couches as well as beds. That sounds like what I'm leaning toward. Wool toppers sound pretty good, given that it's natural, though I would prefer a single mattress rather than having to stack them.

The Thermarest looks sufficient for my needs, but would probably be too extreme for more delicate folk. I'm looking for a compromise that is a bit more hospitable than that.

[Sitting Coyote]

This is something I've been struggling with too.  I currently use an organic cotton yoga mat to sleep on.  It is 72 inches long, 36 inches wide and about 2 inches thick.  You can buy them here for about $70, plus shipping.  If you want something for couples, I suppose you could buy two and sew them together, side by side.  I like this because it's relatively inexpensive, chemical free (it's not officially bedding, it's officially a yoga mat, so they don't have to treat it with flame retardants), and easy to move around.

I've also been investigating the idea of building my own futon platform, as I would also like a slightly elevated bed although nothing remotely as high as normal American beds.  I would also like a platform that was easy to disassemble and move with, as I'm still a renter.  Seeing this post has got me thinking about designs...

[yon yonson]

I've also been investigating the idea of building my own futon platform, as I would also like a slightly elevated bed although nothing remotely as high as normal American beds.  I would also like a platform that was easy to disassemble and move with, as I'm still a renter.  Seeing this post has got me thinking about designs...

hey, just thought of an idea. you could just find some free shipping palates on craigslist (there are always some listed in the free section where i live). then arrange them so that they'll accommodate your yoga mat. makes sense in my head at least

[William]

I've also been investigating the idea of building my own futon platform, as I would also like a slightly elevated bed although nothing remotely as high as normal American beds.  I would also like a platform that was easy to disassemble and move with, as I'm still a renter.  Seeing this post has got me thinking about designs...

Impoverished young students used to use a (interior) door on bricks.

Shipping pallets are available free around the back of your hardware store, and others - talk politely to the workers there, but they are heavy and the wrong size. IMO

[PaleoPhil]

Not much surprise in what Stone Agers slept on, except I didn't expect the use of clay in the bedding:

Haifa University Archeologist Uncovers World’s Oldest Bedding  [23,000 years old]
(June 2004)
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Archaeology/haifabedding.html

The oval-shaped "mat" that was found is made of grass. Found in the largest of the six brush huts uncovered, the most ancient in the world, the floor covering measures 4.5 meters long. It was located close to the hut wall, around a central hearth.

The mat was meticulously crafted from bundles of grass. The charred stems and leaves were covered with a thin, closely pressed layer of clay. According to Nadel, this was apparently intended to preserve the structure and order of the sheaves.

[PaleoPhil]

I didn't buy that mattress pad because it doesn't look anything like 3" thick in the images and it's made of synthetic material.

This natural latex topper looks interesting, though I wish it were 3" instead of 2", but maybe 2" is enough?

http://www.amazon.com/Thick-Natural-Toppers-Medium-Firmness/dp/B001IKHQTE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1297077499&sr=8-1

It's cheap even for 2" thickness, though, which makes me wonder if it really is natural, but the company got a write up in the press as using natural materials.