In pursuit of the most natural sleep possible

This is niche.

When Tony and I bought our first bed together 11 or so years ago, there was absolutely no thought about what was actually inside the bed. Incredibly, there was also no conversation about buying a king size bed. He’d always had a queen and honestly I don’t even think I owned a proper bed before meeting him. I lived in a guest house for a while and that came with a bed, and before that I think I was using hand-me-downs from friends or family. It’s all a bit of a blur.

I’m 5’8 and he is 6’5 so it’s kind of hilarious to me now that we slept on a queen size bed for nearly 13 years. It actually wasn’t until Betty started climbing out of her bed and coming into ours that I started to think we might need something bigger. It was also time as our inner spring mattress was giving less spring and more sink.

We’ve been trying to save to buy a charming old house or a block of land, so he needed some convincing that investing in a new bed was the right thing to be spending money on because it wasn’t just one bed we needed to buy, it was two and all the bits that come along with it. We’d converted Betty’s cot to the toddler set up but she was ready for her big girl bed so when in efficient mum mode, it made the most sense to buy both beds at once.

Two mattresses. Two bed frames. Two good quality quilts. Two lots of sheets… it was quickly starting to add up. Is your life as boring as mine?

Anyway, the other factor was my desire for our bed set up to be as close to natural as possible, which meant no polyurethane foams, memory foams, chemical flame retardants or chemical adhesives (I had to Google that line). Before my journey to naturalness, I really had no idea what we were sleeping on for all of those years.

The combination we were left with and that we ultimately chose, is natural latex and organic cotton. I’m writing this kind of boring entry to share what we bought and how much we spent because it took me ages to decide and countless hours trying different beds, trawling bed websites and forums to read reviews.

Choosing a mattress, bed frame and bedding felt like my full time job for months. Does it take you a long time to make big purchase decisions like this? I spend way too long in the consideration phase. I can’t buy anything until I find exactly what I want for the price I want to pay. It’s exhausting.

I originally wanted two of these Sovereign Rest mattresses from The Natural Bedding Company. When properly cared for, latex mattresses typically last 20+ years so we decided to buy Betty a king single so she would essentially be able to have the same bed until she leaves home. Hers was $3,282 and ours was $4,549. That’s nearly $8,000 on mattresses and we hadn’t even priced in the bases or bedding yet.

I went to the showroom in Stanmore and tried the mattress. It was divine and if budget wasn’t a consideration, I definitely think we would have bought two and thrown in two of the Otis bed frames for an additional $8,720. But alas, spending over $16,000 on new beds was simply not in the budget.

I’d been looking at the Peace Lily natural latex mattress but because I’d had a mattress expert tell me not to buy a mattress that comes in a box, I was a bit scared off the idea. Wow, I am so glad I didn’t listen to him.

This mattress. This mattress. It’s heaven. And do you know how much the king costs? $1,849. Betty’s king single was $1,199 bringing our mattress total to a now very digestible $3,048. I’m obviously no expert and everyone’s sleep needs are different, but it’s so, so comfortable that somedays I can’t quite believe how amazing it is for such a reasonable price.

There’s a medium side and a firm side. We sleep on the medium side but it’s still firm, if that makes sense? Hugs and holds the body in the best way and I can’t feel Tony if he rolls over (very different to our old mattress when we’d literally collide with each other during the night and not in a sexy way).

Now onto the bases. Alongside a desire for naturalness, I wanted to create the most supportive sleep environment possible because with Betty’s night waking (totally normal for age) we rarely get a full night of sleep so the hours we do get need to be high quality.

My bedroom inspiration.

We’re also contending with our bedroom being at the back of our apartment so this means very little natural light, an almost constant accumulation of dust and a tendency for dampness. Because of this, I wanted as little furniture as possible in the room and a wooden base on legs vs. a box base. My inspiration pictures were all about warm and inviting minimalism.

It was also important that the base was low so Betty could climb in easily in the middle of the night (she’s currently still requesting I fetch her from her bed so this is a work in progress 😅). Being 6’5, Tony wasn’t thrilled but based on my references he could see my vision.

With The Natural Bedding Company bases out of budget, I turned to Instagram to ask for help. Beautiful Katie — a talented strategist and founder I follow — popped into my DMs to remind me that her wonderful partner Marty makes low beds from sustainable timbers and natural oils. His business is called The Purc Shop and it didn’t take me long to place an order for two Harrie beds — a king single for Betty and a king size for us which came to a total of $3,950 plus about $150 for delivery. I chose walnut for the stain as one day they will be sitting pretty in our mid century style house.

If you’re keeping up with the maths, the Peace Lily mattresses and The Purc Shop bases came to about $7,000 which is nearly $10,000 less than The Natural Bedding Company option.

More bedroom inspiration.

I think one of the most challenging things about evolving into a more conscious consumer is that shopping local and handmade takes longer. We’ve all become so accustomed to reading “ships in three days” that a lead time of four-six weeks feels like a lifetime. Well it did for me at least. I was so over our old bed and bedroom set up that I literally counted down the days until our shiny new beds arrived. Poor Tony — I put him to work straight away to assemble them both and roll the (very) heavy mattresses out of their boxes and onto the beds.

The mattress itself can take weeks to unfold fully so it did look a bit funny at first but now it is perfect. We have to turn it every few months and check it regularly to ensure it is dry but that’s about it.

Should I get into bedding? We’ve come this far.

I would have loved this Colin King Cultiver set but linen sheds too much which creates more dust. Tony is also a pretty hot sleeper so it isn’t the best material for him. Organic cotton was the obvious choice and I kept getting served ads for a brand called Bhumi. Turns out my sister had bought a couple of sets of sheets and loved them, so I did my research on the company and then when they had a sale on, I went for it. I ended up getting two sheet sets and two quilt cover sets for $500. I opted for Percale in the colour Natural because while I love a crisp, white bed, I wanted our bedrooms to feel a bit more relaxed. Also: toddler.

They’re not the most luxurious sheets I’ve ever slept on but they are pretty great. I am going to buy another set soon so we have two on rotation. I love the coconut shell buttons on the quilt cover and honestly the brand’s entire approach to conscious, timeless and ethical products is incredible.

For quilts, we ended up keeping my late mum’s 100 percent wool quilt which was relatively new when she passed. Some nights it feels so good to snuggle into the same quilt she once did and other nights our blanket feels as suffocating as my grief.

We bought Betty a Woolcomfort 350GSM merino wool quilt in a double which ended up being the perfect size for her king single bed. My mum brain reasoning on the weight was I can always dress her in warmer pjs if it’s a little too light during Winter and means I don’t need to buy two different quilts. So far it’s been perfect.

The final thing that supports us all to have good quality sleep is using a red night light. I bought this style of sunrise alarm clock when I was breastfeeding during the night but ended up loving it well beyond that stage and got one for Betty’s room as well. You can set it to wake you up gently with a warm light that increases in intensity like a sunrise with the sound of birds chirping in the background.

This light sits on a wooden beside table and that’s literally all we have in our room — the bed, the bedside, the red light and our Hay rice paper shade in size medium (we have the same one in the lounge room). Sometimes I have my golden Sheepä on the bed (big love to founder

Treska Stein

, a past mentee of mine), and I’ve got my Kindle, a silk eye mask and the Loop earplugs in my wardrobe which is within reach given our bed now takes up most of the room.

Our bedroom right now — work in progress. I need to hang some art.

On the earplugs, I bought Experience but I should have bought Quiet. Overall I think they are ok but not life-changing. Probably more the fact that I bought noise reducing not noise cancelling! They were actually supposed to be for the daytime while I work as I was finding myself wearing my AirPods on noise cancelling but without music to concentrate.

Ok, bye for now. I hope this has been useful and I’d love to learn about your bedroom must haves.

Alison xo