Furniture
The toxins lurking in furniture are very hard to avoid even with the more conscientious manufactures. There was a time when natural latex was a common cushion material, but to cut costs, synthetic cushions and fabrics have become the norm. The only problem with this is that they are filled with chemicals and hazardous particulates and in order for these synthetic materials to be fire proof, they also have to be treated with more chemicals.
Looking for the CA Proposition 65 warning may help you decipher if added chemicals such as formaldehyde have been used in the piece. The CA Proposition 65 label suggests the product can expose you to levels of a listed chemical or chemicals that pose greater health risks than furniture that causes exposures to lower levels of listed chemicals.
Reputable eco-friendly and non-toxic upholstery is very hard to come by, but there are a few companies doing it right. I’m sure many more will surface in the years to come, but for now, these are a few recommendations. This brief guide from the Environmental Working Group will help you weed through the important details when shopping for safe furniture.
Cisco Brothers, Inc.
For upholstered furniture, this is my go to company. A couch is a large investment, and it should last decades. It is as important as your mattress, especially if you and your kids spend any significant amount of time there. We home school our kids so we spend a lot of cuddle time on the couch reading.
Cisco “Inside Green” furniture is made with the utmost care for the environment and your health. They use FSC woods, natural latex, jute, hemp, wool, goose feathers, and down. They are inherently flame retardant without the use of chemicals. Every product in their Cisco line can be built Inside Green.
Unfortunately, building non-toxic upholstered furniture comes with a price, but if you were to compare this to Restoration Hardware for example, the prices might be comparable, but the quality doesn’t even compare, because everything you get with a Cisco couch for this price is non-toxic and well worth every penny you will spend.
If this is too expensive for your budget, there are other ways to go that aren’t as toxic as most furniture, but less pricy than a custom Inside Green couch. Even their regular upholstery, which will be less expensive, is safer than a majority of other brands.
Viesso
If you like something a little more modern, with sleek lines, Viesso has a great line of sofas to choose from in their Eco-Friendly sofa collection. They also have Eco-friendly wood furniture with a mid-century flair.
MAttresses
You can technically choose any 100% organic latex mattress with an organic cover and you will probably be happy, in fact, I provided a second option below). The materials don’t vary by much with one exception. Talalay latex is much softer and squishier than Dunlop latex. If you like a firmer bed, choose the Dunlop, but if you want a really squishy bed, go with Talalay. For one of our beds, we did a Dunlop mattress with a talalay topper. It’s the perfect combination. Another really cool thing about latex mattresses is that you will be able to customize each side, in fact, even if you like your mattress the same as your partner or spouse, get them cut down the middle anyway!! Our first mattress was sent as a solid Queen size in error and it was awful to lay on, because my six foot husband sucked my little body over to him with his body weight when we shared the same latex layers. 😳 We sent that back immediately! With the cut/individual latex layers, you feel almost no movement from the person beside you! And no, you don’t feel the seam either.
I do think the thickness and softness of the mattress is a very important part of the decision process though so make sure you talk with whatever company you choose to work with so you understand how their latex layers work. Many “foam” mattresses are a mix of latex (sometimes synthetic, sometimes natural) and other materials containing chemicals so make sure to look for something that is 100% organic latex!
You also don’t want metal springs in the mattress or the box spring, because they will magnify EMF from the environment, like an antenna. Our son’s body voltage on his bed was very high from a combination of having metal springs in his box spring and the light fixture in the ceiling below his bed. Replacing the box spring with a wooden box spring made a difference, but we also turn off the breaker to his room and the room below his bed to ensure the lowest body voltage possible during sleep.
The link here is for a DIY bedding company that allows you to choose your supplies and put them together yourself. FYI - most 100% latex mattresses come in pieces (latex layers and a zip closure cover) and you have to put them together anyway, so don’t be intimidated by this! It’s no different than any other latex layered mattress and cover set.
I can say for certainty that the thickness of the mattress matters! Our boys have three layers of latex and we have four. For an adult, four layers is essential to comfort. Our boys do well with three layers, but they definitely like our mattress better. 😒
At this DIY bedding site, you can also make your own pillows. There are so many great combinations and it really comes down to preference. The Kapok filled pillow is a bit like a feather pillow. It compresses and spreads out over time. You can add or remove Kapok to make it just the way you like it. I personally prefer very full and firm pillows because I am a side sleeper, so I use a Dunlop latex pillow. You can also get shredded latex pillows if you like something that doesn’t compress over time, but does push in and spread out when you lay on it. Another popular combination is latex and/or cotton and wool. This feels more like a standard pillow that over time will compress slightly. I’ve never tried a millet hull filled pillow, but it looks a bit like a sand bag to me. 😛 You won’t find solid latex pillows at the DIY bedding store, but Amazon has them as well as Talalay latex toppers if you need more squish.
To give you an idea of what a totally organic 12” thick queen mattress with organic quilted ticking, including the cutting fee for having it cut down the middle, you are looking at about $2,085. I’ve seen some mattresses go upwards of $5000! So this is quite reasonable.
If you don’t already have a platform bed with two inch wood slats, you can buy your box spring here for a few hundred dollars. This same company (Sleep EZ) also makes 100% natural latex mattresses (doesn’t say organic latex, but the ticking is organic fabric and the latex is Oeko-Tex certified). Their 13” queen mattresses average a little over $2000 as well. They appear to have very high quality mattress covers which can make or break the bed. So if you trust using the “natural” versus “organic” latex, I’d say this is a brand worth trying! They often give away two free pillows with their mattresses too. Oh, and don’t forget about Fido! Sleep EZ carries latex dog beds, RV mattresses, crib mattresses and sofa bed mattresses!!
Mattresses harbor chemicals, microbes (which produce biological toxins) and mold (which also produce biological toxins). This study represents how bad it can become, if your mattress is growing mold.
"The home survey carried out by the MMS reported visible mould in the bedroom accommodation and under his mattress (which according to his wife had been recently turned). Mattresses constitute an important reservoir for mould, with measured concentrations of 103–107 (10,000 to 100000000) spores/g of dust [5]. The recent physical disturbance may have led to aerosolization and subsequent inhalation of large quantities of fungal matter and this may have been the mechanism to trigger an acute respiratory deterioration."
