My Blah Blah Blog

Like my dog Oliver, I prefer to sleep where I can be a) cool and b) near a human.

Unlike Oliver (seen at left, napping on hardwood), I am choosy about sleep surfaces. This is why I paid a visit to a store called Livingreen in Culver City, a shop that sells eco-friendly furniture, bedding, and cleaning and building materials for the home. I made a beeline for the mattresses.

The shop carries Mary Cordaro’s collection, with a “talalay” natural latex core surrounded by cotton and wool. I plopped down on one, and it was as cozy as it gets. I closed my eyes and started to drift off, until another shopper lay down next to me, causing me to make an embarrassing shriek and leap to my feet.

Driven both by a quest for rest and an interest in getting green, I was just about ready to buy that mattress. Then the saleslady issued a caveat: the mattress, when it arrives, smells “like tennis shoes,” on account of the latex core. I hadn’t noticed the smell during my aborted nap. Relentlessly honest, the sales lady said that bed had been on the floor for a couple of years, airing out.

I don’t know about you, but this strikes me as a drawback. If I wanted to sleep with Nikes I could crash in my daughter’s room.

So, you can lie awake at night worrying about the nasty chemicals emitting from your regular mattress, or lie awake at night objecting to the smell of your all-natural tennis shoe mattress. (Or follow Oliver’s example and hit the floor.)

It’s a tough call, but if you go for the tennis shoe, prices start at about $1300 for a twin.

Check out www.livingreen.com.