photo courtesy of EQ3

2 years ago, my husband and I decided that enough was enough, we were sick and tired of hand-me-down couches. With some careful planning and a rather large bonus check, we picked out a nice couch at Area 51 on Capitol Hill. I am just as pleased with it now as I was the day it was delivered.

Recently we started checking out bed frames. There was a nice platform bed frame in the window of Area 51 for months that we had our eye on, but we ended up captivated by the Bossa Platform Storage Bed (EQ3) that Area 51 started carrying with the recent expansion of showroom space. We were initially interested in the “natural” mattress that came with it, but decided to shop around. This lead us to Soaring Heart, another local Seattle store. They specialize in natural mattresses and futons.

At Soaring Heart, we spent over an hour talking to Ian Howard. Ian really knew what he was talking about, and the three of us compared knowledge about what constitutes a “natural foam mattress“, the environmental impact, the ethics of the companies that make the mattresses, and other topics that came up. Soaring Heart really offers a superior product than most companies. For a few hundred less than the price of a new Tempur-Pedic mattress, we settled on a Talalay latex mattress, a 4 inch wool topper, and a natural cotton mattress pad. (The main problem with Tempur-Pedic is the “off-gassing” that the foam produces, which was a key concern for me.)

When our wool topper starts to wear down, we can bring it back into the store and they will reconstruct it for free. After the latex mattress wears out, they will reuse the inner latex core into cushions for a chair or ottoman, a sustainable way to reuse your old mattress. This was one of the key reasons why we wanted to change to a natural mattress. The majority of conventional mattresses end up in landfills where they sit for generations. If you replace your mattress every 10 years or so, the impact on the environment should be a cause for concern.

After we purchased our new mattress set, we went back to Area 51 to purchase the bed frame. This time, we met the owner and spent over an hour talking to him about Soaring Heart. It turns out that he had visited Soaring Heart a few hours before we had and was in the process of deciding whether to carry their products or not. We gave a glowing review of the store and Ian Howard which will probably sway his final decision on whether to carry their products or not. The owner of Area 51 cares greatly for the companies his store works with. He researches them quite thoroughly and strives to work only with companies that are either local or work hard at reducing their impact on the environment (or both).

Overall, my husband and I fell in love with both Area 51 and Soaring Heart. Both companies are local, care for the community and the environment, and both practice outstanding customer service that will make life-long fans. Check them out if you haven’t before:

Area 51
401 E Pine St # B
Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 568-4782

Soaring Heart
101 Nickerson Street, Suite #400
Seattle, Washington 98109
206.282.1717