Looking for an affordable mattress without harsh chemicals? A mattress that lets you breathe easily without worrying about volatile organic compounds, fire retardants, or adhesives?
Consider a DIY mattress made with buckwheat hulls!
DIY Buckwheat Hull Mattress
We purchased our mattress kit from Open Your Eyes Bedding. Buckwheat or Millet hulls may be purchased with the kit, or you can buy the kit and provide the hulls.
The assembly process went quite smoothly.It took three of us two hours to complete. It’s a matter of tying the fabric, weighing the hulls and filling the sacks.
The fabric is 100% cotton. It’s easy to work with and far more durable than appeared initially.
It’s a good idea to place a fitted sheet under the mattress to catch the inevitable stray hull “crumbs.” We keep ours on a cot; however platform would work great too. The floor would work as well!
There are some pros and cons with this type of bedding. On the negative side, it takes some adjusting as it is firmer than most conventional mattresses. It can also be cumbersome to move. Also, you must smooth it out before each use. On the positive side, it’s natural, lasts indefinitely and conforms well to your body. Two of my sons have used it and loved it!
Check out Open Your Eyes Bedding for details.
In total, our twin mattress cost 200 dollars.
For more natural mattress solutions see How to Choose a Safe Bed and Bedding.
Have you tried a natural mattress?
Did you get hulls from Azure Standard because it was cheaper? Open Your Eyes seems to say they have the best quality and price in the nation.
Also, did you buy the ebook to get the instructions, and do the fabric tubes yourself or did you buy the tubing as well?
I am so interested in doing this, but it is still $500 for the whole kit for a queen from Open Your Eyes.
My mistake, I see now that you said you did order the kit. However, I went on Azure standard and couldn’t find hulls, just buckwheat itself. Did you have to make special arrangements to get the hulls?
When I ordered from Open Your Eyes they had a different arrangement than they have now. The instructions came with the kit. I’m sure their hulls are great. These are the ones I ordered.
https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/1063//
Queen will definitely be a bit more expensive. If I had a platform bed I would go for it no doubt. I love how the buckwheat conforms to your body.
This looks fascinating, Andrea! I told my hubby I want a new pillow for Mother’s Day and a buckwheat hull pillow is topping the list of ones to try.
The pillow would be much easier to make. Since I’m hesitant to go with anything larger than a twin for now I think I’m going to make a pillow too, Kristen. 🙂
I have been wanting to make my own buckwheat pillow for so long, but I never considered a mattress! I have been considering buying one from Craigslist or something because my inlaws are coming and I need one-I may just use this instead, thank you!
Hi Andrea,
Did you use the whole hull from Azure Standard? I checked their website and didn’t find a listing for just the hulls offered. I am very interested in trying this type of mattress. Thank you much for sharing your experience and instructions.
Sheila
Hi Sheila.
I don’t see the hulls either! I would suggest buying from the company itself.
Hi Andrea,
Really love this idea. Where did you get your cots at?
We get ours at Walmart actually. Simple and cheap. 🙂
What do you think about the mattress now that it has been a few months?
That’s a great question! My older son decided not to keep it. If my younger son had kept it he would still be using it no doubt. I absolutely loved the feel of it and wish I could use it. Seems to me like everyone is different. It held up just fine. The trick in my mind is keeping it wrapped in sheets – because it really does “shed.”
so, nobody kept it?
We moved from the rental and didn’t take it. It’s very cumbersome – but worked great while we had it.
I have been sleeping on buckwheat hull pillows. I would not have it any other way. I need a mattress, after researching organic cotton mattresses i decided i want buckwheat. The one you make twisting the fabric sounds complicated, and wondered whether i would be able to make it correctly.
Could it be ok to just pour enough buckwheat to fill an organic mattress cover, and zip it up. what would the draw backs of this simple DIY mattress. Please comment
The twisting is not complicated at all, Beverly. We basically filled each part and then laid them side by side. It offers a nice smooth layout which I’m not sure would occur with the mattress cover. You can sure try it and then buy the kit if you feel like you need it.
Could you use polyester fiberfill? Or anything cheaper? I’m fixing to get my first apartment and I’m afraid that will end up being to expensive!!
Alexis,
I’m not sure I would go with polyester, but maybe an organic futon would be a better bet for you. There has to be an affordable way to avoid all of the chemicals of a conventional mattress. The initial expense of the buckwheat hulls is a bit much I understand.
Thank-you for your post! I recently made one of our daughters a weighted blanket using buckwheat, but have never heard of it for a mattress. I am just beginning to research natural bed options. Have you ever looked in to intellibed? They look and sound amazing, but are quite expensive. My husband recently had back surgery, so we need something with excellent support, but also do not want chemicals.
Your mattress looks very different to the one shown on OpenYourEyesBedding today (https://openyoureyesbedding.com/pages/assembly-guides) –their’s is comprised of “pods” rather than tubes.
Has that changed since you bought your kit or did you decide to do it differently?
I have wondered about using tubes and whether the pods would provide any benefits.
Do your sons still love their buckwheat mattresses?
You’re right that our beds were the “older” version. I’m not familiar with the new. They worked great for a couple of years which is what I was looking for at the time.
How do you think this would fare, comfort wise, for someone who rolls and moves around a lot in bed? Is it similar to memory foam, where rolling over is impossible?
No, it gives more than memory foam from our experience.
Hi Andrea!
Could you please make a post about the buckwheat weighted blanket you made? I would love to see it!