I finally made the jump and bought my latex mattress.  It's from a samll company called Custom Comfort in Orange County, CA that builds their own mattresses.  It's not a "build your own" style, it's a 6" core of 32 ILD with 2" softer on the top and the bottom (10" total).  It does not come with a return guarantee, but it does come with a comfort guarantee - if the latex layers don't work out they will pick up the mattress and adjust the latex layers.  It's designed to be a flippable mattress for increased durability.

The latex is blended Talalay from LI (Talatech) and the covering is cotton/bamboo.  It does have a layer of the fire retardent material, so in that sense it is not one of the all natural/organic mattresses some prefer.  All natural/organic isn't as important to me as all Talalay, and I wanted the blended Talalay due to LI's opinion that it is more durable than all natural Talalay.

BTW, if anyone is thinking of getting a traditional mattress, you might want to look at this company.  They make all their mattresses the "old fashioned" way, with quality springs, and NO FOAM fillers (except on some traditional mattresses they offer a memory foam or latex topper layer).  Or, if you're thinking of going latex they have three standard models but basically will build whatever you want.  Their standard is the Talatech latex, but they will build with 100% botanical Talalay at no extra cost if that's what you prefer.

It's arriving tomorrow and my aching back is looking forward to it.

Kimberly: Congratulations on your new mattress. I went to the Custom Comfort web site and read about the mattress that you purchase. Not inexpensive, but it looks like a quality mattress. I hope it works out well for you, and I am looking forward to your reported experience.

Good luck.

It arrived!  They set up the new bed and took away the hateful 15 year old sagging Simmons mattress (which, btw, I looked at the label for the first time in 15 years, and wow the composition of those old mattresses was way better than the new stuff.  My old mattress had actual wool in it instead of cheap pu foam, and it's actual name was "Luxury Lincoln Wool").

The new latex bed feels fantastic, and I can hardly wait to sleep on it tonight!  I was really worried, since the store is an hour away I only went there twice to try the mattresses, although when I was there I lay on them a good 1/2 hour each time . .  .but . . . my *memory* was of something soft and giving, so I was worried a squishey mattress would be delivered to me . .  .

That could not be farther from the case.  The mattress feels firm, yet it is sproingy and supportive.  It feels like heaven to lay on, and I'm anticipating a better night's sleep than I've had in years.

I didn't find it particularly more expensive than other quality latex mattresses.  It was a shade over $2400 for ten inches of latex with a quality box spring.  When I priced out a Flobed the cost was almost identical, and it was very similar in price to other ready-made 100% latex mattresses. 

Anyway, can't wait to sleep in it tonight!

Good on you Kimberly!

Sleep well!