The Company
Brentwood Home (BH) is a home furnishings manufacturer in Los Angeles, California specializing in bedding (mattresses, pillows, bed linens, children’s bedding, and pet beds). They have been in business for “over 30 years.” While E.S. Kluft and Aireloom Bedding stress California styles and values in luxury mattresses, Brentwood Home stresses the California Ethos of environmental consciousness at Honest Prices for average income consumers. They also tout Healthy Materials and Handcrafting Excellence.
From Stores to Online
At first, Brentwood Home sold their products in retail stores, mostly in California and other southwestern states. During this time the Internet matured and online sales became common. In 2012, BH transitioned to online sales only. Their products are sold on their company website and through Amazon and Costco. While all BH products are available through Amazon, fewer of these are on Costco.com, but three mattress models (Cambria, Orinda, Cupertino) are sold exclusively there.
Mattresses
Brentwood Home lists four mattress collections: Latex Mattresses, Memory Foam Mattresses, Spring Mattresses, Classic Mattresses. All but the latex models have gel-infused memory foam in the top layer. The first three collections have three models each, and Classic has four.
Of the Costco models, Cambria and Orinda are latex-memory foam hybrids, and Cupertino is a memory foam mattress. The memory foam in each of these is gel-infused.
Outstanding Features
The current lineup of Brentwood Home mattresses was introduced in mid-2016. There are outstanding features for all BH models, and some particular to certain collections or models.
Brentwood Home uses several natural ingredients in its mattresses. Among these are kapok, wool, buckwheat, organic cotton, silk, cashmere, and natural latex. Most of these are certified by eco-Institut. The foams used by Brentwood Home are certified by CertiPUR-US as free from several toxic substances and VOCs (volatile organic compounds)
In each Brentwood Home collection, each model has a different overall firmness (feel), although the actual levels vary by collection. All models use New Zealand wool in the quilting for moisture control and as a natural fire barrier. The cover fabric in the Classic collection is bamboo rayon (listed simply as Bamboo). All other covers consist of 4-way stretch-knit Belgian fabric.
Two BH mattress models, Mirador (the top Latex Mattress) and Oceano (the top Spring Mattress) each have a layer of microcoils (1335 in Queen size).
All the Spring Mattresses have wrapped coils (pocket coils) as the main support (innerspring). These are arranged in five zones to adjust support for different areas of the sleeper’s body. The rest of the Brentwood Home models have support cores of high-density polyurethane foam.
Air Flow
A key feature in all of the Brentwood Home mattresses is a layer of BH’s AirLux ventilated foam. This foam is designed to let air flow freely for cooling and freshness. This is what really cools the mattress by letting heat dissipate.
This would work even better if the top foam was ventilated (as the latex is in the Latex Mattresses collection), and if the air passing vertically can get to the border to be exchanged with the room air. A system that does this is the Airflow Transfer System used by Selectabed, TempFlow and Snuggle-Pedic. This video shows how it works.
Top-Rated Mattresses
All of the Brentwood Home mattresses on Amazon have good reviews. But some of them have received special mention.
At the time of this writing, a Brentwood Home mattress has been ranked as the best in its category by an influential online reviewer. Sleep Sherpa named Oceana as the Best Luxury Mattress of 2016. The site has also favorably reviewed several other BH models, such as Sierra, Bamboo Gel 13, and Coronado.
One thing the writer at Sleep Sherpa noted in the Sierra review, is the use of foams made in the United States. He said that foam made in China does not have the same level of quality control as here, so the foams are unpredictable in their characteristics. The foam in the top of Sierra is soft enough (less dense) to let the sleeper sink in right away, and it recovers fast enough to let the sleeper move comfortably.
The Advantage of Lighter Memory Foam
This is the point of the 4-lb. memory foam in the top layer of the Tri-Pedic mattress by Selectabed. It is less heat sensitive and more pressure sensitive than the 5-lb. foam used in the first memory foam mattresses. This means that conformity does not have to wait for the body to heat it. It also means that its recovery is not as slow as the denser foam.
Gel
An additional attribute of the lighter memory foam is that it does not collect heat to the same degree as the heavier foam. The memory foams the Brentwood Home uses is infused with gel. Gel is added to foams, especially memory foam, to absorb the heat and conduct it away.
This is good initially when the sleeper gets into bed. The memory foam and the gel have had hours to dissipate the heat, so they feel cool. But since gel is more heat conductive, it absorbs heat more quickly. Those who use gel packs for cushioning note that the pack is cold or cool at first, but after a few hours it is warm. The trouble with gel or any other heat absorbing/conducting material is that the heat can’t dissipate unless it has someplace to go. As described above, ventilation provides for this.
Service
Beyond design and manufacturing, service is key to a company’s success.
Delivery
Shipping is free for mattresses by Brentwood Home. This is for both original delivery and for returns.
These are bed-in-a-box mattresses. All Brentwood Home mattresses are compressed, rolled, and packed into a box to be shipped by package delivery services such as UPS and FedEx. Since the Spring Mattresses have pocket coils, they can be successfully shipped this way.
Brentwood Home does not stockpile packaged mattresses. The reason is that remaining compressed and rolled for too long a time can damage the materials. Instead, they make a mattress when the order comes in. When it is finished, it is packed and shipped, so it is opened in only a few days.
Sleep Trial
Brentwood Home mattresses come with a 120-Night Guarantee. They do ask that the customer try it for at least 30 days to break the mattress in and get used to it.
Warranty
The limited warranty on Brentwood Home mattresses is for 25 years. This is to cover any manufacturing defects. Professional mattress reviewers have noted the workmanship in BH products.
