I slept on the floor for 1 year | FUTON UPDATE

Is folding it in couch formation still considered "airing it out"?

Great video, great attitude!

But futons and those fancy japanese mats are extremely expensive (250 dollars for those takami japanese mats alone)

Not sure sleeping on a 6 inch mattress counts as sleeping "on the floor"

Can a tatami be put in a standard bed frame instead of a box spring? And then a futon instead of a mattress inside a bed frame on top of the tatami?

❤

How could you tell that your mattress had mildew? 🤔

Tatami is not necessary. Any kind of rush mat will do. And they’re easy to roll up and move.

what i do to sleep well is a simple thicker matress and a nylon carpet under the matress you can buy them at home depot or menards just make sure to cover the whole size of your matress and thas good to prevent moisture and mold under the matress, and i only lift my matress once a month to vacum that carpet and no moisture or mold at all because matress or box spring just sitting onthe woodfloor or on a regular carpetfloor creates moisture so i recomend you to get a thick basic matress and its nor comfortable to sleep on than that one you are using and the carpet i just mentioned and enjoy sleeping, good video

Why not just go with a pull out sofa?

For Tatami alternatives, would interlock foam mats/tiles work as well?

WOW you are so cute. Great video by the way.

That looks totally saggy and not comfortable at all.

I have no trouble with the mattress on the floor bc I’ve done it, but I need the mattress to have some body shape forming capabilities.

And I love a good Venn diagram. Me and Kamala 😉

Interesting tho.

I have a room I put the bed against the wall like that, there's an alcove 2feet deep and I hung curtains up and when the bed is against the wall and closed curtains no one can even tell there's a bed. I put shelves on either side of the alcove like a closet on each side facing the middle. With the bed down the shelves are like side tables but enough room to keep all the pillows, sheets and blankets

Low sleeping is amaaazing ✌🏿i have a platform bed for 39 yrs..about 14" high & 6 matresses later🥂

I love floor sleeping! My bedroom has carpet and padding. I use two full sized gel infused memory foam mattress toppers as my bed. Very comfy! Three are too many...two is the perfect mix of firm and comfy! I don't need to roll up, but could if necessary. Bought these at Walmart. Have used them for years and they're still great. Also, use the same in livingroom as a "sofa" in a corner area with lots of comfy pillows around the edge/wall sides! Love it! All of my "furniture" is on the floors. It makes the entire apartment seem much bigger than it is! Great exercise getting up and down from the floor all the time!

You are a very pretty lady with a nice voice.

I’m 68 years old and have been sleeping on the floor for 2 1/5 years now. When I slept on a traditional bed, my back would be very sore in the mornings. Uncertain if I could even sleep on the floor, I ordered an inexpensive futon mattress online. I loved it! The hardest thing to wrap my head around was that I was sleeping on the floor and imagined bugs crawling all over me at night. I quickly got over that fear. LOL! Because the mattress was inexpensive, it didn’t hold up well, so I purchased another mattress online, a better quality one but still not a real Japanese futon. I simply stack it on the first mattress. I still enjoy the firmness of sleeping on the floor but also enjoy a gentle softness from the two mattresses. I can roll them up, which is a must in my case. The thing I think I love most is having the open floor space. I’ve always disliked a room that will filled with a large bed. Now I have my bed rolled up and stored along the wall, with the open space in the room. So far, I’ve no issues with mold. The only way I will ever go back to a standard bed is if my mobility diminishes so much as I age that I can’t get off the floor. Even then, I will probably just get a raised platform for the futon mattresses.

I'm thinking of doing this too but I'm planning on adding a shelf or some kind of bracketing to the wall to hang/store the mats and mattress on, when they're not in use

Thinking about buying a tatami mat and a Shikibuton.

What I noticed: In the west, there are very few offerings. They are expensive and basically a westernized copy of traditional japanese bed items.

When I look at japanese amazon, they have all kind of offerings that address many of the shortcomings of traditional items, such as hygiene and maintenance.

A foldable modernized tatami matt (less susceptible to moisture etc.) and a machine washable shikibuton seem to be the way to go.

The reason why I want to do this is to be more space efficient. Moving to a slightly smaller apartment with one less room, the new room should tripple as my home office, sleeping room and holodeck (for VR). Of course, without any compromises or sacrificing quality of life. It would also be much easier to make the bed and keep everything clean.

Have you considered placing your bed with the head end to the wall opposite your window. That would give you more room near your desk area for exercise & sewing.

Have you considered the coconut coir rugs as an alternative to the tatamis? They are about $189 for a 54 x 75". I am looking at mattresses now and I want to get one that is all-natural. Ideally, I would like to have natural latex foam, wrapped in wool with a wool ticking, but I am hesitant to spend of $900+ USD on this at this time. I ended up buying a wood-slated futon frame on craigslist and I am looking at an 8" all-cotton mattress. There is another mattress that has a layer of wool, which I would prefer, however, it is nearly $100 more and does not come with a warranty, whereas, the all-cotton mattress comes with a 5-year warranty. I emailed the company, that makes the cotton mattress, to find out if the ticking has a sleeve at the top of the mattress to prevent it from sliding down the front of the futon. In either case, I might buy it and sew on a sleeve if I have to.

As far the latex / wool mattress idea goes, you can save 50% by assembling it yourself. There is only one company near me that even sells an all-natural mattress and they had it on the floor, but they were charging 2200-2600, so I decide to hold off on it. I really went there to lie on it and it was indeed incredible to lie on. I will eventually get a latex mattress.

I use an avocado mattress topper that came with a removable cotton canvas cover. A plush beds wool topper on that and a sleep beyond washable wool topper over that that has elastic bands that hold it all together. These lay on top of a poly blend indoor outdoor rug with a gorilla wool rug pad under that. I realize now it’s cost a lot over the years but It started with 2 latex toppers, the rug and the pad that I already had previously, with a feather alt mattress protector. This setup was good but floppy and heavy. With the one latex avocado topper and the two wool toppers I think I finally have my ideal setup for now. To buy all new I realize now my setup would be pretty expensive…which I think it’s worth the money! But what started out as a temporary necessity has become something I’m really happy with. A custom bed that folds away during the day for extra seating. A mattress that’s light, not full of dust mites or chemicals, comfy, washable, and that I can move on my own. But the bedtime routine is really got me hooked. I’m up and ready when the bed is put away and I know it’s sleep mode when the bed it laid out. My cat even loves it. I never used to even make my bed and she meows at me when it’s getting late because she can’t wait for the exciting bedtime routine of unfolding the mattress and darting under the covers!

I’d like to know where you got your futon from—I’m not sure which ones are good to buy.

Are you really supposed to clean the mat everyday?

Hi! Boats and motorhomes use what's called an "underlay" beneath the mattress to provide circulation. (DEN-DRY is one manufacturer.) It's "spun polypropylene", honestly looks exactly like a grid of a 3d printed mess. 😂 It's lightweight and you can roll it up, so it beats the tatamis there, but little plastic bits come off occasionally (mine doesn't really move so I can't elaborate). It's less pretty than a tatami, but also less expensive (I think). Just wanted to let you know!

To be honest came to hear about tatami, stayed to listen to you, your voice is very cozy and your style of content creating is very interesting

Thanks Sam. We've had futons for over 30 years now, so some additional tips from Australia: take the tatami mats and lay them outside in direct sunlight for a whole day twice a year in Spring and Autumn. The ozone cleanses them and bleaches any bacteria build-up. They also smell of hay again! Second tip is to regularly turn over the futon every couple of months. This is to prevent the futon from taking on your body shape! You'll notice this especially if you have a heavier partner, so flip it such that you first turn it over bottom to top and them rotate thru 180 degrees. Your side will then by their side, but upside down. Each futon has easily lasted over 10 years like this, plus we've never had mildew issues, even though Sydney can be quite damp. Our king-size futon is on a very low frame like the one shown in your first video. Good luck with your experiment, although it does look like you've come back almost to where you started, but with a better ""mattress"". PS: forgot to mention that we're both over 70 years old and sleep really well on the futon!

I really enjoyed the video, and learned from it.
But the background music made it difficult to focus on what you said. I recommend you only have music when you are not talking.

I love your video. Thanks for the information and the review! Can I do this route if I sleep on my stomach?

Get a tatami frame, the DusT!!

For real tho, I bought the same tatami mats with a king size bed frame and I’m still waiting on the mattress and it’s still a crazy change from the floor!

I use tatamis and a futon as well (actually the same set up as you do) and I really struggle with dust ! Dust on the futon and the tatamis. It gets quite dirty and the tatamis have a very unique smell …. Thinking about getting a tatami frame

Why not futonbedsfromjapan or futontokyo? They are cotton shikubutons made in Japan.

Going to buy from j-life international tonight in US to get two XL twins to make a king size my hubby and I been sharing a full regular mattress we didn’t realize how little it was till we really wanted to upsize and try Japanese culture ❤ thanks for the info excited to start our journey.

Thank you for making this video, im making my first moves to make this transition... it helped me a lot. Also youre place is very inspiring to me.... karen from belgium

I wonder if your space would feel better arranged if you rotate your bed into the back corner and leave it laid out all day. I feel like you might get more floor space back.

Thanks for your great video. I also sleep on a futon for a year now and i completely agree with all your pros and cons, especially the guest/look thing. It’s the only thing that could make me buy a new bed frame, it’s for when you have guest and they don’t find your bedroom weird. But sleep, back and space are so much better!

Hello, I really enjoyed your video. You have such a calming energy. I'm from Poland and I'm thinking about buying futon so I'm making some research - really good to know that I 100% surely should get tatami, too. Actually it makes me happy, because I always had a felling like I slept on it like in the past life? Somehow I know how it smells (never been to Japan, never seen real tatami before) so I'm really looking forward to it.

too much work though.🙄

I noticed that the sheets for futons used by the Japanese cover far more of the underneath which should both protect the futon but also keep the sheets fro coming off. I am sure that they cost more, though.

I just moved and don’t have anything to put my mattress on right now. Not sure if for better or worse, but I’ve become addicted to how good it feels to wake up on the floor. I feel more energized and my back feels great. But I know I have to get a frame soon 😭

What size is it ?

Could you please tell me where you got that bedside table? It's exactly what I've been looking for!

I’m not from Japan but I sleep on the floor, only legends understand why

where are you from?

I tried to go floor and towards futon, but I live in Australia and got bitten by two spiders both severe spider bites, doesn't tend to happen when off the floor as much...sad as I've always wanted those mats and futon, might have to move to Japan before I can.

I saw your part 1 also, Because I bought a bed for my 8 years old daughter, I had to take away my king size normal bed. I started sleeping in my 6 years old daughters matrass in the floor without a bed. I had to pick it up every morning, and I found it was a nice experience! I improved to a IKEA 1 person sofa Matrass installed into an old rack (only the flat frame + benches, no legs, something like 5 cm tall only), very easy to pick up and lean against the wall every morning.

what brand is the second futon? is there a link to this futon?

So where did you find old futon? I can't find it in Amazon

Good video! Been researching the traditional thinner Japanese futons. Have slept on the floor for many years with a combination of sleeping bags, and wool blankets ("nesting" as someone put it). The blankets fold up neatly in the morning, and don't have mildew problems (partly also because of our New Mexico climate). Works well for me.

I am considering switching after getting an American made all cotton fill zabuton for meditation. Oh my gosh it is comfy! If a futon is that comfy, it might be worth the extra trouble to care for.

Looking forward to more of your content. Cheers!