Murphy bed Project

[2Rocky]

I'm a few months , possibly up to 2 years away from being an empty nester. it has me thinking about making multi use room that would serve as an Office and Guest Room, allowing me to take out a wall, eliminate a bedroom and make my living room bigger.

Has anyone built their own Murphy bed Cabinet? Curious which brand of Hardware you chose. I've seen Rockler and Create-A-Bed (Amazon)

Rockler

Create a bed

 

[cgrutt]

My buddy built one I've used it many times. It's not as comfortable as a full box spring but not bad. It's probably 15-20 years old now and holding up great. It's a small room in primarily a rental I think guests fold it up primarily for a play area for small kids. The room that It's in happens to be very small it doesn't have much walking space around two sides of bed. Don't know what he would have done with that room without the Murphy bed it was a good choice. I'll ask him about the hardware if I see him this weekend.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I can't recommend what hardware to use but I would recommend a simple memory foam mattress.

 

[2Rocky]

https://www.dreamcloudsleep.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/***-horizontal-murphy-bed-dimension-1536x1154.webp

https://www.dreamcloudsleep.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/***-vertical-murphy-bed-dimensions-1536x1155.webp

 

[kbs2244]

years ago I had a "suite"at the Oprylands hotel in Nashville

I had to have room service come and show e where the bed was hidden in the wall

 

[Toxictom]

Check out Rockler for murphy bed plans and hardware.

 

[Rick_Br]

I'm a few months , possibly up to 2 years away from being an empty nester. it has me thinking about making multi use room that would serve as an Office and Guest Room, allowing me to take out a wall, eliminate a bedroom and make my living room bigger.

Has anyone built their own Murphy bed Cabinet? Curious which brand of Hardware you chose. I've seen Rockler and Create-A-Bed (Amazon)

Rockler

Create a bed

I built a queen size Murphy bed last year to do exactly what your are talking about - use a spare bedroom as a multi use room and provide a guest bed the few tomes a year we might need it. I used the create a bed hardware and plans - excellent product and service. I had a few questions as I went along and they were extremely responsive to my phone calls. Total cost for hardware and materials was about $1000. Don't underestimate the space you will need to fabricate it and the weight involved.

Rick

 

[2Rocky]

I built a queen size Murphy bed last year to do exactly what your are talking about - use a spare bedroom as a multi use room and provide a guest bed the few tomes a year we might need it. I used the create a bed hardware and plans - excellent product and service. I had a few questions as I went along and they were extremely responsive to my phone calls. Total cost for hardware and materials was about $1000. Don't underestimate the space you will need to fabricate it and the weight involved.

Rick

What did you chose for a mattress?

 

[LeeG]

I built this one nine years ago. Queen size. It has gotten a lot of use. We just put a standard Costco mattress on it. Works fine. Memory foam mattresses are pretty heavy for this sort of bed.

Lee

 

[PossumDog]

I built a create a bed full sized one. I would get the kind where the head of the bed is at the wall, not on one side. That way you can get out either side or two people can get in and out. I also got the kind where the legs fold up inside. At the time create a bed was the big seller, before there were so many copycats. I was happy with them and did have to call and ask some questions.

 

[rharman]

We have a spare bedroom that we have long used for storage but the intent, for some time, has been to make it a craft room (and storage). We used to have a convertible sofa so it could be used as a bedroom - my brother-in-law lived in that room for a year.

Murphy bed with a large fold-out table surface on the closed (underside of bed) surface is very high on my list of possibilities. Tall cabinets flanking it for supply storage.

I've always assumed I'd use the Rockler hardware but haven't done any detailed research. Lots of sources for the mechanism.

 

[Rick_Br]

What did you chose for a mattress?

We just used a standard mattress from the queen size bed that was in the room. Not sure how comfortable it is - daughter used it once for a week and said it was fine.

Rick

 

[NUTTSGT]

I built this one nine years ago. Queen size. It has gotten a lot of use. We just put a standard Costco mattress on it. Works fine. Memory foam mattresses are pretty heavy for this sort of bed.

Lee

Not if you have spring loaded type of hardware.

 

[MushCreek]

I used the Rockler hardware and built a vertical queen. It works very well. You do have to pay attention to the weight of the mattress, as the springs are designed to work within a certain range.

 

[Voi]

Create-A-Bed hardware for this vertical queen at our lake place. I do not recall why I chose it over Rockler.

Lightest bed-in-a-box mattress I could find at the time was from Bear. We sleep there about 100 nights per year & like it. I did upgrade the actuators to make it easier to lift.

As I recall it is recommended that the memory foam mattresses be stored horizontal/open most of the time. If the bed won't be used often keep that in mind when picking a mattress.

We only fold ours up when having company over for dinner. There is a hidden accordion wall to the right in this picture. Opening that & folding the bed up helps our 32x20 place seem bigger. The track is hidden behind the joist for the loft above.

 

[goldtang]

Just a thought Have you considered a lounge that converts to a bed, serves two purposes

 

[2Rocky]

Just a thought Have you considered a lounge that converts to a bed, serves two purposes

My experience with "hideabed couches" has not been pleasant. The mattresses are thin and there always seems to be a support bar that you can feel in your ribs and back. I like the idea of a real mattress, and I like the idea of building a piece of functional furniture.

 

[MushCreek]

We have a queen-size futon in our barn that is very comfortable. Better than the old hide-a-beds.

 

[Jim_No_Garage]

My FIL build a "vertical" Murphy bed in the 3rd BR / office in his Florida home. The pic below is from the web after the flipper who bought the house from them fixed it up and resold it.




I don't have any pics of the bed in the open position but some fundamental planning mistakes were made. When the bed was opened the bottom of the bed was 9" from the built in desk on the opposite wall (not in pic), so scooting past was virtually impossibly. The doors opened to the sides so there was no way to use the cabinets as a nightstand so we had nowhere to place our glasses and phones. That and the fact that the room was packed to the gills with furniture and junk didn't help.

I don't remember the mattress being horrible, but it was 20 years ago when we stayed there last.

Cheers

Jim

 

[earl84]

I used the Create a Bed hardware and plans. A few confusing things in the plan, (can't remember the specifics), but a call to the company cleared it up. Also wanted to add a small flip up piece of 3/4" birch plywood to use as a desk. The guy I talked to calculated a new hydraulic strut attachment point to make it work with the added weight. It works very well. We bought a regular queen size mattress at Denver Mattress that was pretty comfortable and not overly expensive. The bed doesn't get used a great deal, but those who have used it found the mattress to be comfortable.

 

[clutch47]

I can't recommend what hardware to use but I would recommend a simple memory foam mattress.

I'll second that.
I've spent time on a 'purple' brand memory foam mattress and I was impressed.

 

[JABgj]

We purchased the hardware kit from Rockler.
The matress we chose was a standard mattress, more spring than foam and with the springy slats in the kit, is comfy. Memory foam mattresses can tend to slump or settle when stored vertically.

 

[Sluggo0018]

I built a queen size Murphy bed for a vacation house last year. Came out pretty good. I bought a kit from easydiymurphybed.com. The hardware was very good and the instructions and cutting list were very clear and well written. Used a 12Inch spring mattress and visitors say it is quite comfortable. I dressed up the from of the panel with trim board to simulate a raised panel look. The project wasn't cheap, but I am happy with the results.

 

[blacksporty]

I used the Create-a-Bed off Amazon...stuff works good, plans are good. Don't deviate from the plans like I did, for looks, messed with the function a little.

 

[Pluribus]

About to build one myself for a bunkhouse/shed, but I bet it's not a design anyone would want in their finished house...that is unless you're shooting for the dirt cheap, redneck motif. So far it's a Craigslist/FB Marketplace "kit" based on a slatted futon platform and a firm mattress. It's missing some pieces, and I'll figure out what they are and how to use them when I find them in various places in my shop.

TL;DR: Probably isn't helpful to you, but I'm following the thread for design ideas.

 

[LScustomjam]

I ran into a similar issue with the support system sagging over time. Swapped in some stronger Bed Slats Replacements and it made a noticeable difference. The mattress support feels way more solid now, and it was an easy upgrade without needing to mess with the frame. Made the whole setup more reliable for daily use.

 

[imagineer]

I built my own version of a Murphy bed at my 1st house. Sorry no pictures. It wasn't designed to hide or obscure the bed, rather make it storable to free up floor space for a workout area.

My design hinged at the headboard end. The pivot "mechanism" was a piece of 1-1/2 Sch 40 black pipe through the box frame and supported by angle iron legs, lagged to the floor. The pivot point was as close to the headboard as possible. There were additional foot board legs that rotated out (via gravity) to support the foot end of the bed. The top of the mattress was only about 15" off the floor making it a functional, albeit awkward guest bed.

I used a full size conventional mattress and no box spring. In hind sight, I should have used a foam mattress. I think it would have been more comfortable and a lot lighter weight (there were no counterbalance springs).

Rather than build an enclosure cabinet, I built two matching bookcases that flanked the headboard. These were about 16" deep with the width (about 42" wide) designed to fill the spaces between the bed (centered on the wall) and the two adjacent walls. When the bed was rotated into the stored position, I pinned it in place through the inboard side panels of the book cases.

The underside of the box frame (which was made using 3/4" veneer plywood) was trimmed out to not look like an afterthought, but it was obvious that it was a separate unit from the bookcases.

We left it at the house when we moved.