Murphy Beds

With the average cost of single-detached homes and townhomes skyrocketing throughout Canada and the United States, more and more young families are being forced to remain in condos and apartments longer and longer. At first blush, that means raising your little rapscallions without the benefit of a dedicated play area or separate rooms for each child. Sorry, Dad—it also probably means saying goodbye to the Man Cave.

Sound like a nightmare? It doesn’t have to. You just have to get creative with your space and think outside the box.

Raising kids in condos certainly presents a space issue. Mom, dad, the kiddos, and maybe even a cat and a dog all need room to live and play and breathe. But with a little bit of careful planning and some savvy interior design choices, you can make condo life more preferable than breaking the bank (or your financial future) on a single-detached home or townhome. (Can you say “lower mortgage payments”?)  

But raising a family in a condo or apartment is no easy feat. The two biggest issues are 1) lack of storage space and 2) lack of living space. Depending on your condo and how many kids you have, a close third might be a lack of bedrooms.

The most effective way to free up more space and add more storage is to dramatically rethink the number one space taker-uppers in your home, the beds. They’re soft and they’re cushy and the best place to spend a rainy Saturday afternoon, but they’re space killers—plain and simple. They often take up an entire room and, because of this, we end up using bedrooms for little more sleep.

How do you turn bed-space into a 2-for-1 combination of extra living space and extra storage space?

Consider installing a Murphy bed or two, depending on your needs. Murphy beds let you turn otherwise unusable daytime space into valuable everyday square footage in your home. They also offer varying degrees of added built-in storage, so you can empty out those overflowing closets and over-crammed drawers.

A Murphy bed installed in a child’s room, for instance, turns the entire space into a wide-open playroom once the bed is folded up and out of the way. In mom and dad’s room, fold up the bed and voila—you’ve got plenty of room for that at-home yoga session.

If you’re in this position now—or expect to be in this position in the next few years—start by reconsidering the space you have. How can you make it work for each of your family members? How many kids do you have now? How many do you plan to have within the next few years?

A few savvy choices can make raising a family in a condo or apartment not only a financially sound choice, but also an opportunity to flex your creative interior design muscles. Try our Build-A-Bed app to test a few designs for your space—the design possibilities are endless!

Take a do-it-yourself approach when designing a Murphy Wall Bed for your space. With so many options to choose from, you can build a wall bed that reflects a minimalist style, offers lots of storage with an open-concept wall cabinet, or a contemporary home office unit with a Scandi-vibe. Add LED lights to set a mood or to create a reading space.

A Murphy Wall Bed comes with a frame, the lifting mechanism, the leg system and instructions, and the cabinetry you’ve chosen. If you prefer a less hands-on approach, consider choosing an already-designed best seller option like The Canvas or The Californian, or a simpler design like our popular The Bachelor, which sees the Murphy Bed fold up behind two doors.

Choosing specs for a Murphy Bed

Our Build-A-Bed app lets you dare to dream with the finish and accessories. Extra shelves? More drawers? It’s up to you. Start with the orientation, the frame, and then the styling features. 

Wall bed orientation

First, look at the floor space and layout of your room. If it’s a long room, you might want to think about installing the Murphy Bed to be horizontal to the wall.

Wall bed size

Next, think about what bed size. Choose a single, single x-long, double/full or a queen size frame.

Wall bed frame and leg height

Now decide on the frame – either Elite Aluminum or Supreme Steel. Both options have different benefits, hold different weights and provide differing warranties.

For example, Elite Aluminum bed frame and mechanism kit support up to 900 kg (2,000 lbs); the Supreme Steel option supports about 770 kg (1,700 lbs). When the bed is in the upright position the mechanisms can withstand a maximum of 220 lb, which includes the combined weight of the front panels, bed frame, stiffeners, crossbar, legs and mattress.

How long should the legs be? That depends on your mattress choice. Our app will figure that out once you’ve selected the mattress size.

Best mattress types for Murphy Beds

We recommend a 10″ inner coil or spring mattress weighing between 27- 34 kgs (60-75 lbs) for our Murphy Bed Hardware. Avoid latex, gel or Tempurpedic mattresses as their structures can be pretty heavy.

If you go bigger with the mattress, consider the extended legs on your bed, which can raise the cabinet height. Extended legs are restricted to 12”.

You decide on the touch and give of the mattress, firm, soft or just right. 

Cabinet and door finishes

Murphy wall beds come in a variety of finishes including laminates, veneers and an unfinished maple, which you can stain to your liking. (If you’re indecisive about the finish options, we can send you a few samples to check out before you commit.)  Choices include a wood grain laminate in shades such as Autumn Glow or European Walnut, textured laminates such as Misty White or Wallowa Pine, and wood veneer in an unfinished maple.

A wall bed with a hutch

Think about your space and how you’ll use it. If you add a hutch to your Murphy Bed it will be a multifunctional piece. If you install a Murphy Bed to use an office by day, add shelves to store books and computer accessories. A smaller bedroom? Add drawers or a cupboard to hide things and keep the room tidy.

Change your mind? Start again using our Build-A-Bed app and try a new configuration.

Configure, order, ship

We ship Murphy Beds for free across North America; they come unassembled.

We estimate about 5-8 hours for installation, depending on the cabinetry you order. And we can be there along each installation step with help online or just a phone call away. We have several videos that can help you install as well.   

If you need an extra set of hands, maybe even wrangle one of those adult children you babysit for to help with the setup. (In exchange for overnight babysitting of the grandchildren, of course!)

While your Murphy Bed is being shipped, you can research those linens and throw cushions that will make this piece a part of your home.

Our customer service team can walk you through your space and the Murphy Wall-Bed options if you’d like a second opinion. Give us a call; we promise that a human will be here to help.

What’s a bed called that folds into the wall? Well, that’s a good question – and here’s where we officially introduce you to the Murphy Bed, a multifunctional piece of furniture. A Murphy Bed is a hinged bed that folds up into cabinetry when not in use. With our brand, your wall bed simply disappears against the wall into a hutch or behind doors (you decide!). Designs are customizable from the bed to the frame to how it’s stored.

Depending on the orientation (or how it’s hung), a Murphy Bed can be vertical (from the side) or horizontal (from the end). Installation is dependent upon your room setup and layout. It’s folded up against a wall and disappears into gorgeous cabinetry when you don’t need it. Installed on hinges, a Murphy Bed can be pulled down and pushed back up into the cabinetry with minimal effort (or strength!).

And as a bonus, the bed can be already made with linens before it’s tucked away. When it’s bedtime, the Murphy Bed can be quickly, easily and safely pulled down (some even say with one finger!) for guests. There is no need for late-night searching for matching bed linens or wrestling with the dreaded bottom sheet after a long night of catching up.

The Murphy in the Murphy Bed

Essentially, an innovator (aptly named Murphy) in the 1900s invented the Murphy Bed to solve a space problem in their tiny San Francisco apartment. This design has stood the test of time, with Murphy Beds once again seeing a resurgence of popularity in everything from personal homes, cabins, university dormitories, Airbnbs and even fire stations.

Wall beds have been around a long time to solve a problem – they remove the unused space that a bed takes up, leaving you with more space for living. Designs may have changed over the years, but one thing remains consistent – they are a space saver.

Today, Murphy Beds are designed with shelves, side tables, side cabinets, lighting and double doors to make it all the more functional and add custom design elements to your interior.

Are wall beds comfortable to sleep on?

Anyone who has slept (or rather tried to sleep) on a slowly deflating air mattress at their friend’s or family member’s house knows how welcoming it is to spend the night on a solid guest bed. A Murphy Wall-Bed provides a good quality bed for those that we love. And that we hope they will want to visit us again at some point.  

We provide you with a Murphy Bed kit: the hardware and the cabinetry. You then go out and choose your own mattress based on personal preferences, like soft or firm.

Murphy Beds are safe

The Murphy Wall-Bed is safe, durable and comes with iron-clad warranties. However, please ensure that your hardware is installed correctly and maintained properly like any piece of furniture.

You can install a wall bed anywhere in the house – from an office to a spare room to even a nook, providing privacy for all. You can avoid tip-toeing around a snoring guest on the living room couch, wasting valuable floor space in a perhaps not often used guest bedroom, or hoping that the grandchildren don’t hear you before you’ve had a chance to drink that first coffee in the morning.

You (and your guests!) can sleep more soundly as a Murphy Wall-Bed is a good investment for the home. It’s also a storage solution that you can customize to your taste and style.  

If we’ve caught your interest, please explore more about our Murphy Wall-Beds.