Murphy bed thoughts?

[toolferone]

I am going to be building a murphy bed using the gas strut hardware from Rockler and was looking for any insight, thoughts or tips.

 

[NCPete]

we are slowly cleaning out the 'junk room' in our house, and had at one time, considered doing the same thing in there. there seem to be as many plans and approaches to this sort of project as there are woodworkers. Ultimately, I have given up that path for what will some day become my daughter's room, and my wife fears that the bed would fold up on her, like a bad episode of Laverne & Shirley!

 

[junquecol]

Either the current, or previous issue of FWW has an article on building as Murphy bed. I have a copy. Bruce

 

[Ken Massingale]

I have enough trouble keeping 'Murphy' out of my shop, I'm certainly not gonna invite him in!

 

[cskipper]

I would like to have one built in our guest room so we wouldn't lose the valuable floor space for the majority of time that we don't have guests.

 

[FredP]

I would like to have one built in our guest room so we wouldn't lose the valuable floor space for the majority of time that we don't have guests.

If you build it you will increase the number of guests ten fold......:rotflm: dont wanna make em too comfee ya know.:gar-Bi

 

[CaptnA]

We had Murphy beds at one of my old stations. Great idea but in that setting it was wasted money. The mounts and cabinets took up about 18 inches of available room from the length of your room - a lot
more than I would have thought. Measure total height off the floor of a bed and imagine that plus some hardware at the end of your bed. A standard twin bed takes up a lot of a 12 foot room.
Not saying they are bad, but there are things to consider.

 

[Bob Buchholz]

I just finished building one from the same kit that you are interested in. My daughter wanted one in a full size bed with a drop down table on the front of it.

The kit is complete and the directions are easy to follow. There two sets of directions, one for plywood and one for composite. It comes complete with a very well done DVD that goes through the entire construction process and is worth watching (it really shows why you will require two people to intall it). Be extremely precise when measuring for the holes in the sides because even a quarter inch off will cause it to just not fit (don't ask me how I know).:embaresse

It did turn out to be pretty easy and is a very high quailty kit.

Have fun.

 

[mistakin]

I am just finishing building my house. I am thinking of building one into a bar to go in our media room. The horizontal twin should work. If you drink too much, we can just take your keys and leave you there.

 

[rbdoby]

Tom,

I built one using the kit and plans from Rockler a few years ago. Here's some pictures of it from my gallery. The hardware was good. I had to modify the plans a little so I could take it apart and move it by myself. It is by no means a light weight piece, I used red oak and 3 sheets of 3/4" red oak plywood to build it. Be sure to bolt it to the studs.

Rick Doby

 

[toolferone]

Tom,

I built one using the kit and plans from Rockler a few years ago. Here's some pictures of it from my gallery. The hardware was good. I had to modify the plans a little so I could take it apart and move it by myself. It is by no means a light weight piece, I used red oak and 3 sheets of 3/4" red oak plywood to build it. Be sure to bolt it to the studs.
Rick Doby

Rick, that looks great! Do those fold out feet feel good and sturdy? Is the fold out table part of the plans?

 

[Mt. Gomer]

I just finished building one from the same kit that you are interested in. My daughter wanted one in a full size bed with a drop down table on the front of it.

The kit is complete and the directions are easy to follow. There two sets of directions, one for plywood and one for composite. It comes complete with a very well done DVD that goes through the entire construction process and is worth watching (it really shows why you will require two people to intall it). Be extremely precise when measuring for the holes in the sides because even a quarter inch off will cause it to just not fit (don't ask me how I know).:embaresse

It did turn out to be pretty easy and is a very high quailty kit.

Have fun.

I agree with all that was said. I built one about 5 or 6 years ago using the Rockler hardware. All of the shortcomings of the final product were due to my skill and the rush job I did due to lack of time rather than the plans or kit. It's been in use since then and is in it's second house and I've had no issues with it whatsoever. It's a huge space saver and, once I get around to trimming it out nice, it will look even better. Here are two pics...

View image in gallery​

View image in gallery​

You might notice, if you're looking at the plans, that I had to modify how my version attaches to the wall. I got my built and standing in place in it's original location when I discovered that the board used to screw the case into the studs lined up perfectly with an air duct running the length of the wall. DOH!

 

[toolferone]

Cool, looks like the hardware from Rockler is a good product. Thanks for all the responses so far.

 

[rbdoby]

Tom,

The fold out feet are 3/4" thick you may want to beef them up. My son has been sleeping on it for 3 years now and I haven't seen any problems with it.

The fold out desk is a part of the plan.

Rick Doby

 

[BobcatBob]

I built one a few years ago using a Create-A-Bed kit. The kit and the plans were excellent. Recommend you check out this website. http://www.wallbed.com/ Lot of good information there.

Bob