The Murphy Bed is (almost) Done!

Among other things, the daylight basement space downstairs includes a guest bedroom that will double as a place for Josh to see chiropractic patients at the house. We are talking about eventually building a second structure at the bottom of the hill as a chiropractic office space, but for now we are starting very low key, working on the space downstairs to make it useable for multiple functions.

A murphy bed was our answer to having a space for guests to stay in that can be tucked away when Josh sees patients, and last week we finished building our murphy bed using this kit with plans we ordered online.

If you have ever looked into pre-made murphy beds, you'll know the nice ones aint cheap. I learned this during my first murphy bed go-around when I eventually opted to hire a carpenter to build a bed for my small condo in Boston. The most stylish murphy beds around come from  Resource Furniture in NYC, but the base models start around $10K, so they were out of the question for us. The more reasonable priced pre-made beds sold elsewhere are generally ugly particle board and laminate contraptions, also not what we were after.

And so, as we usually do, we decided to build the bed ourselves. We found a kit online that included the spring mechanisms and detailed plans for how to build the wood frame. The design for the underside of the bed, which is the "front" when it is folded into the wall, is up to you. We wanted something that looked like a simple cabinet, and when I came across this picture on Pinterest we decided to use it as our inspiration (sans the stuffed dogs on top):

So we set to work picking up wood, cutting large sheets of plywood in the workshop, reading and rereading the plans, and finally putting the thing together.

And with a coat of paint, here's where we're at right now:

Voila! Not too shabby for our maiden DIY murphy bed voyage. Now it's time to bring in some night stands, lamps, a proper fitting bed cover, pillows, a large area rug, two pull handles on the front of the cabinet to make it look more like, well, a cabinet, and finally I'd like to put something above the headboard. I am considering wrapping a large board with batting, upholstering it in a nice fabric that is soft to rest your head on, and mounting that to the wall. But all of that will come. The important thing is that we finally have a space for guests to stay. Last night one of Josh's relatives came through town, and it felt really good to be able to have an actual bed for him to sleep in. Blow up mattresses are, in my opinion, torture devices. Hooray for the guest bedroom!