Murphy Bed Plans: Tips Before Building a Murphy Bed
Murphy Bed Plans: Tips Before Building a Murphy Bed
Murphy beds are a great way to save space. They are ideal for small bedrooms, multi-function rooms, bachelor apartments, and quickly converting a room into a bedroom. Murphy beds conveniently fold up into a wall recess, or flip up to rest against the wall vertically, which saves space when the bed is not in use. If you're planning to build your own Murphy bed, be sure to take note of these tips below.
Building a Murphy bed: do you have enough space?
Always measure carefully before beginning a do it yourself project, or you may end up regretting it. Do you have enough space for your Murphy bed on the wall of your choice? Most people prefer to somewhat camouflage the location of their Murphy beds when they are stowed (folded up) by placing a bookshelf on either side. This also conveniently hides the hardware used to attach the bed to the wall, but it means you need room along the wall for both the mattress and the bookshelves on either side.
Building a Murphy bed: plan for both positions
Before looking for plans and supplies, look at your room. If you attach a Murphy bed to the wall you’ve chosen, will there be enough room to walk all the way around the bed when the bed is down? If not, does that matter to you? When the bed is up, is it blocking any vents or other important things like smoke detectors? Years ago there was a television commercial that featured a man who finished building a Murphy bed in the stowed position—and when he tried to bring it down, he realized that it hit the opposite wall and could not be brought all the way down! Don’t let that happen to you.
Building a Murphy bed: extra cabinet space
Visualize a Murphy bed. When it is down, there will be a certain distance between the floor and the top of the bed. When the bed is stowed, there will be a section of that much blank space under the bed. If you like, you can design a removable cabinet that occupies the same amount of space that can be place under the bed box when stowed. This is more attractive, and increases your storage options! Just remember to remove it before attempting to lower the bed.
For those planning to build a Murphy bed, my best advice for you is to make sure that your Murphy bed plan is extremely reliable. It is really important to hit the specific measurements or else you would probably make the same mistakes that I made. Trust me, it is more expensive to rely on FREE Murphy bed plans.
Now for a reliable Murphy bed plan, I recommend Ted's woodworking plans. You can check out his website here. Ted's a professional woodworker and all I can say is he really knows what he's talking about.
Murphy Bed Plans: Tips Before Building a Murphy Bed
