How Do I Make a Murphy Bed?

Start With The Answer

To make a Murphy bed you build a rigid wall mounted cabinet, fix it securely into the structural wall, then hang a timber bed frame inside it on a pivot so the frame swings from vertical to horizontal. A counterbalance mechanism, either a gas piston kit or a spring kit, carries most of the weight so the bed lifts and lowers with light hand pressure. A retaining strap holds the mattress in place when the bed is stored upright.

The honest version of the answer is that the woodwork is the easy part. The two things that decide whether the project succeeds are the wall fixing and the counterbalance kit. Get those right and a competent DIYer with a circular saw, a drill driver and a spirit level can complete the build over a couple of weekends.

Decide On Orientation First

Murphy beds fold either vertically, pivoting at the head end so the bed stands tall, or horizontally, pivoting along one long side so the bed folds sideways into a wider, shorter cabinet.

A vertical fold takes less wall width but needs more ceiling height. For a standard double it stands well over six feet tall once stored, which rules it out under a sloping loft ceiling. A horizontal fold sits lower and suits rooms with restricted head height or a long uninterrupted wall, though it eats more width.

Measure your room in both directions before choosing. Note the ceiling height, the wall length, and crucially the floor depth the bed will occupy when lowered. Then walk that space out. A double bed pulled down into a small room can leave a walkway too narrow to use comfortably, and it is far better to discover that with a tape measure than after building a cabinet.

Materials And Tools

For the cabinet, eighteen millimetre birch plywood or good quality MDF is the sensible choice. Plywood is stronger and holds screws better at the edges, which matters where the pivot hardware bolts on. MDF gives a smoother painted finish but needs more care around fixings.

For the bed frame itself, planed softwood in a section around ninety by forty five millimetres works for the perimeter, with cross rails or a slatted panel to support the mattress. You will also need a mattress that is light enough to lift and shallow enough to close inside the cabinet, which usually means a foam or thin pocket sprung mattress rather than a deep hybrid.

Tools: circular saw or track saw for clean sheet cuts, drill driver, long spirit level, stud detector, socket set for the coach bolts, clamps, and a helper. A second pair of hands is not optional when you lift the frame into the cabinet.

Buy The Mechanism, Do Not Improvise It

This is the single most important piece of advice. Buy a proper Murphy bed hardware kit sized for your mattress and orientation. The kits contain matched pivot brackets, counterbalance pistons or springs rated to a specific weight range, leg linkages that fold automatically, and the fixings.

Improvised hinges and salvaged springs are how people get hurt. A double bed frame plus mattress is heavy, and an uncounterbalanced frame swinging down under its own weight is dangerous. The kits exist because the geometry needs to be correct, and they are not expensive relative to the rest of the build.

When ordering, note the mattress weight range the kit supports and weigh your intended mattress. Being at the top of a piston range makes the bed heavy to lift. Being at the bottom makes it want to spring upward, which is just as awkward.

Building The Cabinet

Cut two side panels, a top, a bottom and a back. The internal width must equal your mattress width plus clearance for the frame timbers and a small tolerance, and the kit instructions will give you the exact figure. Do not guess this.

Assemble with glue and screws, checking for square by measuring both diagonals. A cabinet built out of square will bind against the frame every time you close it. Add a stretcher across the front top to stop the sides splaying.

The back panel is structural here, not decorative. Screw it into the rear edges at close centres, because it holds the whole box rigid.

Fixing To The Wall

A Murphy bed cabinet must be bolted to the structure, not just to plasterboard. On a masonry wall, use expanding anchors into the brick or block, drilling through the cabinet back and into solid material. On a timber stud wall, find the studs with a detector, confirm them by drilling a small pilot hole, and bolt through into the centre of the stud with coach screws.

Two horizontal rows of fixings, one near the top and one near the bottom, spread the load. If your studs do not line up conveniently, fix a horizontal timber batten across several studs first and mount the cabinet to that.

Check the cabinet is plumb before final tightening, and pack behind it with thin shims if the wall bows. A cabinet leaning even slightly forward will feel unstable when the bed is stored.

Hanging The Frame

Build the bed frame to the dimensions in your kit instructions, keeping it square and adding the slat support. Fit the pivot brackets to the frame while it is flat on the floor, since bolting them in place overhead is unnecessarily difficult.

With help, lift the frame into the cabinet and bolt the pivot brackets to the pre marked positions on the cabinet sides. Attach the counterbalance pistons or springs last, following the kit sequence exactly. Some kits require the frame to be in a specific position before the piston is connected, and skipping that step can leave you fighting the mechanism.

Fit the folding legs, then test the action repeatedly with no mattress. It should move smoothly and stop where the stops are designed to catch it.

Adding The Mattress And Strap

Place the mattress, fit the retaining strap across it, and raise the bed slowly. The strap keeps the mattress against the frame when stored, and it is not optional. Test the action ten or twenty times, adjusting the piston mounting point if your kit allows it, until lifting takes light effort and lowering is controlled rather than falling.

Leave bedding on the bed if you can. Fitted sheets and a thin duvet stay in place behind the strap, which saves remaking the bed every night and is one of the quiet pleasures of a well built Murphy bed.

Making It Look Deliberate

A Murphy bed can either hide or become a feature. Painting the cabinet the same colour as the wall makes it recede. Adding side towers turns it into a fitted unit, and this is where the room really comes together.

Flanking the cabinet with slim modern bookcases UK sale gives the whole wall the look of built in joinery while adding the storage a fold away bed cannot provide underneath. In a room doing double duty as a workspace, one of our modern computer desks UK placed on the opposite wall keeps the floor in front of the cabinet clear for the bed to lower.

Guest rooms that double as sitting rooms benefit from light, movable seating that can be shifted aside in seconds. A pair of modern tub chairs UK sale are easier to reposition than a heavy sofa. At Furniture in Fashion we stock modern furniture for exactly this kind of dual purpose room, with free delivery to most UK mainland postcodes.

When Not To Build One

Be realistic. If the wall you want to use is a plasterboard partition with no accessible studs, if you are renting and cannot bolt into the structure, or if the room cannot spare the floor depth when the bed is down, a Murphy bed is the wrong answer. A modern sofa beds UK sale option gives you flexible sleeping without any structural work, and in a small flat that is often the more sensible route.

There is no shame in choosing the simpler solution. A Murphy bed rewards a room with a good solid wall and enough clearance, and frustrates one without.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to build a Murphy bed?

Allow two weekends for a first attempt: one for cutting and assembling the cabinet, one for wall fixing, hanging the frame and adjusting the mechanism. Rushing the fixing stage is the most common mistake.

Can I fit one to a plasterboard wall?

Only if you can reach the timber studs behind it. Fixing into plasterboard alone is not safe. If the studs are awkwardly spaced, mount a horizontal batten across several of them and fix the cabinet to that.

What mattress depth works in a Murphy bed?

Shallower is better. Most kits suit foam or thin pocket sprung mattresses, since deep hybrids are heavy for the counterbalance and may prevent the cabinet closing flush.

Do I need to remove the bedding each time?

No. A retaining strap holds a fitted sheet, pillows and a thin duvet in place while the bed is stored upright.

Is it cheaper to build than to buy?

Usually yes on materials, but the hardware kit is a fixed cost you should not cut. Factor in your own time honestly before deciding the saving is worthwhile.