Murphy Bed

I’ve always wanted a murphy bed in our guest room. We don’t host guests that often, and in our space constrained house, being able to have that room serve double duty as a craft / sewing room would really help out the living room from being overrun with things of that nature.

When you look at buying a murphy bed, you will find that they are not cheap! If I’m going to spend a lot of money and likely be somewhat unhappy with the result I’d rather at least get some new tools out of the process. So I bought a Queen murphy bed kit from the expertly named Easy DIY Murphy Bed company and got to measuring things.

The Result

I love it when a plan comes together! The bed has been used by a bunch of folks and there have been no complaints. And the room has become the default “teen hang room” when it’s not folded down.

Tips and Tricks (aka Don’t be me)

• This plan involved slicing up 3/8” plywood. I got birch veneer ply that was 11/32. It worked out fine, but some measurements could have been tweaked if I had a table saw.
• Highly recommend not doing this unless you have a table saw. Don’t be me thinking that you’re pretty good with a circular saw and a jig. There are a lot of repetitive and precise cuts
• The pieces get heavy as the structure is built. You’re gonna need some help to move things around
• The frame is really big, so either you have expansive hallways or you’ll likely want to assemble it in the room where the bed will live. And probably not directly on the floor of that room.
• Attaching and enabling the hinges is a one way door. Be sure about everything before you take that step.
• Measure at least 3 times before cutting. Lots of similar cuts here
• Get the handles attached before you close it the first time, they are kinda needed to open the thing and it closes pretty tightly
• It’s obvious in retrospect, but the bed has to attach to the studs of the wall, so make sure you have an idea where they are before you get too far down the road
• Stain the pieces beforehand