Murphy bed with sliding bookcases to conceal

16 years ago

Saw photo in Southern Living web site for a bookcase wall that hides a murphy bed...we are considering doing it for guest room in house so that it can be used mainly as my study and give us some bookshelves--master does not really have space for them...

the limited amount of information on the photos says a track and wheel assembly is what the two center bookshelves are attached to --they are pulled apart to reveal the back/bottom of the murphy bed platform which can then be pulled down

the type of wall-bed mechanism is not mentioned--I have been all over the Internet tonight looking for better instructions--there are several companies that make a system similar to buy but frankly they are either too tacky or way too expensive...

I was wondering if it would be possible to buy some unfinished bookshelves (real wood) and get local carpenter to construct the system...

we would like to match the finish to nice wooden computer armoire that we would put in there as well...

I found some of the sites for the barn-door type of track to hang the bookcases on...how heavy can these bookcases be? should the bottoms have casters? or would some of the furniture glides glued to the bottoms work as well and not snag in carpet?

our bedroom has carpet and the one in the photo looks like maybe tile--difficult to tell...

should the two end bookcases be attached to the wall?

what system for the wall (murphy) bed itself--

I understand the piston system is attached to the sides of the frame around the bed...and the balancing springs has to be floor mounted--difficult to remove w/o leaving slab damage...won't be in daily use--only a guest bed

you can see how the bed looks with bookcases open on second photo click

any help appreciated...

Here is a link that might be useful: HANDY HIDDEN BED

Featured Answer

graywings123

16 years ago

I think a murphy bed is a wonderful idea for daily use in a small apartment. I have lived in two places with them. No sliding bookcases, but I've seen them at trade shows and they are lovely. But . . .

Unless you are entertaining very often or for long periods, there are far less expensive and easier ways to handle bedding down your guests. For the couple thousand you will spend on this project, the per use cost could be quite high.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (16)

User
16 years ago
They have a contact and design assistant. Had you thought of contacting them to ask? It looks like a great idea. c
0
loves2read
Original Author
16 years ago
yes
sent email last night when I had so much trouble finding specific drawings/diagrams
I don't know what they might say
I am just trying to get idea for amount of materials--this is not something my husband would really attempt
and I am very curious as to the type of wall/murphy bed actually intalled
the type that works the best seems to be the one bolted into the slab--but that means cutting away part of the carpet and pretty much making this a permanent installation
we plan on staying in this house for many years so if it is done correctly might not be a problem at all...
this room would be more for me to use as library--love to read and house we bought has limited bookcase space especially in master bedroom...

I know that to actually use the bookcases for book storage would mean having well-constructed cases and some heavy duty tracks to support them but it just seems to be very functional --
the ones I have seen on line that are nicely built are like 3K or more--but I would not really want to buy something on-line that is basically a custom build if you understand what I mean
we have friend who is builder and I am sure he has trim carpenters who could build something like this if they had a good set of documents...
lot depends on the type of bed frame installed and the mattress you want to use because that accounts for the depth of the deeper bookcases...and they would definitely have to be attached to the wall studs for safety...

we would have to measure the wall it would go on and check closet door swing and window to see if width of unit could be balanced evenly--just saw the photo yesterday--
most other Murphy beds have a flat panel for the bottom of the mattress and that is just wasted space to me--being able to have even some limited shelf space would be great--

with the type of foam mattresses available now--you don't really need to have a box springs to have comfortable sleeping...
0
Related Discussions
Am I heading in the right direction?
Q
Comments (12)
Hi PIF! You specifically asked for my feedback but I do hope you'll understand that because mid-century modern/Scandinavian is about as far off as one can get from my favorite house style which is turn of the century folk Victorian. Thus I don't consider myself qualified to make any comments about the aesthetics of your design and we're just going to have to agree to disagree about what is beautiful when it comes to houses. LOL! That said, I'm happy to offer you my comments regarding functional issues. First off, you mentioned that in a few years you may become foster parents and/or possibly adopt additional children. Many of the children in the foster care system are special needs children so if you're serious about becoming foster parents, you may want to make certain that your home is wheel-chair accessible. For a wheel-chair bound child, accessibility would probably mostly mean having doorways that are wide enough to get thru (minimum 32"), hallways that are wide enough for a wheel-chair to make a 90 degree turn when needed, a bathroom with accessible fixtures and enough clear floor space to turn a wheel-chair around in (5'diameter circle), and an entry door without steps. I can't see the details on your drawing well enough to make out the widths of your doorways but none of your bathrooms look like they would be accessible. You might want to modify at least one of them to make it accessible. You do have a nice long space between the carport and the front door so even if you have several steps up to the front door you should have plenty of room to build a ramp if you ever need one. Anyway, I thought I'd mention it because if/when you become foster parents, I'm sure you wouldn't want to have to turn a needy child away b/c your home won't accommodate his wheelchair. Accessibility issue aside, I applaud your desire to go "green" but you might want to do a bit more reading on passive solar design. I think you may have gone a bit overboard on the amount of glass that you have facing towards the south. South-facing windows are good but TOO MUCH south-facing glass can turn your home into an oven. I have family in NC and spent many summers there as a child. What I recall are long terribly HOT summers. Depending on the altitude of your land, it might not get quite as hot where you are as I remember it being down around Wilmington. Still I'm fairly certain that your dining room (with it's south facing windows AND sliding patio doors on both the east and west sides) is going to be unbearably hot. We had a friend up in Maine with a south-facing sun room very similar to your dining room design. Her sun room sometimes got uncomfortably hot when there was still snow on the ground outside! If you haven't already done so, you might want to contact the NC Solar Center (on the NCSU campus in Raleigh). I believe they offer design assistance for those wanting to build passive solar homes. If not they ought to at least be able to put you in touch with local passive solar experts who can advise you on just what percentage of glazing to square footage would be optimal for your area. Okay, now for some specific floor plan issues. 1) The walk-in closet in the master bedroom is pretty much a space-waster. It is too small to put hanging rods or shelves anywhere except on the back wall so you won't get any more use out of it than you would a reach-in closet but it takes up twice the square footage. And, while you indicate that this closet is also the "safe room", I'm not sure what you mean by that term. A place to protect you and your family from severe weather? Or a place for you and your family to retreat in the event of a home invasion? In either case, sliding "bypass" closet doors such as you've shown won't do you much good. Those things tend to pop off their sliders if bumped wrong so that closet probably wouldn't be of much use in a hurricane or tornado and would be of no help at all in the event of a home invasion. If you're on relatively high ground where flooding is not a concern, you would be far better off to dig an old style "root cellar" next to your home for tornado/hurricane protection. 2) I understand the concept of the sliding "barn door" for the playroom/schoolroom but I don't see any place for the barn door to slide to when you want the room open. You have another door in the hallway that is in the way of the door sliding to the left and it looks like you're planning to have a bookcase that would be in the way on the right. So, where is the barn-door going to slide to? 3) Having two doors into the playroom/classroom limits the amount of closet space you can have. If you want that room to have access to the bath without having to go out into the "public" portion of the hallway, why not swap the bathroom fixtures to the other wall and then put a pocket door between the playroom/classroom and bathroom? I'm not a big fan of J&J bathrooms but it seems like a better option than wasting space that could be used for a closet on a second door out to the hallway. 4) Are you really sure you want all those windows in your showers? Are they going to be "glass brick" or regular windows with opaque glass of some sort? With regular windows, sloping the interior sill and waterproofing the window surround will be crucial to keep water from the shower from getting into the wall. 5) I don't quite understand the bookcase walls you have dividing the living room from the flex room. Are you thinking floor to ceiling bookcases INSTEAD of walls? If so, I'd be concerned about things. First, this creates an awfully long stretch (from kitchen to edge of the porch) right down the center of your house with nothing to support to roof above. In long skinny houses such as you've designed, typically there is an interior LOAD-BEARING wall running parallel to the roof-ridge near the center of the house. In other words, the very wall that you've removed half of probably needs to be a load bearing wall. You definitely need to talk to an engineer but I suspect you would need at least one or two support columns. 6) If that circle next to the washer/dryer represents a water heater, you need to arrange for access to it. I suspect that code may require that water heaters be accessible but even if it doesn't, if/when you need to replace your water heater, do your REALLY want to have to completely remove your washing machine in order to reach your water heater? 7) Your masterbath toilet room looks like it might be too small. Minimum interior width of a toilet room (required by code) is 30". That is wall to wall. And I think code requires 24" of standing room between the front edge of the bowl and the wall. 8) Entry into the master shower looks pretty cramped. I do hope some of this is helpful. Good luck with completing your design and building the home of your dreams.
...See More
Only one guest room and 3 Grandchildren
Q
Comments (18)
Sammy and pennydesign, I have thought about having blown up mattresses. Great minds think alike! I may go this route. doc5md, We have changed this room at least 3-4 times and finally settled on a queen bed between two windows. We like this plan as it works for us. Mrs Pete, Thank you for the visuals! During the planning process, we had drawn in two twin beds with one window between the beds. I really don't like a bed in front of a window and worked hard for that not to happen. The L-shaped twin bed layout is awesome but won't work for us with the two large windows on the front of the house. We have many sets of pocket doors in the house we have been in for 20 something years. No problems at all. Good hardware is a must with pocket doors. mainenell, I like the idea of a trundle under the bed! Mark Bischak, Architect, I've never been concerned about children sleeping in the front of the house. With security systems and a large dog, I doubt we will have problems. This is a narrow lot and trying to fit everything on one level has been a challenge with our lot constraints! This guest bath is minimal and designed to be that way. It's a guest room that may be used 3-4 times a month. Most likely, most months, less than that! The guest bath will also serve as the powder room which hopefully will be used a lot seeing that we love to have visitors for an afternoon glass of wine ;-)
...See More
Help with beds for guest room, please.
Q
Comments (368)
Julia, it’s been quite a challenge but I’m so happy I found those wall mounted headboards that fit the narrow space next to the window and love how the metal and wood frames look with them. Definitely with you on avoiding the frames with “toe-breaker” middle legs! If the Zinus Suzanne frame that I got happens to work for your room, it seems very sturdy and well made and I highly recommend it. Especially if you only need regular length twin beds. Can’t beat the quality for that low price!
...See More
How to layout living room when it's also a guest room? I need advice!!
Q
Comments (4)
I would use the den as TV area with TV between the built-in bookcases. Then do a back-to-back arrangement with two sofas (they don't have to match) and a rolling sofa table between them. The one in the den would be the guest bed. When you have guests, simply roll the sofa table under a window and close the sliding door. As an office, place a desk facing the window if you need good light for online conferences, or put it on the wall if you don't do that. A rolling desk chair can move out of the way for the sofa to be opened. In the living room side, use a round dining table in the corner right of the fireplace. A coffee table 12-18" from the sofa and perhaps a pair of small scale upholstered armchairs in an "L" with the sofa, their backs to the window. Art, not TV, above the mantel.
...See More
Related Professionals
Sweetwater Interior Designers & Decorators · Augusta Furniture & Accessories · Easton Furniture & Accessories · Evanston Furniture & Accessories · Jacksonville Furniture & Accessories · Miami Furniture & Accessories · Scottsdale Furniture & Accessories · Stuart Furniture & Accessories · Topeka Furniture & Accessories · Mundelein Furniture & Accessories · Temple Terrace Furniture & Accessories · Gainesville Custom Artists · Hialeah Gardens Lighting · South Yarmouth Window Treatments · Woodridge Window Treatments
chris8796
16 years ago
From a storage perspective, I don't think you gain much from having moving bookcases. You will still need the necessary space to slide the bookcases into, so why not just have stationary bookcases on the outside?

I assume the wall you will install it on is flat, so murphy bed cabinet will extend into the room at least 12". This will leave natural alcoves on the sides, sort of like a fireplace.

All the mechanisms I've seen will be required to be mounted to the floor. I made acustom cabinet for mine, so I'm aware of the needs. I'll try to post pictures of my setup.
0
User
16 years ago
I can say that my DB got a special air mattress for his fold up sofa bed to replace the one that was to have been on it. It is so comfortable and would allow you a more flexable plan as to depth and weight of the whole apparatus. I am not sure of the brand but it has a pump and inflates /deflates in seconds. Very comfy too. I can find out what brand if you like. c
0
chris8796
16 years ago
Here is a picture of my unit.

I did it myself for about $500

Mechanism $275
Doors $80
Hardware $100
construction materials $50.

Sold this photo to the hardware company for $100.
0
loves2read
Original Author
16 years ago
what mechanism for the bed did you order from
how big a mattress does it take
it looks nicely done but basically unless you are using the bed to sleep you aren't getting any other use out of it...that is what the bookcases provide--permanent functionality
each of the two center bookcases slides in front of the those on either end--so you have 4 useable bookcases all the time

the bookcases have two different depths from the photos on Southern Living--the center ones are maybe 10 inches deep and the rear are more like 15 for the depth of mattress/bed unit.
I think you gain a lot of book or curio/photo shelf storage because nothing has to be taken out to use the bed portion

and I think it would be possible to add some puck lights on the board running across the top of the bed frame unit and put switch on each side of the bed to allow for reading in bed...

because of the sliding feature you could not just put a lamp on a shelf in the bookcase
0
loves2read
Original Author
16 years ago
yes--that is a good point about expense of this unit vs other options--but would like to get idea for what it WOULD cost to build and need some better specifics than just that photo...

putting a sofa in this room and some pre-fab bookcases on couple of the walls would be less expensive and still address our desire to use it as more a reading/computer room for me
but my husband would not want his 70 yr old sister to sleep on a fold-out couch no matter how comfortable the mattress might be...and this is the extra bedroom downstairs...more convenient for me as well rather than using one of the two bedrooms upstairs on day to day basis...

we are planning on being here for long time--right now we don't have any bedroom furniture for this room because we have single/trundle beds in two bedrooms that we aren't going to be using in this house
we are upgrading our daughter and her husband to real queen mattress vs their double--and taking their full-size mattress which is still in good shape for the 4th bedroom upstairs...
some of the furniture in our master now will probably get moved up to that room since our new master is really too small for probably anything but the king bed and bedside chests--maybe room for double dresser under the wall-mounted flat-screen tv going opposite the bed--but just have to see how narrow the walkway past the bed is...

like I said the new master is not that large but my husband really liked the back yard/other features of the house...he says we don't really spend any time in master except to sleep now (basically true) and the new master closet has built-in chests and shelfs to help with clothes storage...
we can even move in some ready-made chests if we need too
0
chris8796
16 years ago
Here is the company I got the mechanism from Murphy bed mechaism.

If you limit the bookcase to lightweight items like curios, you could probably get by with sliding door/wall hardware. These can handle 300lbs.
0
loves2read
Original Author
16 years ago
THANKS Chris
do you use your bed every day--had any problems with the mechanism working/sticking?
0
chris8796
16 years ago
I've had no problems with the mechanism, in the year and half we've had it. It is a queen size and we paid $270 in May 07 (prices have gone up). We've used it approximatley 30 times. Its in our recreational room and the kids always use it for sleep overs. I don't think they would have a problem with everyday use, the mechanism is pretty simple.
0
graywings123
16 years ago
Pay attention to the maximum thickness and weight of mattress you can use with the mechanism. Then go to a bed store and get a sense of what that thickness of mattress will feel like.

With the two I used, I never had a problem with the mechanism.
0
User
16 years ago
I was suggesting the air mattress for the Murphy bed not a fold out couch. My DB has it on a fold out couch...which my 88 yr old mother slept on....

Air mattresses have come a LONG way . This one was very expensive. It would lighten the weight that the mechanism would have to deal with. Just trying to be helpful. c
0
User
16 years ago
I didn't read all of the thread, but thought I'd throw this out there. HGTV had an episode on one of its shows that included directions for building exactly what you are talking about and a link to where you can purchase the Murphy Bed "Kit". I've included the link. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Murphy Bed installation & kit
0
loves2read
Original Author
16 years ago
yes --I saw that link after I posted the questions--they installed a queen size bed...but frankly units on that site in finishe we want are expensive--might as well have it custom made...
0
loves2read
Original Author
16 years ago
sorry Trailrunner
I thought you meant to just use an air bed or substitute for like a fold-out couch mattress--my daughter has one in her condo for guests who come--
I can see that using one for the mattress part of the murphy bed would help with the weight on the mechanism...but hers keeps bleeding air out and has to be pumped up during the night--but it was not that expensive either...
0

Murphy bed with sliding bookcases to conceal

graywings123

Comments (16)

User

loves2read
Original Author

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

chris8796

User

chris8796

loves2read
Original Author

loves2read
Original Author

chris8796

loves2read
Original Author

chris8796

graywings123

User

User

loves2read
Original Author

loves2read
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Murphy bed with sliding bookcases to conceal

Comments (16)

loves2readOriginal Author

Related Discussions

Related Professionals

loves2readOriginal Author

loves2readOriginal Author

loves2readOriginal Author

loves2readOriginal Author

loves2readOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

loves2read
Original Author

loves2read
Original Author

loves2read
Original Author

loves2read
Original Author

loves2read
Original Author

loves2read
Original Author