Murphy Bed Project--Part 1
Woo! We’re having a murphy bed built! This will be a long road of a project, so I thought I’d blog through it.
Chapter 1: Why, though?
We have a lot of guests stay with us, and a lovely finished basement (with kitchenette and bathroom!) that's perfect for them. However our air mattress game is losing steam (pun intended), and our big open basement is not much of an actual guest “room”.
Our long term plan is to set up a biggg sectional down there for family movie nights, kiddy sleep overs and MSU football parties--a dream that we really, really don’t want to compromise with a sleeper sofa.
Chapter 2: Background on the build
I’ve got a local handyman who we’re working with for this project. He’s got skillz, is flexible and very into dreaming/discussing the project plan. I have high hopes he’s gonna build us something great.
The height of our basement won’t allow a traditional vertical murphy bed. (Don’t forget the total height of this build is bed length PLUS six-ish inches so our guests won’t be laying on a mattress on the floor.) Because of that and because we have a HVAC filled bulkhead on one wall we’re having a horizontal murphy bed built there. We’re hoping nestling it right below the bulkhead makes it feel built in and less intrusive.
Chapter 3: The bones
I bought a plan online for a really simple horizontal queen murphy bed. Tom, our handyguy, reviewed it and measured our space and gave the green light.
He talked us through material cost (not terrible), his labor cost (not great, but fair and expected) and the bad news--all murphy beds need murphy bed mechanisms and those suckers aren’t cheap.
Still, this project makes the most sense for us, so we’re choosing to move forward. I purchased a mechanism (Tom reviewed and approved of course) and once it comes in, the wheels will really start turning.
Chapter 4: But will it be pretty?
Sort of! We’re having it built out of plywood to account for cost and esthetic. My initial/current thinking is that we’ll paint it the same color as the wall it’ll reside on to help it fit in. There’s plenty of other stuff downstairs I’d like to visually call attention to, this bed solution isn’t one of them.
Per Tom’s recommendation we’re going to get the bed built in and discuss additional details. Should there be any detailed molding/design on the outside? Any side cabinets or shelving above? That’s all TBD at this point, and I’m cool with that.
Chapter 5: What’s next, and what’s next next? As soon as the bed mechanism comes in, Tom can get moving! There are a few additional details along the way that need to be determined--steps we have to follow in a particular order. Some of those steps fall in Tom's court, some in ours. We don't have a specific finish date in mind though I imagine we'll finish up some time in October.
More, on that, and this built in bed saga to come.
Chapter 1: Why, though?
We have a lot of guests stay with us, and a lovely finished basement (with kitchenette and bathroom!) that's perfect for them. However our air mattress game is losing steam (pun intended), and our big open basement is not much of an actual guest “room”.
Our long term plan is to set up a biggg sectional down there for family movie nights, kiddy sleep overs and MSU football parties--a dream that we really, really don’t want to compromise with a sleeper sofa.
Chapter 2: Background on the build
I’ve got a local handyman who we’re working with for this project. He’s got skillz, is flexible and very into dreaming/discussing the project plan. I have high hopes he’s gonna build us something great.
The height of our basement won’t allow a traditional vertical murphy bed. (Don’t forget the total height of this build is bed length PLUS six-ish inches so our guests won’t be laying on a mattress on the floor.) Because of that and because we have a HVAC filled bulkhead on one wall we’re having a horizontal murphy bed built there. We’re hoping nestling it right below the bulkhead makes it feel built in and less intrusive.
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| Pardon the former owner's furniture, the red drawing is where the bed will fold up against the wall |
Chapter 3: The bones
I bought a plan online for a really simple horizontal queen murphy bed. Tom, our handyguy, reviewed it and measured our space and gave the green light.
He talked us through material cost (not terrible), his labor cost (not great, but fair and expected) and the bad news--all murphy beds need murphy bed mechanisms and those suckers aren’t cheap.
Still, this project makes the most sense for us, so we’re choosing to move forward. I purchased a mechanism (Tom reviewed and approved of course) and once it comes in, the wheels will really start turning.
Chapter 4: But will it be pretty?
Sort of! We’re having it built out of plywood to account for cost and esthetic. My initial/current thinking is that we’ll paint it the same color as the wall it’ll reside on to help it fit in. There’s plenty of other stuff downstairs I’d like to visually call attention to, this bed solution isn’t one of them.
Per Tom’s recommendation we’re going to get the bed built in and discuss additional details. Should there be any detailed molding/design on the outside? Any side cabinets or shelving above? That’s all TBD at this point, and I’m cool with that.
Chapter 5: What’s next, and what’s next next? As soon as the bed mechanism comes in, Tom can get moving! There are a few additional details along the way that need to be determined--steps we have to follow in a particular order. Some of those steps fall in Tom's court, some in ours. We don't have a specific finish date in mind though I imagine we'll finish up some time in October.
More, on that, and this built in bed saga to come.