
History of the Murphy Bed - bookofjoe
https://99percentinvisible.org/article/the-making-of-murphys-bed-urbanization-and-the-rise-of-fold-down-furniture/
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rubidium
I have a very large home (3,200 sq ft) but with 3 adults, 3 kids we start to
fill it up.* I wanted to be able to have guests without having a dedicated
guest room. The Murphy bed was a perfect solution. Got a local furniture maker
to make it out of hardwood for about $2,700. Pricey but was wrapped in with a
renovation loan so made it doable.

The room is now the guest/meeting/sewing/fitness room. And is easy to toggle
between the different uses. I really like it.

*that said, it’s still very spacious feeling

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kevin_thibedeau
I have a 1930 bungalow that originally had five bedrooms and a sleeping porch
in 1200 sq ft. That would have supported 6+ people easily. More for anyone
willing to sleep in the basement. Americans could stand an adjustment of how
much space they need.

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brailsafe
Agreed. I'm currently sharing a studio basement in Vancouver with my gf, but
if either of us was single it would be more suitable to just have a bedroom in
a shared space. Living like students in terms of space shouldn't be looked at
as temporary until you can afford a huge place with lots of stuff. One of my
friends has a 3 bdr condo which she shares with 2 independent roommates and
often her partner. Further to this, I'm often questioning my relationship to
the dream of owning a place at all, as it often doesn't resonate with me.

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bxparks
I read somewhere (found it:
[https://www.wallbedsbywilding.com/blog/2017/01/06/wallbed-
ma...](https://www.wallbedsbywilding.com/blog/2017/01/06/wallbed-mattress/))
that a Murphy bed should use a special mattress to avoid permanent damage to
the mattress caused by the foam sliding down to the bottom due to gravity. Has
anyone experienced such problems with a normal mattress used in a Murphy bed?

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_ZeD_
Isn't enough to just "rotate" the matress? (Something you should already do
every season anyway)

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hammock
There are so many apartments in SF that used to have Murphy beds in them but
instead are now awkwardly-laid out "closets" or doorless "nooks." When I was
looking for a place I would have appreciated a murphy bed.

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kjhughes
Don't miss the very cool expanding table later in the article. Direct link:
[https://youtu.be/Mx_TceWHtas](https://youtu.be/Mx_TceWHtas)

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mrfusion
I’ve always been sad they don’t seem to make them for king beds. I’d
definitely get one if they had it.

I also like the idea of a Murphy giant table where I can keep all my junk
laying around but simply fold it up to get it out of sight.

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dieselerator
There is a US company that makes king size wall bed systems. --> Sico, Inc. in
Minnesota [1]. In some size I have seen them in hotel rooms. They seemed well
made and operated smoothly. I have no idea about prices.

[1] <[https://www.sicoinc.com/en/product/room-makers-wallbed-
syste...](https://www.sicoinc.com/en/product/room-makers-wallbed-system-
vertical-fold/>)

