murphy bed tips?

[cyrille de Brebisson]

hello,

I am planning to build a 'murphy bed' and would like to get tips and trick from those of you who have already build some...

what is the easiest, cheap, hardware to use for example?

cyrille

[Mike_in_SD]

[e-mail] (cyrille de Brebisson) wrote in

I built one from plans/kit from on the net. Just do a search on it and there are several kits out there

I'm sorry I cant remember the url of the one I built.

I would really advise buying a kit with the main mechanism and then you cut your own wood and go from there.

the one I built uses a full size queen .. and it lays down sideways. and you wont be sorry, it is handy as hell.

good luck mike

[Pat Payne]

I needed a Murphy bed but the only hardware I could find was for a bed that would protrude 24 inches from the wall in the closed position. Much too big for the room. So I had a foam mattress made 6" X 60" x 80", queen size. I built an open faced cabinet that sticks out 12". I made a 2" thick torsion box, 61 x 81 and hung it at the lower end of the cabinet with a continuous hinge, steel brass plated 11" from the floor. So the top of the bed is 11

+2+ 6"= 19 " above the floor. I made the trim on the face of the box out of cherry and the bottom of the torsion box out of 1/4" cherry plywood. Then I built shelves on each side of the cabinet for books and other decorative things. My wife displays weavings on the face of the torsion box so the wall doesn't look like a Murphy bed.

The negatives are: There is no counterbalance mechanism therefore I have to lift and let down the thing myself. It is not very heavy so it's not a big deal. The first one I made was out of 2 1/4 " of plywood and it was too heavy.

I also have made 2 pieces of 3/4 " x 11" plywood that store behind the bed in the cabinet and fit together like an egg crate these I put under the bed

3/4 of the way toward the foot of the bed to hold it up level with the hinge. One is 4ft long and the other is 2ft long.

The bed has been in place since 1998 and works just fine. I spent 6 weeks in there recovering from knee surgery. The thing is very comfortable. And looks a lot better than those 24" deep Murphy beds.