History of the Murphy Bed | Hacker News Reader

History of the Murphy Bed

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41 pointsbookofjoe12 comments

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

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.

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.

We have 2 adults and 7 kids in a 1900 sq ft home. 3200 sq feet would be like living in a palace.

You’re awesome. I’m the oldest of 7 who grew up in a house that size. Way to go on the big fam!

There’s a two bedroom house on my block that’s sub-1600 sq ft that 9 kids were raised in, so there’s always bigger and always smaller :)

Totally agree with your assessment, btw. It is palatial at times. But we host a lot of people and have big gatherings regularly so still does fill up. It was a fixer upper purchased for $65k so hard to beat.

I read somewhere (found it: https://www.wallbedsbywilding.com/blog/2017/01/06/wallbed-ma...) 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?

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

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.

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

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.

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...

I checked on Rockler to see what size kits they have. Sure enough they only go up to queen size.

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