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Roundup: Utterly Awesome Hidden Beds

by DIY Maven on Feb 14, 2012

Murphy bed. Hide a bed. When we hear those names we think, "Hidden in the wall," right? Not so with these hidden beds, as they pop out from here, there and everywhere. 

 

clever ways to hide a bed in plain sight

 

Our first entry, pictured above, lowers just like an elevator. As the retailer notes, there's no need to move any furniture when it's time to use it.

This next bed takes up more room than a ceiling bed, but it IS hidden. A shove of the bookcase reveals all!

Multifunctional-space-saver-bookcase-bed

This one is a home theater/bedroom combo.

home theater hide a bed

Of course if you want to watch TV in bed, you're out of luck.

Here's another one from the same retailer as above. 

 

With the bed in the down position, the space looks like a traditional bedroom.

 

If only every college dorm room would look like this.

small teen room design idea interiors

How about this crazy combo? A zipper foam-y thing that hugs bookcase cubbies during the day, only to be pulled apart and reassembled on the floor. Now that's a clever way to hide a bed. (I think it's totally DIYable, no?)

How about a Murphy bunk bed situation? As shown, the price on this one clocks in at $3,718.

Just so the fur-children don't feel left out, here's a Murphy just for them:

pet murphy beds

Okay, the bed isn't hidden for this next entry, but it was too cool not to include in our roundup. The bed in this home slides to the side and reveals a spa bath.

These next two hidden beds are made one-of-a-kind by their owners. Perfect for the sports fan:

 And for the Dr. Who fan:

And, finally, is this table turned bed. I spotted it an an antiques website. It was called the Ta-Bed, and, by the look of it, it was kinda genius. Of course, you had to stash the mattress elsewhere. 

Table to....

Table to bed folded up

bed.

 

Table to bed folded out

 

How to Reupholster a Hide-a-Bed

By Sheller Leer

sofa

A hide-a-bed was my first paying upholstery job. The funny thing was that I was putting a big blue plaid back on the sofa sized hide-a-bed. You can only imagine how I agonized over the plaid matching nightmare. When I met my husband, he owned this same type of Herculon plaid sofa hide-a-bed. I used to say you could drop a cheeseburger onto it and it would disappear. I mean this stuff NEVER showed the dirt. The downside was you had to live with the ugliness, unless you were willing pay an arm-and-a-leg, or tackle the reupholstery yourself. Local blogger and online bud, Beckie of Infarrantly Creative, just sent me over a fully photographed tutorial of her reupholstered hide-a-bed project.

 

It's much easier to move around it when you take out the bed mechanism.

sofa

Note her attention to the the detail on the front arms and on the side. Very impressive.

sofa

sofa

See it all right here. Thanks Beckie. I'm sure loads of people will now be inspired to tackle their ugly hide-a-bed.

 

Magic Sofa Bunk Beds 

 

 

Check out the absolutely fabulous magic Doc sofa/bunk bed available through London's Bonbon. According to the retailer’s website, they ship directly from manufacturers to customers all over the world, which is good news for us not in the UK. Contact Bonbon for more information, including pricing.

 

 

 

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Designaholic on Feb 25, 2014:

Very cool stuff. Did not see any wall bed desks on here though. Those are really useful as they can be a guestroom on occassion but an every day office. http://www.MurphySofa.com has some really cool ones

Julie on Sep 15, 2013:

Survivor Momma, I would love to see pics of what you described. I am trying to make space in a tiny home in the country. I

SurvivorMama on Sep 10, 2013:

In my tiny retreat cabin I built two nesting platforms. By day double thick pads make a lovely bench with decorative pillows. By night , the outer box can slide out and the pads (10" queen therafoam mattress halved) unstack to make a wonderfully comfortable platform bed 6' long and 5' wide with an 8' diagonal. When I have guests they get to choose the queen bed or one of two integrated hammocks (if more than 1 tall individual). My retreat is a favorite of my chilsren who also like using the other outdoor hammock & tarp setups during most seasons. In winter they sleep in with the woodstove and I enjoy my cozy winter config tarp/hammock because they still do not believe how wRm and cozy I am.

Anonymous on Jun 12, 2013:

Any idea on where to find DIY blueprints for this one:  http://assets.curbly.com/photos/0000/0015/8346/atoll2.jpg?1329229246

The couch/wall turns into the bed one?  I have a murphy bed already, and would love to convert it into the couch model...

Any help would be appreciated.

bruno on Jun 11, 2013:

Sorry guys, an HTML glitch was causing the post to disappear! It's back now!

Anonymous on Jun 11, 2013:

Any chance at getting this article reloaded?

Thanks!

chattytara on Apr 30, 2013:

Where is this article? There are only comments visible..no pictures.

Ron Jordan on Sep 16, 2012:

Regarding the desk bed.  I happen to have one of these, but the style of the mine is that of an oak library desk.  There is actually no need to stash the mattress elsewhere if it is the original feather mattress...  Mine folds inside with no problem.

Brittany on Mar 05, 2012:

I don't even watch Dr. Who, but i want that Tardis bed - it's awesome! About the rail-less college loft bed, my sister and I had loft beds in college (which I looooved); I never fell out, but my sister did (nearly a 6ft drop since the beds were high enough to put a desk and bookcase under). She used my little brother's old toddler-bed-gate to act as rails. It sort of felt like being in a cage, so my sister only put the gate up right before she went to sleep. It did its job - she never fell out again.

Annette on Feb 16, 2012:

My favorite is the first one.  If I lived in a NYC or other BIG city and had to live in a closet, I'd definitely choose something like this for my bed.  It's amazing to me how much creativity comes from necessity! 

Tashinka on Feb 14, 2012:

Mattress-over-bath seems like a recipe for moisture problems and mold/mildew... ew, ew, ew.  Love the zip-together foam that parks on the wall, though!  Would be perfect for a playroom/guest room!

DesigningMom on Feb 14, 2012:

Pretty aweome idea, but I'm thinking the college dorm bed needs side rails. That's a bit scary up so high.

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