Taken out of a Abbot and Costello bit…wall beds are a great piece of apartment size furniture. Made for very small living spaces such as a studio loft, hotel room or studio apartment. A wall bed is a practical way to add sleeping capacity to your apartment or can even be used as your primary bed. By using a wall bed as your place of rest this will free up your bedroom for other options such as a home office.

There are several types of wall beds on the market, but the biggest name in wall beds hands down is Murphy.  Originated in the 1920′s by William Murphy…Murphy beds are thee name in wall bed units. The idea came about by Mr.Murphy when he first was wanting to court a young lady and due to the strict dating rules in the 1920′s he was unable to bring the lady up to his one bedroom apartment.  Being it was only one bedroom he had his bed in what would equate to his bedroom and this was very inappropriate, so he thought of a way to hide his bed making the room his living room and turning it back into his sleeping quarters when she left.  This flash of genius resulted in what is now known as a wall bed giving many people over the years a brilliant piece of space saving furniture. Over the course of the company’s history they have adapted to trends and fashion designs.  Nowadays you can get a Murphy bed in just about any style.  The company was even asked to make a custom wall bed for a lady in West Chester county that cost over $20,000. Murphy beds are finding a new place in today’s culture becoming very popular again in the heavily populated dense cities like New York where living space is at a premium.Wall beds have even been used in the popular home renovation show…Extreme Home Makeover.

The most important piece of a Murphy bed is the patented steel hardware mechanism used to tilt the bed upright and what makes a wall bed functional.  You can buy many wall bed hardware kits today to make make your own custom wall bed. The hardware is available in both vertical and horizontal packages giving you several options to install your wall bed.  Cost will range from $200 to $300 for the complete hardware kit minus the bed.  But if you think about just how much space you can save with this piece of apartment furniture…the possibilities are endless.

A actual wall mounted bed will range in price and as you can expect can be a bit pricey.  There are also many wall bed manufactures such as Murphy, Flying Beds and Old Creek.  All have the same concept behind the original Murphy bed collapsing against the wall. These beds are available in King, Queen and double…just about every size you can think of.  Although i have yet to seen a California King wall bed…still waiting for that one!

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