Forget making your bed every morning; imagine being able to fold the whole thing away and completely clear your floor space.
Offering Wizarding World levels of magic, this is not a dreamed-up piece of enchanted furniture, but an invention born, and once wildly popular, in America called the Murphy Bed.
Designed to drop down from the wall, the fold-up bed has retractable legs that offer stable support when down and look seamless when the bed is up. Unless you told visitors, they would never guess.
Wall beds are perfect for anyone short on space or for installing in a spare room, giving you the flexibility of having somewhere to sleep overnight guests and keeping the room open for other things when it's put away.
Some wall beds are designed to look like bookcases when they’re locked up, which is a bonus if you’re hoping for light storage for trinkets and your favourite volumes. The downsides are few, but include not being able to move the bed around. Once it’s secured up to the wall, it’s in a stationary setting.
Some don’t come with mattresses supplied, so unless you’ve already got one to use, it’s an additional expense to take into consideration. The final drawback is that they are compact, streamlined designs, so there’s no other space to keep things like duvets, extra pillows and blankets. Still, it’s nothing some chic storage baskets or vacuum-sealed bags can’t fix.
If you’re mulling over a wall bed to install in your home, we’ve rounded up some of the nicest designs around to help you see what’s possible.
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Wade Logan Asbed Murphy Bed
Going from a blank cupboard with doors to a bed with space for a UK double mattress, this folding design is perfect for multifunctional rooms, studio flats and spare rooms. It features a silent operating system helped with a pneumatic mechanism and there are straps to hold the duvet in place so you don't have to worry about storage.
The mattress is not included, and if you're buying one, it should be no thicker than 20cm and lighter than 18kg, otherwise, you might find it challenging to fold the bed away. When unfolded, the under-bed space measures 25cm high, giving your guest somewhere to tuck away their bags.
Comes with a one-year warranty.
Buy now £979.99, Wayfair
La Redoute Interiors Banero Folding Oak Murphy Bed
Folding out from compact dimensions against the wall, this single-size bed (90 x 190cm) is a fabulous extra sleeping solution to install in a spare room or even the living room. Alongside the oak and white melamine panels comes a set of lacquered plywood legs that keep the design propped up to the right height. Self-assembly is required and you will need to fix the unit securely to the wall, so it's one for confident DIYers.
Buy now £875.00, La Redoute
Zipcode Design Kentaro Foldaway Double Bed with Slatted Frame
This chic, minimalist Murphy is ideal for those who like their lines clean and unfussy. The lack of storage may irk some, but it means fewer things to dust and fewer falling hazards too. Available in ash white wood, beton (grey), oak and walnut, there's a design to suit all spaces. Extra points for the hairpin legs that add to the retro aesthetic.
A double mattress is not included with this option, so the one to seek should be no higher than 24cm and weigh at least 24kg to rest comfortably on the slats.
Made with a reinforced steel frame, it's far stronger than it looks and can accommodate a maximum of 250kg.
Buy now £1019.99, Wayfair
Williston Forge Firthcliffe Platform Bed
Made from strong wood and steel, this industrial-style Murphy bed uses spring mechanisms to support the opening and closing of the bed, making it easy to magic one up when surprise guests come calling. The bed comes with special brackets to secure it to a wall, which should be made of brick. The bed frame cradles the mattress to keep it secure, while when closed, it looks like an unsuspecting cabinet. LED lighting is a feature that sets this bed apart from the rest.
Buy now £1189.99, Wayfair
Zipcode Design Crinium Folding Bed
Fitting a UK double or a European mattress measuring 140 x 200cm, this wall bed is ready and waiting for sleepovers of any kind. The mattress will drop down from the back of the cupboard with an easy opening feature to make it that much simpler. Once down, flip over an iron rod to push the back legs into place and you're ready to welcome your first visitor.
Buy now £819.99, Wayfair
Wallbedking Double Vertical Classic Wall bed
If you're looking for a simple design and you're not too bothered about what the bed looks like when it's folded up, Amazon has this slatted design made from robust metal. The design supports a king-size mattress and uses German-engineered gas piston mechanisms to raise and lower the bed smoothly. The frame can be mounted to the floor or the wall and comes with a lifetime warranty.
Buy now £899.00, Amazon
Wade Logan Badrig European Double (140 X 200Cm) Murphy Bed
Some wall beds can look overbearing when closed, thanks to their tall stature. This design reveals a bed from a horizontal position, flipping out a double bed supported by a slatted metal base. Duvet straps keep fresh bedding in situ, so once you've made up a new bed, it will stay pristine until someone comes to stay. For safety reasons, this bed (and all frames like this) should be fixed to the wall. However, a fixing kit is not supplied as what you need will differ depending on different wall surfaces.
Available in a choice of grey, oak, white and white gloss colours.
Buy now £999.99, Wayfair
