DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

02 February

A couple of weeks ago, I shared the Inexpensive Storage Cabinet Refresh in my spare bedroom and I mentioned that I was giving the whole room a makeover. I'll be sharing the whole makeover soon.

This room will serve two additional purposes aside from storage for my Etsy shop inventory and shipping supplies. Today, I am sharing one of those two extra purposes. It is now ready to act as a guest bedroom when needed! I don't have many people stay over except my daughter but I'm ready now if the need arises!

As I mentioned in the post about the storage cabinets, this room is pretty small... about 10' x 10' is all... so how is it possible that it stores all my Etsy shop inventory, holds my shipping supplies, serves as a guest bedroom, and one additional purpose??

In order to cram all that is needed out of a small space like this, I built a poor man's murphy bed!! 😄

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed
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This was actually very simple, I did this all by myself! The only part I had help with was measuring to make sure I got it correct and shopping for the supplies!

The mattress I had is a full-size, so I measured for a full-sized Murphy bed. The wood I chose was pine and I had them cut at the hardware store where I purchased them. These are the cuts of wood needed for my full-sized Murphy bed:

  • 2 - 55"  x 10" for the top and bottom of the bed
  • 2 - 77" x 10" for the sides of the bed
  • 2 - 55" 1x4's for attaching the bed to the wall
  • 2 - 28 1/2" x 77" plywood sheets to create the mattress platform
  • 2 - 57" 1x4's for the top and bottom trim on the front of the cabinet
  • 2 - 75" 1x4's for the side trim pieces on the front of the cabinet
I also used the following hardware pieces:

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

And of course, some basic supplies:

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Once I had all the supplies purchased, cut, and ready to go, I started by creating a basic box that will hold the mattress. I used the corner braces to attach the sides and bottoms of the box together.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Then I test fit the mattress and crossed my fingers!

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Next, I added the cross support boards. These are what are screwed into the wall studs to hold the bed on the wall.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Locate and mark the studs on the wall.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

The box was put in place on the wall and then screwed into the studs.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

So far, so good!

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Next, I laid the two pieces of plywood next to each other on the floor and attach them together with 1x4's on both ends.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

To attach this to the frame on the wall, I used three door hinges.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Then I trimmed out the front with trim boards to make it look like a cabinet. (Pay no attention to the white pieces in the corners on the right... I messed up on my measurements because I did not have help measuring for trim! 😂, it will be corrected with caulking and paint)

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

I used a basic hook-and-eye to close the bed up when it's not in use. I attached the hook to the frame that is attached to the wall and the eye to the platform that the bed sits on.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Then I painted the whole thing and I have a Murphy bed.

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

What do you think?! 😃

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

By making this Murphy bed as simple as I could, I kept the costs down too!

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

It was just $303.45!

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Pongo approves!

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Here's a scary picture, this is what this corner of the room looked like before!! 

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

And now this!

DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

PIN ME!
DIY Poor Man's Murphy Bed

Posted by: at 02 February Tag:

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  1. I was thinking to add feet also. It's hard for us old folks to get down to that level

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, feet would be good. I was trying to keep costs down as much as possible but I think feet would be good.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJune 07, 2023

    What about the cost of the mattress? Size?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This one is for a full-size mattress. I did not factor in the cost of a mattress because I already had the mattress and built the murphy bed to fit that. Also, mattress prices vary so much, it depends on what kind you get.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousJuly 22, 2023

    I’m curious as well as to the thickness of the plywood

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you so much!! I have been looking for a simple Murphy bed design and this is it. I am renovating my spare room for the grands (4) and need at least 2 beds. This will work great . I will forward some pics when I complete it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so glad that you like it. I would definitely love to see pictures when you're done :)

      Delete
  5. This is a great post ! If I have a queen mattress how big would I need to increase the measurements? And would adding feet put any strain on the hinges when you open it to lay on the bed ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi! You would just need to measure your bed. I think adding feet would actually be a little better but you'll need to raise it up on the wall too so it's level when it's open

      Delete
  6. Did cost of supplies only take into account lumber and hardware, or mattress too? I think its pretty cool regardless. Usually just the kits on amazon alone for diy Murphy bed hardware is like 300. Yours, simple but gets the job done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did not factor in the cost of the mattress because I already had it. I just built the bed to fit the mattress I had.

      Delete

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