The Wall Bed....

• Aug 24, 2009

• #1

Lincsong

I'll Lock Up

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Shining City on a Hill

These are often shown in old movies. A store in Burlingame, CA that custom made them consolidated with their store in Palo Alto. I've never seen a house or apartment with one. Does anyone;

1. have one?
2. use one?
3. ever had/used one?

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #2

LizzieMaine

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Where The Tourists Meet The Sea

Lincsong said:

These are often shown in old movies. A store in Burlingame, CA that custom made them consolidated with their store in Palo Alto. I've never seen a house or apartment with one. Does anyone;

1. have one?
2. use one?
3. ever had/used one?

Click to expand...

I lived in a two-room apartment once that had a "Murphy In-A-Dor Bed" that folded out of a compartment in the living room wall. The handle you used to pull it out of the compartment snapped down to serve as a sort of footboard, and the mattress was very thin and lumpy. The springs were the sort of thing you'd find on a cot, so it wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world. And it had a latching catch on the hinge, so you didn't have to worry about it suddenly folding back into the wall, despite what happened to all silent movie comedians at one time or another...

(The apartment also had a built-in icebox in the kitchen, but the iceman had long since given up the route...)

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #3

Hemingway Jones

I'll Lock Up

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Acton, Massachusetts

Murphy Beds are relatively common in the studios of Boston. They are also being preserved in modern restorations of small spaces in cities where space is very expensive like Milan, Rome, and Madrid, since they give the ability for a space to serve more than one use.

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #4

Lincsong

I'll Lock Up

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Shining City on a Hill

I particularly like their use in guest rooms where you can use the room for other purposes and have the needed floor space. When it's needed for a bed then pull it down. The store in Burlingame that made them used a hydraulic system and a standard mattress on flat springs.

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #5

B

Bill Taylor

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Tuscumbia, Alabama (The Tennessee River Valley)

Murphy Beds are quite common in San Francisco in many of the older apartment buildings, especially those of the teens and twenties. Some friends of ours once had a very elegant apartment consisting of a large living room, nice sized dining room, little breakfast room and small kitchen (with original ice box, though it also had a fridge and a twenties Wedgewood apartment sized stove and a dressing room and bathroom. No bedrooms. In the dining room, mirrored french doors opened and a Murphy bed lowered. Had to move the furniture every day. Also, the living room had mirrored french doors for a second Murphy Bed. As our friends remarked at the time, you had to be careful with furniture arrangement to keep from having to move it all around each night. The building also had a grand twenties elevator.

Bill Taylor

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #6

Dixon Cannon

My Mail is Forwarded Here

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Sonoran Desert Hideaway

We're actually contemplating a Murphy Bed in our spare room now. It would give us more floor room when we don't have company. There are kits for building your own that I'm considering.

-dixon cannon

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #7

Viola

Call Me a Cab

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NSW, AUS

These are fancier and with my flawless ability to pick out things that are more expensive than I can deal with, a little pricier than your average wall bed, but these are what I truly want some day. They have good reviews, though they take thinner, European mattresses.

I really REALLY want one of these puppies.

I like the cherry and am daydreaming about various Deco looks.

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #8

vonwotan

Practically Family

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696

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East Boston, MA

We have a Murphy bed in our loft in Boston. We have been quite happy with it as our primary bed for three years. I bought it at the Murphy Bed Center in New York. They installed a model with book shelves and drawers on either side of the bed, overhead lights and a switch on the headboard.

This model had an extra spring installed so it accommodates a good quality queen size mattress. You do have to avoid some of the very heavy and extra thick mattresses sold today in order for it to work properly.

http://www.murphybedcenter.com/

Our representative at California Closets told me shortly after I placed my order with the Murphy Bed Center that they are now offering Murphy Beds. Apparently a number of Universities in and around New York / New Jersey have been ordering Murphy Beds for their dormitories...

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #9

MisterCairo

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Gads Hill, Ontario

Murphy beds are not uncommon in condos in Canada, particularly studio and bachelor style units. A friend recently sold his condo after marrying a farm girl, his second bedroom had a Murphy bed to save space.

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #10

M

Miss Neecerie

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The land of Sinatra, Hoboken

My great Grandma's dining room in East LA had a Murphy bed. I remember sleeping in it as a young child on visits.

I do not have a traditional Murphy Bed at the moment...but I have another 'bed in the wall'.

Pardon the 'horrible' half -painted half not pictures...but this is the built in unit at the end of my living/dining room...

The bottom portion of it opens up and a roll out twin size bed rolls out of a tin lined box.

It's great since I do not have a guest room and my sofa does not pull out.

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #11

Cricket

Practically Family

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Mississippi

I don't have a Murphy bed, but I would love to, especially in a guest room. It would be very functional to simply put up the bed when not having company to make more room for other functions. When company comes a-calling, simply bring it down.

It is kind of funny too how a lot of movies show the art of hiding someone in a Murphy bed.

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #12

Lily Amelia

New in Town

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20

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North East England

We had a bed-in-the-wall at the motel we stayed at in Florida in January. Despite the fact there were two perfectly good full sized beds in the bedroom, we just had to sleep in the pull down bed in the lounge!! Coming from the UK it was an opportunity we couldn't miss lol

http://www.fotki.com

http://www.fotki.com

 

• Aug 24, 2009

• #13

normanpitkin

One of the Regulars

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171

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London,England

we stayed at the sahara in las vegas last week in the penthouse suite,to my delight it had a wall bed.Sadly it was not only small but also quite uncomfortable!Still vaguely cool though for some reason.....