Murphy bed kit or custom-built?
The short answer
A kit often leaves the cabinet, or part of it, to you, and is often made of particleboard. A custom-built bed is cut, finished and drilled in one shop, from real plywood, with the fiddly assembly already done.
- Many kits are hardware only, or a fixed-size cabinet you build yourself.
- Ours is real 3/4″ hardwood plywood, maple on a painted bed and white oak on a stained one.
- The fronts are real frame-and-panel joinery, not a pattern pressed into a flat sheet.
- Side cabinets to the sixteenth, from 18″ to 33″ wide.
- Flat-packed with the fiddly assembly done, or installed by our crew near the shop.
What a kit usually is
“Murphy bed kit” covers a lot of ground. Some are hardware only: the lift mechanism and a set of plans, and you build the cabinet and the bed yourself from board you buy. Others come as a cabinet in a fixed size for you to put together. Many are made of particleboard with a printed or laminated face.
None of that is wrong for every room. A kit can suit someone who wants to build, has the tools, and has a wall that happens to fit its size. It’s worth knowing what you’re signing up for before you buy one.
What the cabinet is made of
A wall bed moves. Every time it opens it puts twisting and leverage on its panels, and the cabinet carries the pull of the bed coming down. That is why the board matters.
Our beds are real 3/4″ hardwood plywood: maple on a painted bed, white oak on a stained one. Layered plywood holds a screw and resists bending far better than particleboard. The boxes are joined with steel connectors, each a heavy steel screw that pulls its joint tight, so the cabinet doesn’t rack or work loose. Every panel is cut on our own CNC; nothing is sent out to be cut.
How the front is made
The front is what you look at every day. On every style but Slab, ours is built as a frame and panel: the stiles, rails, panel divisions and barn door diagonals are separate pieces of 3/4″ board, and the panel sits half an inch back behind them. Run a hand over it and you feel the step down into every opening. It isn’t a pattern pressed into a flat sheet or a layer glued on top of one, and because it’s all the same board, the whole front is one color with no seam.
A painted or stained bed is sprayed in our shop before it leaves. See the styles on our Murphy beds page.
Sizes that fit your wall
A kit is usually one size, and the wall has to fit it. Our beds come in Twin, Full, Queen and King, each built vertical or horizontal, and the side cabinets beside them can be any width from 18″ to 33″, to the sixteenth of an inch. That last sixteenth is often what makes a wall work. How to measure for a Murphy bed shows how to get your numbers.
How much you put together
Every order is flat-packed, but the fiddly part is done in our shop before it’s boxed: the drawer slides are fitted, the drawer fronts are on, every door hinge is mounted, every cabinet connector is in place, and a bed’s face comes assembled. What’s left is putting the bed and its cabinets together where they will stand.
Every bed and side cabinet has its own step-by-step assembly guide, drawn from the same plan the shop builds from. Or, near our workshop, our own crew delivers it, puts it together and screws it to your studs. Curbside delivery or installation goes through both.
Priced from the real build
Every bed is priced live on its page, built up from the real job for the size, color and cabinets you choose. Delivery or installation is priced at checkout, as one line you see before you pay. Every bed is covered by our lifetime limited warranty: the lift mechanism, the moving hardware, the cabinetry and the factory finish.
Questions we get
Is a Murphy bed kit cheaper?
Often, yes, especially one that is hardware only and leaves the cabinet to you. What you’re comparing is what it’s made of, how much of it you build, and whether it fits your wall. Our prices are live on every bed’s page.
What is your Murphy bed made of?
Real 3/4″ hardwood plywood: maple on a painted bed, white oak on a stained one, joined with steel connectors. Layered plywood holds a screw and resists bending far better than particleboard.
Do I have to build it myself?
Every order comes flat-packed with the fiddly assembly done in our shop, and you put it together with its assembly guide. Near our workshop, you can choose Delivery + Installation and our crew does it.
Is the lift mechanism made by you?
No. We buy it already engineered from a specialist maker, and the plans are drawn from the maker’s own measurements. It’s covered by our lifetime limited warranty.
Ready to plan yours?
Every bed is priced live on its page, built to the measurements you give us.
