BUILD A MURPHY BED without a kit for $150! YourModernFamily.com

A bedroom with a Murphy Bed hidden away in the wall.

Murphy Bed Plans are easier to follow than most people think. Have you had your eye on a Queen Murphy Bed or a Murphy Bed Kit? Now you can make your own without a store-bought Murphy Bed Kit. A wall bed is a great way to free up extra space in an office, turn a playroom into a bedroom, or just give you options for guests.

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How to Build A Murphy Bed

DIY Murphy Bed - before & after

Pro Tip: If you want to bypass this post and skip right to purchasing the Murphy Bed Plan, click here. You can start building your Queen Murphy Bed today. It took my husband, dad, and brother about half of a day to build our wall bed.

Update: This post was written several years ago. I’ve recently added new pictures, but I’ve kept the older ones to give you an idea of what it looked like at different times. This post has two videos, as well, of our queen murphy bed, so be sure to stick around to watch them! I think they are helpful. 🙂

How we Build Our Queen Murphy Bed

Murphy Bed - Your Modern Family

I loved having a playroom and an office, but it meant that we didn’t have a guest room. Since we live in the Carolinas, but my husband’s family lives up North, we needed a place for them to stay when they came to visit their four grandchildren.

This downstairs extra bedroom seemed to be the best idea (it is the only bedroom on the main floor, as the rest are upstairs.) Since moving in almost four years ago, this downstairs room has been a playroom, an office, a guest room… I just can’t seem to decide, until I finally decided on EVERYTHING!

Since my husband always seems to be working on DIY things to build in our house (like our DIY mudroom bench), I put him on the job of coming up with a solution for the room and he did:

Build A Murphy Bed

DIY wall bed yourmodernfamily
He designed plans to build a murphy bed and then he built the murphy bed with my dad and brother. They built a DIY Murphy Bed and it turned out wonderfully! It not only looks beautiful, but it functions perfectly.

Murphy Bed! DIY wall bed for under $150

Today I’m going to show you many pictures of the bed (some from when it was first built and some after we updated the room.)

I love it when things are hand-made. It means so much more to me, and this murphy bed isn’t any different, thanks to my family. My husband, dad, and brother seem to find a way to build anything that I request. They even built our screened-in porch several years ago:

My husband built this mudroom bench and this Ikea Homework Station, so I know that they are very capable, which is why I asked them to build me a DIY wall bed (for MUCH less than the $2,000 ones that I was finding online!)

Murphy Bed Plans - built it for under $150

They went to the store, grabbed what they needed, and came back to start working.

By the end of the day… I had a wall bed that could be put up when we were playing or hanging out in there, but it could be put down when my in-laws were going to be visiting.

DIY wall bed yourmodernfamily

I wanted to share it today to let you know that you don’t need any of the expensive wall-bed kits because this DIY wall bed will save you a lot of money & look just amazing! I always get compliments on ours… after I tell people what is behind that wall!

(If you want to skip this post & just buy the plans for $9.99, click here. You can start building ASAP! You’ll be so glad that you did. It’s the perfect solution to creating more space in a home.

How Long Does It Take To Build A Murphy Bed?

This DIY Murphy Bed took them about four hours to build.
That time includes building a murphy bed and adding the shelves that were built.
Before you begin, make sure that you have everything that you need to make the bed easily & quickly.

If you truly want to build it, I suggest buying the plans for $9.99. We have detailed pictures, explaining every single step for you, with pictures.

How to Build a Murphy Bed without a Kit:

First, you need to actually make the wall.

You are making a frame in the wall- it is sort of like you are adding a mini addition to that wall because none of this was there- you need to bump out the wall, so to say. Build a frame on the wall, then move onto the DIY Murphy Bed next.

1. Remove the baseboard & then build-out.

DIY bed frame

2. Make the platform (they built it in the garage & brought it inside).

3. We have 2X4’s laying flat under the plywood board (spaced evenly, from side to side) for support.

4. Door hinges are used in the lower back part of the bed to make it able to fold out. This makes it heavier but was much cheaper.

5. Use these long pins (safety pins used out of threaded rod)
A close up of a basket

6. The ‘fold’ is hidden because it is right under that bottom trim, so you can see it if you are laying on the ground, looking up.

7. The pillows sit in the back (and stay there even when it is folded into the wall) The picture below shows me standing on the bed, looking down at it (behind the bed).

Murphy bed plans

8- Build shelves. I didn’t want the wall bed to stick out too much, so we decided to add shelves. They are perfect for storage or decor.
shelves in murphy bed room - shelves beside wall bed

8. Decorate. When the kids were little, these shelves were filled with toys. As they’ve grown, we’ve swapped them out for decor and a few baskets with books in it. We also have an Ikea closet in the room that is filled with arts, crafts, and board games.

Ps- Remember that although it is a guest room, it is still in your house. Fill it with things that make you smile.
This coral is an example. Our kids found it on the beach when we were in Hilton Head last year (our home away from home), and it was starting to dry up.

My husband let it continue to dry out and brought it back to turn it into a decoration that I could use in the house. He mounted it on a piece of wood that he painted & sanded. So pretty & it brings back great memories…
DIY coral
Don’t forget to add simple touches like pillows, soft blankets, and comfortable sheets when you fold the murphy bed down and get it ready for your guests.

pillows on wall bed

Wall Bed Tip: Mickey built a beautiful headboard & we keep it in place with PVC pipe caps.
Headboard for wall bed
It is removable and stores away behind the bed when you aren’t using it. You can really make this work for your house. It is inexpensive, compared to the kits, and it can be built in a weekend.

Murphy Bed – Ikea Style

If you want to add bookshelves from IKEA, or a few IKEA cabinets on the side of the bed, it would be easy to do, as well. We have an IKEA cabinet that sits to the side of the bed, against the wall. It holds the kids’ art supplies and school supplies.

They can access it when the bed is down, but they use these things in the room when the bed is up and their art is in front of it.

DIY Wall Bed yourmodernfamily

Are you ready to build it?

You can find the Queen Murphy Bed Plans here. In the plans, we supply a list of what you need, how much it costs, hardware supply list, specific images, blueprint drawings & more. Everything you need in detailed plans to build the bed. Just download them HERE and get started. 🙂

A close up of a sign

Although these images are from several years ago, I still wanted to give you a few more pictures so you can understand how versatile the murphy bedroom can be for your home.

I took this picture when we first folded it up – I was so happy to have a real murphy bed, so I could have a guest room, playroom and office all in one!

You can see in this much older picture (below) that we used to use it for a playroom (see the baskets filled with toys?) Here is what it looks like folded up. It’s a hidden bed in the wall!
Murphy bed Ikea look-a-like

Additional Resources:

Here is a (much-requested) video of how the bed works (thanks to my dad for helping out!). This video was taken when we used the room as a play-room most of the time.

Here is a second video with another view.

HERE ARE the Queen Murphy Bed Plans. They include what you need to build the murphy bed, how much it costs, supply list, images, drawings, detailed plans, etc… You can download them HERE for $9.99

A close up of a sign

PS- I think the bedding was purchased at Home Goods (It’s been a while). They only had one set at the time (a lot of people email me about them) 🙂

DIY Murphy Bed

Yield:

Queen Murphy Bed

Prep Time:

10 hours

Active Time:

5 hours

Total Time:

15 hours

Murphy Bed Plans to build your own wall bed!

Materials

A list of Material can be found in the purchased plans here: https://www.yourmodernshop.com/products/diy-wall-bed

Instructions

These plans are our basic plans, explaining how we made the bed. If you would like to purchase our detailed 29-page project plans, you can find them here at yourmodernshop.com

Remove the baseboard & then build-out.
Make the platform (they built it in the garage & brought it inside).
We have 2X4’s laying flat under the plywood board (spaced evenly, from side to side) for support.
Door hinges are used in the lower back part of the bed to make it able to fold out. This makes it heavier but was much cheaper.
Use these long pins (safety pins used out of threaded rod)
The ‘fold’ is hidden because it is right under that bottom trim, so you can see it if you are laying on the ground, looking up.
The pillows sit in the back, behind the bed. When it is folded down, you will have a space to store decorative pillows and throws that are not being used.
Build shelves. I didn’t want the wall bed to stick out too much, so we decided to add shelves. They are perfect for storage or decor.

Notes

The plans found in this post are basic plans to give you an idea of the steps of construction. You can purchase the detailed 26-page project plans here.