Kyle just brought to market a new piece of furniture that doubles as a sofa and bed and thought people with small spaces might enjoy seeing what the slide away bed has to offer. Kyle calls it The Ultimate Murphy bed/Wall bed Alternative.
Though not considered cheap this bed offers more than just sleeping. An idea worth checking out in my humble opinion. I’ll let Kyle tell you more about it.
The Slide Away Bed utilizes every square inch of available space. During the day it’s a comfortable sofa and during the evening it converts to a lounger and bed. Traditional MurphyBeds or WallBeds fold up to the wall and attempt to hide the mattress which can waste valuable floor space. Our unique patent pending system allows you to place the Slide Away Bed where fold down beds dare to go. It’s a great home office bed or perfect for small apartments, condos, dens, dorms and vacation retreats. To learn more check out the Slide Away Bed website.
by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)
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I am surprised that more people are not planning on putting wall beds or murphy beds in their tiny houses. Having built one for someone else, I know they can take up a lot less space during the day, and are easy to fold down at night. I expect if tiny houses really catch on, so will these type of beds.
This is similar to a design I’m working on for a future tiny house, though mine has a full height clothes closet at one end, bookshelves at the other, closed cabinets across the top and opening windows in the wall behind it. Mine will be long enough for one to sleep on in sofa mode with double pullout option. The space underneath will contain a cedar lined space for bedding. This slide away bed makes a great inspirational photo to add to the collection and show doubters.
I’m always skeptical of fold away bedding because hide-a-beds and futons don’t stand the test of time. It’s a lovely configuration but is it comfortable to sleep on? It might be helpful if you included more information about the mattress itself.
That’s been my experience as well. It’s a good setup in say, a guest room or something similar. But for daily use? They’re uncomfortable, it’s a pain to change them from one setup to another on an ongoing basis, and they’re prone to breaking.
Thanks for the feedback. Without getting into alot of detail, this mattress has the same features as mattresses used on luxury yachts and jets. Although its not a coil spring mattress it provides a very comfortable sleeping surface. The telescoping aluminum and polymer slide frame is built to last a lifetime (although my merchant account company will not allow me to offer it.) Start looking on You Tube in the coming weeks to see it in action!
I’m too sleepy at night to open it up and make the bed.
Some years back I spent time sleeping in an RV with a dining table that folded down into a bed. It had a similar mattress configuration and the biggest problem I had with it was the joint between the pieces of foam, especially the one that fell mid to upper back. The pieces would push apart and I ended up with lots of back pain and grumpiness. I solved the problem by getting a new slab of foam and having it cut on a 45 degree angle instead of 90. That meant you had to spin it around for reconfiguring but it created a much firmer and more stable joint with no gap to fall into. Look at the letter zed (Canadian, eh) and picture the diagonal as the joint. Z It really did wonders for my sleep and for my back and the minimal extra effort at bedtime was more than worth it. The third piece of foam was under the legs and really didn’t matter being cut at 90 degrees.
Oh by the way, the video links at the site don’t work. I’m always skeptical about fold outs and pull outs being sturdy and firm. I like solid support as I have a history of back pain. I’d like to be convinced that this design would offer sufficient support.
Cheers,
Lindsay
Real tilt-up murphy beds can be COMFORTABLE. I speak from almost a year of experience. Several years ago, I lived in an old studio apartment built in 1928, in San Francisco. It had a traditional murphy bed that may have had the original frame and movement mechanism. The mattress was newer of course, and had innersprings. The bed frame included sturdy steel springs. It was a full-size, which is a little smaller than queen size. To put it away, I merely had to stand facing the foot of the bed, and lightly pull it upward so it tilted into a wide closet. It had some type of mechanism that made it easy to lift; I did not feel as if I was lifting a sturdy steel frame by myself.
Since the mattress did not fold, it was comfy.
I love this. It is gorgeous to look at. Great idea. If it’s comfortable and if it is easy to operate I think it would be a perfect solution to the small space living.
Having lived in Japan and slept on futons on the ground, I can say that with a little practice you can quickly get used to them. Not having a bed would save a lot of space. If you use a trifold foam matress, you can even fold it up and put it away when you are done with sleeping.
I’m really interested in these slide-away bed ideas, but I can’t get on the site you mentioned above.