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If you have a spare bedroom that mostly sits empty, you've probably wondered whether you're really getting your money's worth out of it. A dedicated guest room sounds generous in theory, but in practice, many homeowners use that space only a handful of times each year, which means it's spending a lot of time as very expensive storage. A Murphy bed offers a different way to think about the whole problem.
A Murphy bed (sometimes called a wall bed or fold-down bed) is a full-size bed that mounts to the wall and folds up into a cabinet when you're not using it. When guests arrive, you pull it down in seconds, and the room becomes a proper bedroom. When they leave, it folds back up, and you get your floor space back.
Modern Murphy beds use counterbalance systems, springs, or piston mechanisms that make raising and lowering the bed much easier than older designs. They look nothing like the rickety contraptions people picture from old cartoons. They also come with built-in cabinetry, integrated lighting, and finishes that match the rest of your home. These beds look attractive and can make your room more usable.
Think about how your spare room actually gets used right now. If you're like many homeowners, guests may only stay a handful of nights each year. The rest of the time, the room either sits unused or gradually becomes a catchall for things that don't have another home.
Dedicating an entire room to occasional guest visits can feel like an inefficient use of valuable square footage. In a city like Chicago, where space is genuinely expensive, or in a smaller Twin Cities home where every room needs to pull its weight, a room that only functions as a guest room starts to look like a real trade-off. You're giving up an office, a hobby room, a comfortable den, or a workout space so that out-of-town visitors have somewhere to sleep a few times a year.
One reason many homeowners choose custom Murphy beds is that they allow a room to serve multiple purposes without giving up comfortable guest accommodations. Here's what that typically looks like:
1. A home office that also sleeps guests. This is probably the most common setup. The room functions as a real, dedicated office with a desk, shelving, and everything where it belongs, and when family comes to visit, the Murphy bed folds down, and the office becomes a bedroom. No inflatable mattress. No sofa to sleep on. A proper bed in a proper room.
2. A hobby or craft room. If you've been cramming your sewing, art supplies, or collection into a corner of the living room, an open room with a fold-up bed gives you space to spread out, create, and actually leave projects in progress without taking over the whole house.
3. A flexible media den or reading room. Some homeowners want a quieter retreat that isn't the main living area. A Murphy bed lets you have comfortable furniture, a reading nook, or a small TV setup without permanently sacrificing guest sleeping.
It would be easy to make this sound like a no-brainer, but that's not quite honest. There are real situations where a permanent guest room is the right call.
If you have family who visits frequently (every few weeks, or for extended stays), you're going to get tired of converting the space back and forth. A dedicated room that's always ready is more convenient when guests are a regular part of your life.
Multi-generational households, or families where elderly parents or adult children come and go regularly, also benefit from a real guest room with everything set up and waiting. The same goes if the room is used for long-term stays, such as a family member recovering from surgery or a college student home for the summer.
The honest question is this: how often do guests actually stay? If the answer is "once or twice a year," a Murphy bed starts to look a lot more attractive.
There's a meaningful difference between a freestanding Murphy bed you assemble yourself and one that's custom-built as part of your wall. With a custom installation, the bed integrates directly into the cabinetry around it, so the finished product looks like it was always part of the room, not like a piece of furniture that was added later.
That opens up a lot of options: a fold-out desk on the front panel that tucks away when the bed comes down, shelving and closed storage on either side, drawer space for extra bedding or office supplies, and finishes that coordinate with your closets and trim. The design can also account for how the rest of the room is being used. If there's a closet wall nearby, the storage can extend across the whole room and tie everything together.
The short version: if your spare room is sitting empty most of the year and you could use it for something else, a Murphy bed is often worth exploring. It gives guests a comfortable place to sleep without asking you to sacrifice the room year-round.
The longer version depends on your specific room, how your household actually lives, and what you'd want to do with that space if sleeping weren't a constraint. That's exactly what a design consultation is for: talking through the options in the context of your real home, not a hypothetical one.
Looking for a Murphy bed installation in the Chicago or Twin Cities area? Perfection Custom Closets has been helping homeowners make the most of their space for over 30 years.
If these ideas sparked your imagination, let's make them real. Book your free design consultation with Perfection Custom Closets today and discover how thoughtful design can turn any storage area into a beautifully organized part of your home.
