The Most Amazing Space Saving Beds
Hideaway or Murphy beds used to be decor’s dirty little secret. The whole concept is to create space where none exists and to hide the fact that, yes, someone sleeps in this tiny room. The hideaway bed basically says “I know this room looks too small to sleep in and you’re right. See, there’s no bed in here!”
The history of the bed is related to that very idea. The story goes way back to a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco in the early 1900’s, when William Lawrence Murphy was courting an opera singer. At the time women were frowned upon for entering a man’s bedroom. Murphy figured out a way to vertically store his bed and make it look like a wall. The room now looked like a “parlor” and his dating life was back in session. Patents were eventually rewarded and the rest is history.
Hideaway beds are no longer a thing to…hide! With the sky-rocketing costs of housing and unemployment through the roof, it’s no wonder we are struggling to find a way to live comfortably in shrinking spaces. We are seeing college grads back at home with mom and dad and with a mass shortage of affordable living space in cities everywhere, the Murphy bed is swiftly becoming a badge of urban hipness.
Apartment Therapy reported on some clever, stylish and space saving bed storage solutions that had us thinking, maybe this is the way to go, even if you don’t have space constraints!
Dwell shared the fabulous 580 square foot home of Mad Men’s Vincent Kartheiser, designed by master builder/designer Funn Roberts,where the hideaway bed takes center stage, or make that center ceiling. This very modern spin on the Murphy employs an elaborate yet sleek and sophisticated steel wire pulley system that allows the bed to suspend from the ceiling when not in use. The overall effect of the space is an exciting balance of Japanese inspired minimalism with touches of industrialism.
Photos by: Joe Pugliese
No doubt kids want in on the hideaway bed because they are simply put, ridiculously cool and fun. Parents love the trend too. What is more fun for parents than getting stuff off their kids floor and stored away where they can’t see it? Yah, we thought you would say that.
