Wall Bed Styles That Fit Any Home Aesthetic

If you live in a smaller home or apartment in Orange County, you know the struggle of wanting to maximize your square footage. You want a space that is practical and cozy but not cramped, and that’s hard to achieve with single-purpose furniture.

Enter Murphy beds, also called wall beds. These ingenious pieces of furniture have evolved far beyond the clunky, spring-loaded closets of the past. Now, they can complement any interior design scheme and offer a purpose beyond sleeping arrangements.

This means you no longer have to choose between a functional guest room and a stylish home office or media room. Interested to learn how? Read on to explore the various wall bed styles and how they fit any home aesthetic.

Standard Wall Beds

A standard wall bed is simply a bed that folds up into a wall-anchored cabinet that conceals it when it’s not in use. The most basic Murphy bed has one purpose: being a foldable sleeping surface. More detailed designs, however, come with built-in storage and additional features, such as fold-out desks and tables.

In all designs, the cabinetry acts as a disguise; when closed, the bed resembles a large armoire or a built-in entertainment center. Additionally, customization options allow you to select specific hardware, crown molding, and finish colors to match your existing baseboards and trim. With the number of options available on the market (and especially at Wallbeds “n” More), you’re sure to find a standard wall bed that looks great in your space.

Best Use Case

This style works best in dedicated guest rooms that double as other spaces, such as yoga studios, sewing rooms, or second living areas. In particular, ADUs or granny flats can use standard wall beds to create a multipurpose main room. Because these beds offer the widest range of aesthetic customizations, you can install them in a formal living room without disrupting the sophisticated atmosphere. Essentially, if you have a blank wall and a desire to reclaim floor space, the standard wall bed is the most versatile choice.

Desk Beds

Desk beds adopt dual-purpose utility by combining a spacious work surface with a comfortable sleeping area. The engineering behind these units is particularly impressive because the desk surface remains parallel to the floor at all times. Consequently, you do not need to clear off your monitors, laptops, paperwork, or coffee mugs before lowering the bed. The mechanism creates a cantilevered effect, hovering the desk just below the mattress when the bed is in use.

Best Use Case

Remote work has become a permanent fixture for many professionals, and if that’s your situation, then a home office is more of a necessity than a luxury. However, dedicating a whole room in your home to be an exclusive office space can feel limiting.

A wall bed with desk allows you to have a professional workspace during business hours and instantly convert the room into a bedroom at night or when guests come over. In addition to creating multipurpose offices, these beds can be space-savers in children’s bedrooms or student dorms. Your child can have a dedicated area for homework and creative projects without sacrificing the room needed for play or relaxation.

Sofa Beds

Do not confuse this category with the uncomfortable pull-out couches of the 90s that featured thin mattresses and painful metal bars. The modern Murphy sofa bed places a fully operational wall bed system directly behind a comfortable, standalone sofa. When you pull the bed down, the back cushions of the sofa typically tuck away or sit beneath the mattress, while the bed legs extend to straddle the sofa seat. This configuration allows you to use a high-quality, thick mattress—often memory foam or hybrid coil—providing a sleep experience identical to a standard bed. Plus, the wall unit behind the sofa frequently includes shelving or cabinetry for storage.

Best Use Case

Studio apartments and open-concept lofts benefit immensely from this configuration. In these environments, the living room is the bedroom. A Murphy sofa bed defines the living area during the day, providing a comfortable place to sit, watch TV, or entertain friends. At night, the transformation turns the entertainment space into a cozy bedroom without requiring you to move furniture around. Moreover, this style is ideal for vacation rentals because it allows you to maximize sleeping capacity.

Cabinet Beds

Cabinet beds, sometimes called chest beds, offer a freestanding alternative to the traditional wall-mounted systems. These units do not require wall installation, making them a movable piece of furniture similar to a credenza or sideboard. The design involves a telescoping drawer mechanism or a tri-fold mattress system stored inside a waist-high cabinet. When you are ready to sleep, you simply move items off the top, open the front panel, and extend the mattress. Because they are freestanding, they possess a smaller vertical footprint and avoid the need to locate studs or drill into drywall.

Best Use Case

Renters who cannot permanently alter their walls find cabinet beds to be the best solution. Additionally, homes with challenging architectural features, such as cathedral ceilings, angled walls, or windows that prevent tall furniture placement, accommodate these lower-profile units perfectly. An entryway or a wide hallway can even house a cabinet bed, turning dead space into an emergency sleeping area. Moreover, if you think you might move in the near future, the portability of a cabinet bed makes it a sound investment.

Transform Your Home Today

To maximize your living space, you don’t need to perform expensive renovations. Instead, you just need smart design choices that involve multipurpose furniture, such as the humble Murphy bed and its many forms.

Now that you have learned about the wall bed styles that fit any home aesthetic, it’s time to start shopping. At Wallbeds “n” More of Orange County, we carry all of the styles mentioned in this blog. Additionally, we know that looking at designs online doesn’t compare to the value of seeing them in person. That’s why we have a showroom where you can examine our products from all angles and test their mechanisms yourself. Visits are by appointment only, so schedule your visit today and feel the quality of our craftsmanship firsthand.