Murphy Bed Buyer’s Guide: Sizes, Styles, and Costs in the Greater Seattle Area
A Murphy bed, sometimes called a wall bed, is one of the smartest ways to turn a single room into two. Most people decide they want one fairly quickly. Figuring out which one fits your room and your budget takes more thought. Price is the question we hear most, and it depends on far more than the size of the mattress. The configuration you choose, the cabinetry and finish around it, whether you add a desk or extra storage, and the quality of the mechanism inside all affect the final number. This guide walks through the sizes and styles, helps you match a bed to your room, and gives you realistic pricing for the greater Seattle area so you can plan before you buy. Northwest Closets & Wallbeds designs and installs custom Murphy beds and wall beds for homes across Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Olympia, and the wider Puget Sound, with a showroom in Auburn. The numbers below reflect how custom wall beds are really built and priced in our area. For a figure tied to your own room and finish choices, the most reliable number comes from a design consultation, which we provide at no cost either in your home or at the showroom. You can browse options on our Murphy beds page or request a free quote whenever you are ready.
Murphy Bed Sizes Explained
Northwest Closets builds wall beds in twin, full (also called double), and queen sizes. Twin and full work well in narrower rooms and for single sleepers, while queen is the popular all-around choice. The right size comes down to who will sleep on the bed and how often, weighed against the wall width and floor clearance the open bed needs. Queen wins out for most people because it sleeps two adults comfortably and still folds flat into a cabinet just 16 inches deep, which can be built out to 24 inches when you want extra storage.
That shallow closed depth is what lets a wall bed disappear into a room. The open footprint is what tends to catch people off guard. When a vertical queen folds down, it reaches about 89 inches out from the wall, a half inch past the cabinet’s standing height, so you want to plan for that clearance before anything gets built. Getting it right is the difference between a room that feels open and one that feels cramped, and it is a big reason the design consultation matters. You can find the exact dimensions for every size on our Murphy bed sizing page.
| Size | Mattress Dimensions | Floor Space When Open (approx.) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Twin | 38? x 75? | ~84? out from the wall | Kids’ rooms and narrow spaces |
| Full / Double | 54? x 75? | ~84? out from the wall | Guest rooms with limited width, single sleepers |
| Queen | 60? x 80? | ~89? out from the wall | The popular choice for guest rooms and couples |
Vertical vs. Horizontal (Side-Tilt) Murphy Beds
Wall beds open in one of two directions. A vertical Murphy bed folds down from the head, which is the standard setup. It saves wall width and works in most rooms with normal ceiling height. A horizontal, or side-tilt, Murphy bed folds down from the long side instead. It sits lower to the ground, which makes it a good fit for rooms with low or sloped ceilings, or for tucking a bed under a window. We build side-tilt beds in twin, full, and queen, so you do not have to drop down a size to get the lower profile. The trade-off is wall width, since a side-tilt bed lies along the wall rather than standing tall.
Popular Murphy Bed Configurations
The size sets the footprint. The configuration is what makes a room do double duty. These are the setups customers ask about most often. Standalone Murphy bed This is a wall bed cabinet on its own, with the option to add surround cabinets and built-in lighting later. It is the most flexible starting point and the easiest to fit into a room you already have. Murphy bed with a desk This is what we build most often, somewhere around 60 percent of our projects. The favorite version is a unit where the bed and a desk rotate together, so the desk swings out of the way as the bed comes down and you never have to clear off your work surface first. We also build beds with a desk that folds down off the front. Either way you end up with a real home office that turns into a guest room whenever you need it, which is one of the most searched Murphy bed styles in our area. Bookcases, cabinets, and nightstands Surround bookcases, side cabinets, folding nightstands, and built-in lighting turn a wall bed into a finished feature wall. This is where a custom build really pulls ahead of an off-the-shelf kit, since every piece is sized and finished to match your room.
Which Murphy Bed Is Right for Your Room?
A home office that doubles as a guest room A queen Murphy bed with a desk combo is the usual answer here, and it is the setup we build most. You keep a full workspace every day and gain a proper guest bed without losing the room. Side cabinets give you somewhere to keep files and supplies. A studio, condo, or ADU Floor space is everything in a smaller home. A full or queen standalone frees up the room during the day and folds away at night. That is a big part of why wall beds are so popular in Seattle and Bellevue condos. A dedicated guest room A queen standalone with surround cabinets gives guests a comfortable place to sleep and hands the room back to you the rest of the year for storage or a hobby space. A kids’ room or flexible multi-use space A twin, often in a horizontal side-tilt configuration, opens up floor space for play and study and keeps working as kids grow.
How Much Does a Custom Murphy Bed Cost in the Seattle Area?
A custom, installed Murphy bed is priced around its size, the mechanism, how much cabinetry it includes, the finish you pick, and whether you add a desk or extra storage. A simple standalone unit sits at the lower end, and built-in surrounds or office combos move up from there. The ranges below are planning figures for the Puget Sound market, meant to help you budget rather than serve as a firm quote.
| Configuration | Typical Installed Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Twin / Full standalone wall bed | $2,000 to $3,500 | Entry size, basic cabinet and finish |
| Queen standalone wall bed | $2,600 to $4,500 | Most popular size, mechanism and cabinet |
| With surround cabinets or bookcases | $3,950 to $10,000+ | Added storage and lighting, based on complexity |
| Murphy bed with wrap-around desk | $6,000 to $12,000+ | Most involved build, premium finishes push higher |
Custom Wall Bed vs. Online or Big-Box Murphy Bed
An online or flat-pack Murphy bed can look cheaper on the order page, though the two are rarely a fair comparison. A custom wall bed is sized to your room, finished to suit your space, and built around a quality lifting mechanism rated for daily use. We use both spring-assisted and piston systems from established United States manufacturers, with spring systems by Murphy Wallbeds System and pistons by Richelieu. Every bed gets professionally installed and anchored to the wall, which matters a great deal with a piece of furniture this heavy. We also back the cabinetry with a limited lifetime workmanship warranty for as long as you own your home, and the mechanism carries a 25 year warranty. A flat-pack kit usually means you handle assembly and installation yourself, you choose from a smaller set of sizes and finishes, and the hardware quality can vary quite a bit from one brand to the next.
Installation and What to Expect
The process starts with a free design consultation, either in your home or at the Auburn showroom, where we measure the space and talk through which size and configuration make sense for how you will use the room. From there we build your wall bed and schedule the installation, securing the unit to the wall so it runs smoothly for years. Most installations are finished in a single visit.
Why Buy from a Local Showroom
A Murphy bed is worth seeing and operating in person before you buy. In our Auburn showroom you can raise and lower different models, feel how smoothly a good mechanism moves, hold finishes up against your own materials, and get a sense of how a configuration will look in your space. You also get a local team that designs, builds, installs, and stands behind the bed afterward. Northwest Closets & Wallbeds holds a 4.9-star rating from more than 123 reviews and serves homeowners across Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Olympia, and the surrounding Puget Sound.
Very glad I decided to hire them to build a custom murphy bed / cabinet system! The materials are fantastic and it turned out so well. Very good craftsmanship for a great price.Ashley Frick, Auburn WA, Google Review
Get a Free Murphy Bed Design Consultation
The ranges in this guide are a good starting point for budgeting, but the only way to know what your Murphy bed will cost is to look at your actual room, finishes, and configuration together. Northwest Closets & Wallbeds offers free design consultations across the greater Seattle and Puget Sound area with no obligation. Request your free quote and we will help you settle on a size and style, measure the space, and put a clear written price in front of you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a custom Murphy bed cost?
Most custom, installed Murphy beds in the Seattle area start around $2,000 for a twin or full standalone wall bed, and a queen standalone runs about $2,600 to $4,500. Adding surround cabinets or bookcases brings it to roughly $3,950 to $10,000 or more, and a Murphy bed with a wrap-around desk runs from about $6,000 to $12,000 or more depending on the finish and how involved the build is.
What sizes do Murphy beds come in?
We build twin, full (sometimes called double), and queen wall beds. Twin and full work well in narrower rooms and for single sleepers, and queen is the popular choice for most people since it sleeps two adults and still folds into a shallow cabinet.
Can a Murphy bed include a desk?
Yes, and it is what we build most. Many of our office combos rotate the bed and desk together so the desk swings aside as the bed comes down, and we also build desks that fold down off the front of the bed. Either way a single room works as an office during the day and a guest room at night.
Are Murphy beds comfortable, and do they need a special mattress?
Modern Murphy beds use a standard-size mattress and sleep just like a regular bed. You will want a mattress within the recommended thickness range so the bed folds and latches properly, and our Murphy bed mattress guide covers how to choose one.
How much wall and floor space do I need?
A closed vertical wall bed cabinet is about 16 inches deep, and it can be built out to 24 inches for extra storage. An open queen reaches roughly 89 inches out from the wall. If your ceilings are on the low side, a horizontal side-tilt model is often the better fit.
Do you install Murphy beds, and how long does it take?
Yes. We design, build, and install every wall bed ourselves and anchor it securely to the wall. Most installations are finished in one visit.
Published • Garrett Woodruff