How to build a Murphy Bed for your DIY custom van

The design of your bed may quite possibly be the single most important element of your build. A good night’s sleep will ensure you’re ready to meet any challenges you’ll come across - and you will have challenges! Getting the bed design right on the first go-around will keep you from having to do any major redesigns once you’re on the road.

When we were researching van builds, an obvious trend emerged. There are those that either A) build a raised rear platform with a garage underneath or B) place rear benches along either wall that transform from a seating area with a table to a bed. We see advantages and disadvantages in both schemes, but we’ll share why we didn’t select either for our build.

The Rear Platform: First and foremost - real estate is precious in your van. We couldn’t see having a huge part of our van being occupied by something that we only use for 1/3 of the day. The orientation of the bed also limits the size of the bed you can use unless you have pop-outs or orient the bed with your feet towards the front. John is 6’3”, so this was a deal-breaker. What we did find attractive about this scheme is the large garage, the fact that the bed is made and ready to sleep in all the time, and the cheesy open back door Instagram shots.

The Table to Bed: In our opinion, this scheme has two major flaws. The first is the lack of a “garage” for bikes and other outdoor gear. We really didn’t want to store our bikes outside the van, so using this scheme makes it nearly impossible to find a smart solution to store them inside. The other issue is that you HAVE TO MAKE AND UNMAKE THE BED EVERY DAY. What a pain! No thank you. What we did find attractive about this scheme is the ability to seat 4 or 6 people for a meal, the general roominess of the interior, and the cheesy open back door Instagram shots.

This is shot from outside the side sliding door on the passenger side.

Why the Murphy Bed: For us, a bed that folded away during the day solved a lot of the issues that we had with layouts we had been researching. For starters, the bed isn’t open and in the common space all day. The bed is only out when we want to lay down in bed. What a space saver! The murphy bed also allows us to keep the bed made all the time. We can change our “livingroom” into our “bedroom” quickly. Just lower the table, unlock the bed, and unfold the mattress - BOOM - sleep time! The best part of our queen size murphy bed is it saved enough space for us to have a bathroom, spacious living room, kitchen, and garage! See our floor plan here!

How we built it: We used Rhino3D modeling software for our build. We found this really useful for working quickly through a number of iterations before working with any actual materials. This saved a lot of time and material while figuring out the nitty-gritty. Once all the dimensions were figured out, we were able to take the parts directly from the model and cut them on a CNC machine. (John teaches ONLINE Rhino modeling classes)

The good news is that you don’t need fancy modeling software to make our Murphy bed. It’s really a simple contraption. Since there are two of us and John is pretty tall, we wanted to fit a queen size bed in our build. The trick to getting a queen to fit was having 3 panels for the platform as opposed to it folding in half. With 3 panels, we could fold a really big platform into a pretty small place.

As you can see from the image above, we were able to fit a queen-size bed in a 38” x 14” cavity. Pretty sweet! The middle panel of the platform serves as the backrest of our bench seating, so we angled it about 7 degrees by making the top panel slightly smaller than the base panel. This is easier to understand in the image below. When we designed the murphy bed, we envisioned that the mattress would fold into a C shape as described above, but we’ve found that it’s faster and easier just to fold the mattress in half (taco) with the pillows and comforter inside (taco fillings).

We used 3/4” plywood for our bed platform. The 3/4” plywood has a grid milled (cut) into it to circulate air beneath the mattress to prevent mold - which can be a problem. The panels measure 80” tall but vary in width by location. The base panel is 14” wide, the main panel is 36” wide, and the top panel is 10” wide. They are each connected to their neighbor with a 6’ stainless steel piano hinge. These are strong, low-profile, and rust-resistant. Our bed, when opened, is supported by the bench seats and our table, which is on a Springfield Gas Powered Table Pedestal. We find the bed to be very stable and supports both our weight without any issues.

We are using a 5” Linenspa Gel Mattress on our bed. We like a firm mattress, and this mattress has been perfect for us. When visiting friends and family, we prefer to sleep on our bed, because it’s so comfortable. It has a breathable spill/mold proof mattress cover that you can purchase for around $30.00. We highly recommend our LUCID Encasement Mattress Protector, which is made for Linenspa mattresses. Lastly, the fitted sheet stays on the mattress by using Bed Bands at each corner. This makes getting ready for bed a breeze, as all we have to do is place our pillows at the top of the bed and fluff the comforter over the top. Easy peasy!

WATCH A VIDEO ON HOW WE PUT THE BED UP AND DOWN

We really love our layout because of all of the extra space we have during the day. Having a queen size bed is such a luxury in a van build and we don’t even know it’s there when using the van during the day. We have tons of storage areas and a garage, which is really a challenge in a small space. The murphy bed is something that we would definitely do in a future build. If you have any questions - leave them in the comments section and we’ll happily reply!

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