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Convertible Desk-Bed

Video: Convertible Desk-Bed

The cornerstone in spaces built for one, this serves as four major pieces of furniture: A desk, bed, chaise longue, and dining table. (Also four minor pieces: The interior shelf serves as a bedside table, the integrated light serves as a bedside lamp, the sides serve as coat racks, and the top serves as a storage shelf or cat retreat.)

This effectively turns one room into multiple rooms. When in desk mode, you’re in an office—a more professional environment with limited distractions that helps you focus on the task at hand. Then, when it’s time to relax or go to sleep, you’re in a dedicated bedroom. All your work can be hidden away, so it’s not causing you stress when you’re trying to unwind.

With only one moving part, switching between modes takes less than five seconds. You don’t have to make your bed to change to desk mode, and you don’t even have to clear off the desk to change back to bed mode—you can leave a laptop or a full-size monitor on the desk and it will be right where you left it when you need it again.

Please watch the video to see this remarkable piece of furniture in use and to learn about more advantages of its design.

Get the best of both worlds.

Like in an Arthurian legend, with normal beds you must choose between sacrificing your happiness during the day or the night. Either you must constantly work around a big bed during the day, or else you don’t have enough room at night—or both, since even small beds take up an enormous portion of the room.

This convertible piece of furniture allows you to have the best of both worlds—you can have a spacious queen-size bed when you need it, and the rest of your room back when you don’t. If you want to use the room for another activity, like working out or yoga, you’ll always have this space available, but even if you don’t, you’ll spend most of your time in a more open, less cramped space.

This is quality custom furniture.

Photo: Desk mode, in staged room

It is worth emphasizing that these are not the kind of cheap Murphy beds that proliferated in the 1970s, with their rickety structure and infamously uncomfortable mattresses.

This beautiful furniture is custom-built in the USA with all hardwood construction—no particle board. They feature premium quality, comfortable mattresses that are designed to be stored on their side while retaining perfect structure and density. Plus, a new mattress cover is installed for each tenant.

Furthermore, each piece has been extensively customized to provide additional features:

• The desk surface and top shelf have been covered in a waterproof, scratch-resistant coating to prevent damage.
• Decorative rope pulls have been hand-crafted to make opening the bed easier for smaller people.
• Industrial shock absorbers have been added to dampen impact, making closing the bed easier and quieter.
• Outlets have been added to the wall behind the desk-bed at four different heights for specific purposes.
• Light switches have been added to the same wall to allow control of overhead lights from the bed.
• A lightrail and LED fixture have been added to provide indirect, dimmable lighting.
• Mattress straps have been moved to outer corners for comfort.
• Hooks have been added to side walls to provide additional storage.

The bed is comfortable by design.

Even if you have used a modern convertible bed before, chances are you haven’t ever used one like this, because very few are made this way. While most convertible beds fold up vertically, these fold horizontally, which brings numerous advantages.

First, the bed is much easier to open and close, as the handle is lower, plus the weight inside travels a shorter distance and is distributed more lengthwise rather than concentrated at the end of a long lever.

Photo: Bed mode, in staged room

Furthermore, rotating along the shorter dimension allows the bed to be fully cantilevered, which removes the need for auxiliary support legs on the outer corners. These legs are a major weakness of almost every other convertible bed design—they’re spindly and don’t provide the stability of a broadly supported cantilevered platform. The legs are also a trip hazard and can damage floors, and worst of all, if the legs are not in the right position, the bed can break when weight is put on it.

With this fully cantilevered design, there’s only one moving part. Pull it down to open; lift it up to close; no legs to worry about. The area underneath is totally clear—no tripping, no stubbed toes, no damage to feet or the floor—and it’s more stable than any regular bed.

As the bed is positioned with the shorter dimension coming away from a wall, simply adding a support pillow allows it to function as a chaise lounge for reading or relaxing while watching television. (We highly recommend the Kind Bed Support Pillow System by Avana, which is perfect for this.)

The desk is incredible.

Photo: Desk mode, detailed view

When closed, this furniture transforms into not just a desk, but a remarkably good desk—in fact, quite possibly the best desk you’ve ever used.

The horizontal design compounds the usefulness of the longest dimension by creating a massive desk area—which is 2-3 times the size of desks typically used in small rooms. There are no legs to bang your knees or chair into—all legroom is clear under the entire desk, which is especially nice in a small space. Yet even with no legs, the desk is rock solid because it is part of the larger structure, which is in turn bolted to the wall studs. Plus, the top of the frame can be used for storage that is easily within reach when working at the desk.

Finally, the most enjoyable feature of the desk: You don’t have to clear it off to access the bed. Simply leave everything on it and pull the bed open—the desktop will rotate under the bed with plenty of room for objects you’d normally have on a desk, even a full-size monitor.