The Contemporary Sonoma Wallbed™

The category is space-saving furniture. The focus is the time-honored Murphy bed, known today as a wall bed – a vertically-stored bed in a cabinet that, when opened, provides a comfortable sleep experience equal to that of a conventional bed. It’s a reimagined product that literally transforms a room and opens the space up to multiple uses.

Functional Design

Functional design means we keep it simple, elegant and smart. Why complicate things?
With numerous options available for your wall bed we know we can help you create a great set- up that keeps you and your guests comfortable. Popular options include hinged fold-down night shelves, a drop-down table on the face of the bed, and interior reading and overhead lights.

 
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Quality Materials

Handcrafted by local artisans, all of our wall beds are made with top quality furniture-grade plywood and responsibly harvested solid woods, using the best clear conversion finish, stain or paint. Choose from cherry, white maple, walnut or white oak. Painted beds are made with paint-grade hardwood materials for beauty and durability. Our solid wood joinery is notable as is our double-walled cabinet construction.

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Guaranteed Hardware

Our beds feature gas pistons much like those in the hatchback of a car. They are consumer friendly, whisper quiet and feature a life-time guarantee. Unlike most other competing piston and spring systems ours are adjustable to the weight of the mattress and are easily replaceable if necessary.

A clever notion, but who really came up with this idea?

We are indebted to William Lawrence Murphy (1876–1957), an Irish immigrant originally from New York . He wanted to find a way to create more space in his small apartment. He applied for his first patents around 1900. According to legend, he was wooing an opera singer, but living in a one-room apartment in San Francisco, and the moral code of the time frowned upon a woman entering a man's bedroom. He needed a solution; so he thought: why not figure a way to flip that bed into a closet as a way to hide it? The result? The “flying bed,” as some have called it. Murphy's invention instantly converted his bedroom into a parlor, enabling him to entertain. Earlier foldup beds had existed, and were even available through the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog, but Murphy introduced a pivot and counterbalanced designs for which he received a series of patents, including one for a "Disappearing Bed" on June 18, 1912 and another for a "Design for a Bed" on June 27, 1916. (Thank you, Wikipedia} 

Regarding the adjacent video, Charlie Chaplin knew a good gag when he saw one, and that spring-powered Murphy bed was worth exploiting for laughs. Obviously they took a lot of liberties for effect, and the video is six minutes long, but it definitely is worth watching. Chaplin was a comedic genius. It should be mentioned of course that today’s wall beds are very safe. .