My husband and I shared a 250-square-foot studio apartment in NYC for a decade. If you’re wondering how we maintained marital bliss without a door to slam (besides the bathroom), or a nook to retreat to when we were on each other’s last nerve, the answer was our Murphy bed. That big ol’ cabinet doubled our space, turning our one room into something that felt positively palatial (by Greenwich Village standards, anyway). We sourced it from a specialty store, and it cost us our monthly salaries combined. Still, it was worth the investment. Was that bleached-blond wood an eyesore? Sure. Did it make our tiny but mighty home more livable? Absolutely.
Today, Murphy beds aren’t just easier to acquire, and more affordable. They’re also considerably more attractive. And while designers probably wouldn’t have approved of the one I owned, they’re a favorite hack of the pros. “You get so much more mileage out of your space,” says New York-based interior decorator Alexandra Forman.
Now, instead of a utilitarian cream closet, you can find everything from midcentury modern-frames to farmhouse chic-options and even burl wood (which Forman says is especially trendy right now) with a Wayfair click or trip to Costco (chic, no?).
This under-$400 Amazon find would have been a total game-changer for us, aesthetically and fiscally speaking.
A pandemic and two apartments later, our Murphy bed didn’t make the journey with us into our next chapter (we found her a good home on Craigslist), but I would fully recommend them to anyone hoping to make an area multifunctional, especially if you’re also married to someone who likes to treat your apartment like a youth hostel.
P.S. They don’t come with mattresses, but we do have plenty of recs if you’re in the market.
