How Much Space Do Murphy Beds Take Up (Facts & Numbers)

Murphy beds were made to make it easier to live within a small space but still keep the amenities – such as a full or queen-sized bed.

However, it can be hard to make any large furniture decision without first knowing how much space that piece will take up.

Especially in a small space!

We’ve outlined a few common sizes for Murphy beds, which should allow you to make a well-informed decision moving forward!

General Rules for How Large a Murphy Bed Will Be:

Most Murphy beds will range between a height of 6 and 7 feet tall, with a depth of fewer than 2 feet. Their length is about 6-8 ft long. Their width, however, varies depending on the type of bed that you get (twin, full, queen, etc.), which ranges from 3 to 6 feet wide the smaller or bigger you go.

Note: These sizes are an average for each type of bed, but there is a wide variety of beds and sizes on all three of these sites.

How Much Clearance Does a Murphy Bed Need?

Clearance, for a Murphy bed, can mean the amount of space that it takes up when placed against a wall (i.e., the depth of the closet), the space between the floor and underside of the mattress, as well as the length of the mattress when it is pulled into a downward position.

In some special cases, you need to know how the closet doors swing out when you pull down your mattress, which may bump into your walls or other objects in the room.

Most murphy beds need at least 1-3 feet depth when placed up against your wall and at least 8-11 inches between the floor and the underside of the mattress. You will also need to keep an open space of about 6-8 feet for the length of your mattress once it is pulled out from the wall.

If you are looking to add a Murphy bed to your home, you need to account for the clearance space.

Online Murphy Bed Stores

These online stores all have free shipping:

How Big is a Murphy Bed?

The size of your Murphy bed largely depends on the type you get, the size you get, and whether it holds any storage.

For example, a Murphy bed built into a couch will have a taller mattress that matches the height of the couch cushion to the floor, while a regular closet murphy bed will have a smaller depth but swing-out cabinet doors to account for.

If you get a twin-sized bed, you will have more space to work with than a queen, and so on.

Therefore, it is important to know not only what size bed you want but also know the size of the space you will be using:

Twin-Sized Beds:

Twin sized Murphy beds are usually just as tall, or slightly shorter, than your average full or queen, ranging from 5-7ft tall.

However, the big size difference with a twin bed is in their width.

The closet or cabinet for a twin will be much smaller in width than the other sizes and usually will fit snugly in a 3-4ft width space when placed up against your wall.

This makes twin Murphy beds great for home offices or small houses with children.

They also require about 8-12 inches of clearance between the floor and underside of the mattress, so make sure that you don’t leave anything under them too tall.

Full-Sized Beds:

Full-sized and queen-sized Murphy beds are quite similar.

However, Full-sized beds will be slightly less wide and not as long to accommodate their “full” status, while queens will be a little bit larger.

Therefore, you can generally expect a full-sized Murphy bed to be about 6-7ft tall with a width of about 5-6ft and a length of 5-7ft when it is in a down position.

Furthermore, full-sized beds will generally have the same depth as both a twin and a queen, as the depth of the closet that the Murphy bed resides in depends on the size of the mattress (which ranges from 8 to 10 to 12 inches in most cases).

Finally, a lot of full-sized Murphy beds are built into storage and sofa sets. These not only add more storage to the build (in the form of either bookshelves or under-seat storage) but can make them quite multi-purposeful.

If that is the case, you will have to account for the dimensions of both the bed when it is pulled down for sleeping and the added extras when it is in an upright position.

Queen-Sized Beds:

Queen-sized Murphy beds are the most common, large style of bed.

While king-sized Murphy beds do exist, they are harder to find and much more expensive.

Queen-sized beds range from about 7ft tall, 6ft wide, and 7-8ft long.

Consider that a queen bed’s depth is generally the same as both full and twin beds when propped up against the wall unless you find one with a much smaller or larger mattress size.

How Wide is a Murphy Bed?

Murphy beds come in the same sizes as regular beds, but with full and queen being the more common design and size for Murphy bed manufacturers to make.

This means that the width will vary depending on what you buy.

As we’ve mentioned before, a queen-sized bed will be the widest at roughly 6ft wide. Then the full-sized bed will be between 5-6ft wide, and a twin is generally 3-4ft wide.

If you are looking for something bigger, you may end up with a king-sized bed that can be nearly 7ft wide, but those are harder to find on the market today for less than a few thousand dollars.

How Long is a Murphy Bed?

Murphy bed lengths, like width, are often depending on the size of the bed that you get.

Most beds are built to accommodate an average person, making them roughly 6ft in length to accommodate most taller people.

Even a twin bed is generally going to reach about 6ft in length.

However, full-sized beds will go to about 7ft, and queen-sized beds will even reach about 7.5 to 8ft long.

How Deep is a Murphy Bed Cabinet?

It is essential to base the design of your space around the size and depth of a Murphy bed before you add it in.

For example, most Murphy beds have a length of about 5-7ft long, but users still have to account for the cabinet’s depth that the Murphy bed comes in.

When a Murphy bed is in the upright position, the cabinet or closet that your Murphy bed comes in will usually be about 1-3 feet deep. This means that you will have to organize your room around roughly 2 feet of a protruding wooden cabinet.

These can look a little strange in a room alone, but with the right interior design, your Murphy bed can blend in easily next to bookshelves, chairs, or even your home office setup.

How High Off the Ground is a Murphy Bed?

The clearance between the floor and the bottom of your mattress will determine what you can keep underneath it when you pull it down.

While some users will buy a Murphy bed built into a sofa set, others will leave short coffee tables or small storage cubes beneath the bed, even when it is folded down, depending on their size.

The average height off the ground for a Murphy bed will be about 8-12 inches, depending on which manufacturer you buy from.

This means that at worst, you will only have an 8-inch storage space beneath your bed, and at most, you may have about 12.

For sofa sets, Murphy beds will have as much as 17 inches from the bottom of the mattress to the ground, as this is to accommodate for the height of the top of the couch cushion to the floor.

Can a Murphy Bed Fit in a Closet?

Murphy beds generally are sold as a closet set with storage, cabinet doors, and locking mechanisms.

However, if you already have a closet that is about 6-7ft tall, you may consider building your own Murphy bed set.

While we don’t recommend that you build it yourself, you could fit a mattress upright in a closet as long as it is about 6-7ft tall and 1-3ft deep, depending on the size of your mattress.

Furthermore, if you buy a Murphy bed, consider picking one out with a closet or cabinet that best fits your overall room and decor, rather than building one yourself and making it work out of existing materials.

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