Murphy Bed Office Ideas: How to Create a Home Office and Guest Room
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If you’re like us, your home doesn’t have the luxury of a dedicated home office and a dedicated guest room. In trying to maximize our square footage, we tossed around a few Murphy bed office ideas to combine both functions into one space-saving room and we loved it so much, we’ve done it twice now!
Combining the two spaces in one room gives us a comfortable place for family and friends to stay without sacrificing a functional workspace the other 99% of the year.
After installing Murphy beds in multiple homes, we’ve picked up a few design lessons that make these dual-purpose spaces feel practical, organized, and intentional.
Murphy Bed Office Ideas That Maximize a Small Space
Look, there are a lot of things to love about a Murphy bed. But undoubtedly the best is the space saving, especially in a smaller room or a space that is multifunctional.
Our last home had a bonus room which was a nice little, well, bonus, but we knew it was never going to be just a guest room. This space needed to wear many hats: guest room, office, playroom, gym, and because of its location next to our back entry door, a sort of mudroom/entryway.
Dedicating half the room to a permanent bed just wasn’t an option that made any sense, given we host guests like four to five times a year max. We debated Murphy bed vs. sleeper sofa, and went with Murphy bed, but actually ultimately added a sleeper sofa to the playroom side of the room, too, for maximum flexibility and hostability.
But back to the Murphy bed point, because this room functioned as an office almost every single day, the bed folding up into the wall makes the room feel like a dedicated workspace instantly and gives a nice, pretty Zoom background rather than a big bed.
Rather than leaving the Murphy bed as a standalone piece of furniture, we framed it with built-in shelving and cabinetry for a more custom look. This extra storage is great for guests to act as a nightstand, and having the Murphy bed as part of a built-in makes it blend into the wider room a lot better.
We did another Murphy bed in our current space, but this time went for a horizontal one because of our shorter ceilings. This time we didn’t have the space to do a full built-in around it, and it does really look like more of a wall bed honestly, so the surround made a big difference!
Other Considerations for a Home Office With a Murphy Bed
As is the case for any multi-functional room, it’s important to stay organized when you have a home office with a Murphy bed. Messes from the office can spill over to the guest area, and vice-versa.
If you have the desk in front of where the Murphy bed pulls down (which is the most common setup), make sure you have a plan for how to tuck that out of the way when guests come. For us, we just pushed it up against an adjacent wall and in our current house, we slide the desk into the closet to get it out of the way.
On the mess point, make sure you’ve got some ways to hide or put away the usual desk clutter. Things like the printer and cords and monitors are usually out day-to-day of course, but having an extra basket or space in a closet somewhere to tuck them away for guests makes a big difference.
If you don’t yet have a desk for your home office, picking one with drawers and/or shelves makes it much easier to do this quick pre-guests tidy.
If you’re thinking about tackling a Murphy bed yourself, we’d absolutely recommend using a Murphy bed kit. It’s not a beginner friendly DIY, but a kit takes much of the engineering out while still allowing you to customize the finished look with paint, trim, and built-ins.
Murphy beds have become one of our favourite ways to bring flexibility to a smaller home and create a space that easily adapts as needs change. To be honest, we’ll probably do a third one in our next house some day!
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