In a New York apartment, the second bedroom usually has to be two rooms. Most days it is an office; a few weekends a year it is where guests sleep. A built-in wall with a fold-down bed lets one room do both jobs without either one feeling like a compromise.
01The desk should not have to move
The best combined rooms keep the desk where it is when the bed comes down. That means placing the bed and the desk on different walls, or designing the desk to sit beside the bed cabinet rather than in front of it. If you have to clear your monitor and papers every time a guest arrives, the room will drift back to being one or the other.
02Size the bed to the room
A queen mattress is 60 by 80 inches. Folded up, a vertical queen wall bed sits in a cabinet roughly 16 to 18 inches deep. Open, it reaches about 7 feet into the room, so measure from the wall to the nearest obstruction before deciding on a queen. In narrower rooms, a full-size bed or a horizontal (side-tilt) bed may fit better. Most wall-bed mechanisms also limit mattress thickness, often to around 10 to 12 inches.
03Anchor it properly
A wall bed is a heavy, moving piece of furniture. The cabinet has to be secured to the wall structure, into studs, blocking or masonry, following the mechanism maker's instructions. In older buildings with plaster or brick walls, we check what is behind the surface at the site measure before anything is drawn.
04Storage for both lives
- For work: file drawers, a printer pull-out and a cable tray along the back of the desk. - For guests: a cabinet for bedding and pillows next to the bed, plus a few empty hangers and a clear shelf for a weekend bag. - For both: a reading light on each side of the bed that doubles as a desk light.
05Lighting and power
Plan outlets at desk height and beside the bed, and consider a small light inside the bed cabinet face. Wiring is far easier to route before the cabinetry goes in.
06Design your room
Lay out a desk wall with a wall bed in the Home Office Worx designer, see typical prices in the cost guide, or book a free design visit and we will measure the room with you.