# How to measure a room for a murphy bed, in ten minutes with a tape The three numbers that decide whether a murphy bed fits a Utah room, plus the soffits, outlets, doors and fans that catch people out, and which photos to send. Source: https://beehive-wallbeds.pages.dev/how-to-measure/ You need three numbers, a phone, and about ten minutes. Measure them the way described here and the [fit checker](/fit/) will give you a straight answer on size and orientation before anyone drives to your house. We re-measure on the design visit, so you do not need to be perfect, just honest about the obstacles. ## The three numbers **1. Wall width.** Measure the clear wall where the cabinet would sit, from the nearest obstruction on one side to the nearest on the other. Obstructions are door casings, window trim, a closet, a return air grille, the corner. Not the wall length on the plans. A vertical queen cabinet is about 65 inches wide; add side cabinets and you need 90 to 125 inches. **2. Ceiling height at the wall.** Put the tape on the floor against the baseboard and run it straight up to the ceiling at the wall, not in the middle of the room. Do it at both ends of the span and at the middle. Write down the smallest. A vertical queen needs about 90 inches, a vertical twin or full about 84. Under 90, a horizontal bed is the answer. The [sizes page](/sizes/) has every cabinet height. **3. Floor depth in front.** From the wall straight out into the room. A vertical queen or king sticks out about 87 inches plus the cabinet, so you want about 7 feet 6 inches clear to the next piece of furniture, and a foot more to walk around the end. A horizontal queen needs about 65 inches. Measure in inches. Round down, never up. ## Soffits, bulkheads and ducts This is the Utah basement problem. The ceiling in the middle of the room is 96 inches, and the wall you want has a 12 inch soffit running along it hiding a duct. The soffit is the ceiling for our purposes. Measure under it. If the soffit stops partway along the wall, note where, because a cabinet can sometimes sit beside it and side cabinets can be built shorter beneath it. Tap along the soffit. Hollow means framing and drywall around a duct, which cannot move cheaply. Solid is rare and worth a look. ## Outlets, switches and what is in the wall Mark every outlet, switch, cable jack, thermostat and vent on the wall. Outlets behind a cabinet can be moved or left live inside the cabinet for a lamp. Switches need to end up reachable. A thermostat on the murphy bed wall is the one that usually has to relocate. Baseboard heaters, radiators and floor registers right under the bed are a problem and should be in the photos. A plumbing wall or an HVAC chase behind the drywall means we anchor somewhere else. ## Door swing, closet doors and the path of the bed Stand at the wall and picture the mattress coming down. Does an entry door open into that space? A closet door? Bifolds? The bed does not need to clear the door when it is closed, but you need to get in and out of the room when it is open. Note the swing direction and the width of every door that touches the footprint. ## Ceiling fans and light fixtures A vertical bed is tall in the middle of its travel. A ceiling fan or a hanging light within about 4 feet of the wall will be in the path of a queen as it tips. Measure from the wall to the center of the fixture and note how low it hangs. Fans are the obstacle people forget most, and a flush-mount light fixes it for not much. ## Floor and wall Carpet pad compresses, so legs sit slightly lower on carpet than on hard floor. Tell us which. Tell us if the wall is drywall over studs, concrete, or block. All three anchor fine, they just take different hardware and the crew brings it. ## Photos to send Four phone photos cover it: 1. The whole wall from the opposite side of the room, so we see the ceiling line, outlets and trim. 2. Straight up at the ceiling along the wall, to show any soffit or fixture. 3. Each side of the wall where it meets a door, window or corner. 4. The room's other walls, because the right wall is sometimes not the one you first picked. Include the trim and door color if you want the finish matched. ## Then run the fit checker Type your three numbers into the [fit checker](/fit/). It tells you which sizes fit vertical, which fit horizontal, and whether side cabinets have room. If it says no, send the room anyway. Half the rooms that fail on numbers work on a different wall. Send the three numbers and the four photos through the form and we reply the same business day with what fits and a price range. ## Questions people ask **What if my ceiling is exactly 8 feet?** A true 96 inch ceiling takes a vertical queen or king, which is 87 to 90 inches tall, with room to tip it up during install. The number that matters is the height at the wall, under any soffit. **Do I measure with the baseboard on?** Yes, measure the room as it is. The cabinet sits against the baseboard or the baseboard is cut around it, and we decide which on the visit. **Does the bed have to clear the door when it is down?** No, but you have to be able to use the door while the bed is open. Note the swing direction and width of any door that opens into the bed's footprint. **What if the room has no wall long enough?** A horizontal twin needs about 81 inches of wall and a cabinet chest bed about 64 inches with no wall anchoring at all. Send the room and we will find the wall. --- Beehive Wall Beds: Custom murphy beds, designed in your home, along the Wasatch Front. Design and sales company; beds built by Utah craftsmen and installed by partner crews. Free in-home design visits. hello@beehivewallbeds.com