Beehive Wall Beds
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Murphy beds with storage: bookshelves, side cabinets, drawers and wall units
A murphy bed on its own is a 65 inch cabinet standing on a wall. Add 24 inches of shelving to each side and it becomes a wall of built-ins that happens to have a bed in it. This page covers each storage add-on, the widths, what it does to the look, and what it adds to the bill on the 2026 ladder.
The add-ons, one by one
Bookshelves, open. The most common murphy bed bookcase is an open shelf unit on one or both sides of the bed, 12 to 30 inches wide, full height to match the cabinet, 16 to 18 inches deep. Adjustable shelves, usually five or six. Good for books, baskets and the things a guest room keeps on display. Open shelving is the lightest add-on in both cost and visual weight.
Side cabinets, closed. The same box with doors. Behind the doors, shelves for linens, a hanging rod for a guest's coats, or a space for the printer in an office. Doors match the bed cabinet doors, so closed side cabinets make the bed cabinet disappear into a run of what looks like a wardrobe wall. This is the add-on that makes a murphy bed read as a built-in.
Drawers, the murphy bed dresser. A side cabinet 24 to 30 inches wide with a stack of drawers in the lower half and shelves or doors above. It replaces the dresser a guest room would otherwise need, which matters because the open bed takes the floor where a dresser would stand. Drawer boxes are the most labor in any cabinet, so this is the pricier side unit.
Over-bed bridge. A shallow cabinet or open shelf that spans the top of the bed cabinet between the side units, so the whole wall is one framed unit. It needs ceiling height: the queen cabinet is already 87 to 90 inches, so a bridge wants a 9 foot ceiling. Common in newer Utah County basements, not possible under 8 feet.
Lighting. LED strips or puck lights in the side cabinets or the bridge, switched at the cabinet. A small adder that changes how the wall feels at night.
Storage inside the bed cabinet. People ask. The bed cabinet holds the mattress and the platform, and that is all. Storage lives beside the bed or over it, or in a cabinet bed with a drawer under the platform.
Widths and how a wall unit comes together
| Bed size | Bed cabinet | With one 24 in side | With two 24 in sides | With two 30 in sides |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twin | about 45 in | about 69 in | about 93 in | about 105 in |
| Full | about 61 in | about 85 in | about 109 in | about 121 in |
| Queen | about 65 in | about 89 in | about 113 in | about 125 in |
| King | about 83 in | about 107 in | about 131 in | about 143 in |
A murphy bed wall unit is designed to the wall, not to a catalog size. On a 12 foot wall, 144 inches, a queen with two 30 inch sides and a filler strip at each corner fills it edge to edge, which is what makes it look like the house was built around it. On a 10 foot wall the same queen takes two 24 inch sides. A horizontal murphy bed with storage puts a single tall unit at one end instead, because the cabinet is already 81 to 87 inches wide.
Why the bed reads as built-in
Three things do it. Side cabinets at the same height as the bed cabinet, so there is one top line across the wall. Doors and finish that match across every unit, so the bed doors are just two more in the run. And a crown or filler strip at the ceiling and corners, which separates furniture pushed against a wall from millwork fitted to it. A bare bed cabinet is a box. With 24 inches of matched cabinetry each side, it is a wall.
Desks and sofas count as storage too
A murphy bed with desk usually comes with a side cabinet for files, and a murphy bed with sofa often gets shelves behind the sofa arms. Both sit in the same $6,500 to $10,000 tier as side cabinets, because each is another piece of cabinetry.
What storage adds on the 2026 ladder
- Custom bed cabinet alone, built and installed locally: $4,400 to $6,500.
- Bed with side cabinets, drawers, a bridge, lighting, a desk or a sofa: $6,500 to $10,000.
- Closet-franchise wall units with the bed as one line of a laminate closet system: $5,000 to $10,000 and up.
- Flat-pack beds with matching side units from Costco or Wayfair: within the $400 to $1,500 range for the bed, with the side units sold separately, plus install.
Inside the custom tier, open bookshelves are the low end, closed cabinets the middle, and drawer stacks with lighting the top. Width matters less than what is inside the box. The cost page covers the rest.
What to measure
Wall width corner to corner, ceiling height at the wall, and every outlet, switch and vent on that wall. Outlets can move; a vent behind a side cabinet is a design problem to solve early. The fit tool takes the first two.
Send the room to the estimate form, with the wall width, the ceiling and a photo, and we reply the same business day with a layout and a range.
Questions people ask
What is a murphy bed with bookshelves?
A wall bed cabinet with open bookcase units on one or both sides, usually 12 to 30 inches wide each and the same height and depth as the bed cabinet. The shelves are fixed cabinetry, not freestanding bookcases, so the whole wall reads as one built-in.
Can a murphy bed have drawers?
Yes, in the side cabinets. Drawers do not go in the bed cabinet itself because the mattress platform fills it. A side cabinet 24 to 30 inches wide takes full-depth drawers, which is what people mean by a murphy bed dresser.
How wide does a murphy bed wall unit get?
A queen cabinet is about 65 inches, and each side cabinet adds 12 to 30 inches, so a queen with two sides runs 89 to 125 inches. A twin with two sides is 69 to 105. We design to the wall, with a filler strip at each end so it fits tight.
How much do side cabinets add to the cost?
On the 2026 Utah ladder, a custom bed on its own is $4,400 to $6,500 installed and a bed with side cabinets, a desk or a sofa is $6,500 to $10,000. Each side cabinet is a real piece of cabinetry, so two wide ones with drawers and lighting land toward the top.