Arlex Storage Murphy Bed

We have a humble three-bedroom house, which means every room must pull double duty, kind of like a superhero with a mortgage. Since I needed an office, we made the executive decision to upgrade our 9-year-old to the larger bedroom and squeeze the guest/office into the luxurious 10’ x 14’ suite (and by suite, I mean “shoebox with a door”). Picture this: a desk, two filing cabinets, an office chair, mysterious equipment, and a queen-size mattress all packed in together—like a clown car, but for furniture. The result? Let’s just say the only way to get from one side of the room to the other is to turn sideways, suck in your gut, and hope for the best. I was slightly mortified by the layout. There was no room to walk, only room to shuffle and possibly trip. Of course, I had to think about our potential visitors. We’re all at that phase in life where our backs, hips, and knees creak like haunted house doors, and our biceps have gone from “Hercules” to “help me lift this remote.” Our days of peak physical prowess are fond memories, and honestly, sitting is our new cardio. I hunted for futons and sofa beds, but every option screamed “dorm room chic.” And let’s face it, picturing my plus-sized, silver-haired friends attempting to climb out of a futon was the stuff of slapstick comedy—and possible lawsuits. I turned to family and friends for advice, which was about as useful as a screen door on a submarine. Enter Kelly, the hero I didn’t know I needed. She pointed me toward the magical world of Murphy Beds. Suddenly, I was on a quest, deep-diving the internet, exploring the wild kingdom of wall beds—so many choices, so little floor space! Once again, Kelly guided me back from the abyss. On Wayfair, I found THE system. The stars aligned. It was love at first click. Because I’m stubborn (and possibly incapable of asking for help), I sent my family away and readied myself for delivery. Now, here’s where it gets real: SEVEN boxes showed up. One was seven feet long. All were heavier than my self-doubt. Slightly feverish (101.6 degrees of pure determination), I opened the first box. Instructions? There were more steps than my Fitbit has ever seen. But I did it. I built that Murphy Bed, one cough and one Allen wrench at a time. I paused for breath (and to avoid hacking up a lung), but I kept going. When the family came home, I let them help with the final frame mechanics, and after that? We all took turns opening and closing the bed like it was a theme park ride. My son even jumped on the mattress—10/10, would recommend. I am now the proud owner of a Murphy Bed, assembled by a stubborn, slightly ill, 60-year-old man with a dad bod and zero assistance until the final stretch. My advice: take your time, read every page, organize your screws (every size bowl in your house are your friend), and remember—you can do it, too!

Great quality, works well, doesn’t take up too much space. But I had to hire a professional to build and properly install it.

If I could give a 4.5, I would. I ordered the outer closet system tower for a really low price in September 2019 and it was supposed to have the drawers (was listed with them). I am embarrassed to admit, but the 2 boxes sat unopened until Christmas 2021 when my cousin visited from Cali and offered to assemble for me. That is when I realized the drawers were missing. After a lot of stalking Wayfair for the drawers (which were out of stock) and several customer service emails and calls from December 2021 through August 2022, finally got the 3 drawers here. There were some problems, but Wayfair refunded my purchase price for the tower and gave me a discount so I could buy the drawers at a reasonable price. 3 years later, I finally have this "armoire" assembled and am pleased. I did struggle with the drawer pulls initially and will give this tip in case others experience the same. Use a flat head screw driver to gently separate the piece that needs to be removed. Took me several hours to put these together as the instructions are all pics and I was being very cautious to check everything prior to assembly. Also used a phillips screw driver only, which was slow going, but I feel better using on composite wood so as to not damage the pieces. At the end of the day, these are nicely made and solid drawers with a nice weight. The aren't as perfectly aligned as I would like. But this unit is in a guest bedroom and I'm pleased with the final product.

I’ll start by saying I’m fairly handy and assembled the bed, drawers, and bookcase in about 1.5 days with various breaks, although working time was probably closer to the 7-8 hours most people report. I was able to do everything by myself except a few items (attach a couple of horizontal pieces that needed holding by my wife and then lift the bookshelf component onto the drawers). Delivery was 6 boxes and most were heavy and bulky, but extremely well packed with cardboard and Styrofoam. I needed to unpack in one room and take them into the destination room as needed. They take up a lot of space that would otherwise be needed for assembly. Start by unpacking the long boxes as you’ll want to assemble the bed first. I also took off the baseboard at this point opposed to waiting until the bed was assembled. This allowed me to mark where I wanted it to go easier since I was tight on space and already knew I wanted one side 18” from a side wall, as an example. On this note, realize that the bed is 65” wide so you will lose any practical wall outlet usage behind it. The drawers are 35” wide but do not sit flush against the wall like the bed will – you have about 2” of space behind them so you could run an extension cord or something but also realize you should be permanently attaching this unit so my recommendation is to consider 100” on no outlet access. I will drop in another outlet via attic access. The bed goes together fairly easily. The instructions are good. I would recommend a rubber mallet where the picture indicates using a claw hammer. Some of the pieces are tight and you do have to hammer them in. A few other tips include that it’s also easier to install the wooden slats if you push down on the middle of them while inserting the black connector. There are also a couple of pieces where the wooden dowels are used for underneath support opposed to actually connecting pieces together. I remember this was a bit of a pain when assembling the bottom trim on carpet that made it hard to slide underneath. I did not care for the drawer assembly. They use a bunch of cam connectors and that unit was not as tight as the bed. It is also very tall. The bookcase went together easy and securely. They provide 3 shelves but I only used 2 spaced 12” apart. They are adjustable. I would recommend putting the cams in the drawer unit and then placing the bookcase on the top instead of the reverse, which is how the directions showed. To attach the drawer/bookcase to the bed you’ll need a 3/16 drill bit to make the hole, and, make sure the units are already touching or the screw connectors won’t reach. I would recommend getting the drawer unit exactly in place (especially if on carpet) before attaching the bookcase on top. Getting the bottom aligned is the critical piece as you can always squeeze the tops together. We bought a new 12” mattress but wound up putting an older 10” mattress on this. It fits great and I can see how there would be no way to go more than 12”. Overall we’re very pleased with this for a combination guest, workout, project room. For those interested, the unit was made in both the USA and Canada with the bed frame coming from China. In my case, it was assembled in Texas :-)

This beast was HARD to put together. It is a 2-3 person job and it took some time. The pieces and parts are spread between several boxes and it took awhile to sort out what was what. Especially since the stickers weren’t on all the pieces. But in the end it looks great and works well. Getting the panels in correctly for sure took extra hands but I am happy with the outcome.