Thread: Foldable Bed/Desk

Hi all down under,

Due to COVID we had to turn over our space bedroom in to a second home office, but as this looks like it's going to be set in for some time I want to be able to flip the room between the two purposes - office and bedroom. So I'm planning on making a fold down bed, with a desk underneath that flips up/down for use.

I would follow some murphy bed plans and do something along those lines, but the problem is that exactly where the bed would hinge is a boxed in toilet pipe.

So i'm after any ideas to build and hinge (?) a bed frame from the top of this boxing in. I have a few already, I just wanted to see if anyone else could come up with something different.

This is the approx space in question;
Screen Shot 2020-07-23 at 10.08.46.png

The bed is a UK double (1900x1350x250mm), and I am limited by the approx 300mm height of the toilet pipe box. I am expecting the depth to be at least the depth of the mattress and then some, I can make the box deeper if required as I've just removed the old boxing and am going to rebuild it.

This is the approximate desired effect I'm after;
Screen Shot 2020-07-23 at 10.09.35.png Screen Shot 2020-07-23 at 11.56.17.png

Currently I am thinking of hinging the mattress based from the top (mattress) side so that the mattress sits flush against the pipe box, possibly with some recessed heavy duty hinges (maybe gate hinges), but this would result in the bed frame overhanging the pipe box when upright;

Screen Shot 2020-07-23 at 11.52.52.png

Hopefully this won't end up too chunky so it doesn't stick out too far. I plan to face the bed underside with some veneered wood to give a nicer effect to look at when working. I'm also conscious that thicker and heavier it gets could put stress on the hinges if left in "desk mode" for a while, I'm not sure.

I don't think the mattress can be held in place against the bed base with raised sides, at least on the long side away from the wall, as the mattress needs to move relative to the base when flipping it up on to the top of the pipe box. Feels like it's going to be a bit of a wiggle to get things aligned each time.

This also results in a bit of the mattress poking out the top in the desk mode. I can probably get round that by having a removable top "pelmet style' section that covers the mattress top and lives under the bed when not in use (held with magnets??!).

For the sides (head and tail) of the mattress i think some sides would be useful but don't think they can be full mattress width/depth as it might not close against the wall? So then in desk mode some of the mattress would still be on show. Perhaps for all of it I could have some stays that can pivot up to hold the mattress in place when in bed mode, and then more attachable sides that hide the mattress in desk mode.

For the legs I thought they would hinge down from the underside, as well as the desk, with some hinge bracket or chain to hold it in place. When in desk mode, everything will also be secured to the wall by something (hooks?), which is a stud wall.

I'll have a monitor mount recessed in the underside, as well as a powerpoint on the pipe box somewhere. Plan on hiding the monitor HDMI/power inside the frame also.

What do you guys think? Any other ideas? Am i barking up the wrong tree? Over thinking it? Is this going to be too heavy to lift up and down each time? I thought that I could use some gas pistons somewhere to help the GF and I move it.

Apologies for the long (ish) post! Let me know if more pics/detail/drawings are helpful.

Ben (UK)