What Is a Hideaway Bed? 6 Ideas That Fold Away in a Small Room

Last updated November 2026 by the Forward Furniture team

A small condo, a home office that has to host the in laws, a kid's room that needs floor to play on. A hideaway bed lets one room do two jobs. The bed is there when a guest needs it, and gone the rest of the time. For more small room ideas beyond the bed, Green Building Canada has a good list of tiny space redecorating tricks.

Below are six hideaway bed ideas, from the ones that hide in a chest to the ones that hide in the wall or the couch. Every size comes from the maker's spec on our product pages, and every price is from our live catalogue. Start with our cabinet beds if you want the simplest setup.

In this guide

• What is a hideaway bed?
• 1. A cabinet bed that looks like a chest
• 2. A cabinet bed that works as a console
• 3. A king that folds away
• 4. A sideways wall bed under a window
• 5. A wall bed with a desk on the front
• 6. A sofa that hides a bed
• How much floor does a hideaway bed save?
• What to check before you buy
• Which hideaway bed is right for your room?
• Questions

What Is a Hideaway Bed?

"Hideaway bed" is a family name, not one product. People also say fold away bed, hide away bed or hidden bed. In Canada, "hide a bed" most often means a sofa bed. The bed hides in one of three places:

• In a chest: a cabinet bed. A waist high cabinet that opens into a bed, with a folding mattress stored inside. No wall mounting.
• In the wall: a Murphy bed, also called a wall bed. It folds up into a tall or wide cabinet fixed to the wall and takes a regular mattress.
• In a sofa: a sofa sleeper. A couch by day with a mattress folded inside.

If you want the step by step on the first two, read how a cabinet bed works and how a Murphy bed works.

1. A Cabinet Bed That Looks Like a Chest

This is the hideaway bed most people picture. Closed, the Olivia is a hardwood chest 62.5 inches wide, 24 inches deep and 40 inches tall. Open, it is a queen bed 83 inches long, with a 6 inch tri fold mattress that stores inside. It needs no wall mounting, so it works for renters and moves with you.

Good places for one:

• Under a window, since it is only 40 inches tall.
• Along the wall of a home office, with a lamp and books on top.
• At the end of a condo living room, as a TV stand by day.

The Stow Queen is the same idea in acacia wood at $2,417.99, with a 6 inch gel memory foam mattress. The cabinet box alone weighs about 152 lb, so plan on two people to carry it in. The Olivia's current price is on its product page.

2. A Cabinet Bed That Works as a Console

Some cabinet beds hide better because they look like other furniture. The Midtown Queen has grey barn doors and reads as a console or credenza. It is only 22 inches deep closed, and it has a drawer 55.9 inches wide and 9.4 inches tall for the sheets and pillows.

The Nebula Full looks like a sideboard, with metal handles and a top for lamps or decor. Its 54 by 75 inch folding mattress comes with it. It can stand on its own or be fixed to the wall. These two suit a dining room or a living room, where a chest would look out of place.

3. A King That Folds Away

Most hideaway beds stop at queen. The Stow King opens into a king bed and closes into a chest 80 inches wide, 26.4 inches deep and 42.5 inches tall. The Stow King costs $2,663.99 with its mattress. It suits a long wall in a basement or a bonus room, where a couple stays for a week at a time.

4. A Sideways Wall Bed Under a Window

A horizontal Murphy bed folds down from the long side. That keeps it low. The Heidi Grey twin is 44.25 inches tall closed and only 15.75 inches deep, and it reaches 47.09 inches into the room when open. The Heidi Grey twin is $1,424.99 and the Heidi Grey queen is $1,824.99.

Things to know:

• It takes your own mattress, up to 8 inches thick for twin and full, or 10 inches for queen.
• The full and queen should be fixed to a solid wall into at least two wood studs.
• It is a good fit for a kid's room or a basement with a low ceiling.

Our Murphy bed dimensions guide lists the closed and open sizes for every wall bed size.

5. A Wall Bed With a Desk on the Front

For a home office that is also the guest room, the Lumina with Desk puts a work surface on the front of a vertical wall bed. Clear the desk, fold it up, then pull the bed down. The queen is 65.2 inches wide and 19.5 inches deep closed, about 8.8 sq ft of floor. The Lumina with Desk queen costs $2,882.99. It has two LED lights in the top for reading.

It stands 85.8 inches tall as a queen and must be anchored to the wall, so it is not for renters who cannot drill. Our small guest room office ideas show other ways to fit both.

6. A Sofa That Hides a Bed

The classic hide a bed. The Rannis queen sofa sleeper is 85 inches long and 40 inches deep, about 24 sq ft as a couch, with the mattress built in. The Rannis queen is $1,469.99. It costs no extra floor if you were buying a sofa anyway.

The trade off is the sleep. A pull out frame has to fold, so the mattress is thin. For guests who stay a night or two it is fine. For longer stays, read Murphy bed vs sofa bed, or browse our sleeper sofas.

How Much Floor Does a Hideaway Bed Save?

We worked out the floor each bed takes closed and open, from the maker's width, depth and open length on our product pages. The last column is the floor you get back every day nobody is sleeping there.

Floor closed = width times closed depth. Floor open = width times the open length the maker lists (for the Nebula, from the back of the cabinet). Sizes are the maker's specs on our product pages.

What the numbers say:

• A queen mattress alone covers 33.3 sq ft. A queen cabinet bed closed covers about a third of that.
• The Olivia gives back 25.6 sq ft each day it is closed, about the size of a small rug.
• The Heidi Grey twin is the smallest closed in the table at 8.8 sq ft, but it needs 80 inches of wall.
• The Midtown is the slimmest cabinet bed at 22 inches deep, 9.8 sq ft closed.

Leave room to walk around the open bed. The Nebula spec asks for about 30 to 36 inches of clearance around it. Our guide will a cabinet bed fit shows how to measure your room.

What to Check Before You Buy a Hideaway Bed

Most regrets with hideaway beds come from the same few things. Check these first:

1. Wall or no wall. Wall beds need studs and drilling. Cabinet beds stand on their own. Renters usually pick a cabinet bed.
2. Open length. Measure from the wall to where the foot of the bed will land, then add a path to the door.
3. Mattress. Cabinet beds come with a folding foam mattress of 5 or 6 inches. Wall beds take your own regular mattress, within the maker's thickness limit.
4. Height. Under a window or a sloped ceiling, a cabinet bed or a sideways wall bed fits where a vertical one will not.
5. Weight and stairs. The heaviest Midtown box is about 224 lb. Plan two people, and measure stairs and doorways.
6. Bedding. On a cabinet bed, pillows and a duvet go in a drawer or a closet. On a wall bed, straps hold the made bed in place.

Weighing a cabinet bed against a wall bed in more depth? Read cabinet bed vs Murphy bed, or the wider list in Murphy bed alternatives.

Which Hideaway Bed Is Right for Your Room?

Prices are live from our catalogue on the day this page was built. Sizes are the maker's specs.

A simple way to choose:

• You rent, or you move often: a cabinet bed.
• The room is a dining room or living room: a cabinet bed that looks like a console or sideboard.
• Guests stay a week or more: a wall bed with a regular mattress.
• The room is also an office: a wall bed with a desk, or a cabinet bed under the window.
• You need a new sofa anyway: a sofa sleeper.

Hideaway Beds to Compare

Olivia Cabinet Bed
Preorder, charged in full at checkout: see the current price

Freestanding hardwood chest, queen or double, tri fold mattress included.

Stow Queen Cabinet Bed
$2,417.99

Acacia wood chest, 42.5 inches tall, gel memory foam mattress included.

Midtown Queen Cabinet Bed
$2,833.99

Grey barn door console, 22 inches deep, with a storage drawer.

Heidi Grey Horizontal Murphy Bed
From $1,424.99

Folds down sideways, 15.75 inches deep closed as a twin.

Lumina Murphy Wall Bed with Desk
From $2,759.99

A desk by day and a wall bed at night.

Want to try one first? The Olivia is on the floor at our showrooms, so you can open and close it yourself and see how little room it takes.

Hideaway Beds: Questions

What is a hideaway bed called?

It goes by many names: cabinet bed, Murphy bed, wall bed, fold away bed and hide a bed. In Canada, a hide a bed usually means a sofa bed. A cabinet bed hides in a chest, and a Murphy bed hides in the wall.

Do hideaway beds need to be attached to the wall?

Wall beds do. Cabinet beds like the Olivia and the Stow stand on their own with no wall mounting. The Nebula can stand alone or be fixed to the wall.

How much space does a hideaway bed take?

Closed, the cabinet beds we compared take about 10 to 15 sq ft of floor. A queen mattress alone covers about 33 sq ft.

Are hideaway beds comfortable?

For most guests, yes, for a few nights. Cabinet beds use a 5 or 6 inch foam mattress on a firm platform. Wall beds take a regular mattress, so they suit longer stays.

What is the best hideaway bed for a small room?

A cabinet bed, if you cannot drill into the wall or want the top as a surface. A sideways wall bed, if the room has a low window or a sloped ceiling.

More on comfort in are cabinet beds comfortable, and more guest bed picks in our guest bed options for small spaces.

Find a Hideaway Bed That Fits Your Room