Five years ago, I built my first Murphy bed, and it was a disaster. This time, I’m building a Murphy bed for a military family using Rockler’s Horizontal Murphy Bed kit, and it turned out much better.

A Murphy bed helps you save space: Pull it down when you need it, back up when you want to use the room for another purpose. Murphy beds are expensive, though. Make one yourself with IKEA cabinets.

While Resource Furniture doesn't list prices on its website, the starting price for its Swing design was quoted at $6,500. The sofa's top cushions can be removed, making it easy to pull the wall bed ...