A guest bedroom leads to a private deck.

The guest room cleverly shoehorns four bunks into a small footprint.

Two-year-old Annika and five-year-old Soren make music on the "nap swing," a popular hangout spot for kids and adults alike.

Wall beds can be oriented either vertically or horizontally. This home office doubles as a guest room thanks to a vertical Murphy bed that folds down to reveal shelves stocked with magazines.

@sarahirenemurphy: "The perfect corner @dsquilts"

Furniture designer Pat Carson created a plethora of custom fixtures for this guest room, including a riveted aluminum Murphy bed. The best Murphy beds raise and lower easily, often requiring only one hand. This unique wall bed employs a hand-cranked wheel-and-pulley system.

CCS Architecture designed this 5,800-square-foot home for a family of five in Palo Alto, California. The home’s bent, linear configuration divides the site; the public-facing, street sides wrap the corner, creating a more private interior. A breezeway leads to the entry and the yard beyond, while also separating the main house from the garage and guest studio, which opens directly out to the garden with large sliding doors.

Hidden Storage The Murphy bed in the guest bedroom sits behind Montague’s desk, allowing the compact room to function comfortably for working and sleeping at different times. It’s made with customized millwork, Häfele bed hardware, and an Ikea mattress. When it’s open, it reveals hidden shelving. hafele.com ikea.com

The master bedroom; the painting is by Radcliffe Bailey.

Taking inspiration from train cabins, the guest bed lifts to reveal a bathtub. Garlick made the mechanism using sailboat hardware. The velvet curtain is by Restoration Hardware and the tile is from Stone Tile.

A modular shelf system by Alu provides a more sculptural take on the classic bathroom vanity in this Toronto home.

The floating bookshelf is composed from wood found on the property. Garlick purchased the Technics turntable and receiver from a used audio store.

Though only two feet deep, the Ikea cabinet Azevedo bought for the guest bath didn’t quite fit, so she sliced off eight inches with a table saw. “It might be unorthodox, but it was just easier, faster, and cheaper to do it myself,” says the former furniture designer.

Beyond the guest bedroom lies the rocky shore and the coastline's dramatic landscape. A 20-minute walk takes Schneider and her guests to small ponds (and calmer waters) in which to swim.

Maira wallpaper from the 70s adorns the guest bathroom. When they knocked down several interior walls, Sawatzky and Flanders were left with tons of lath—the thin, irregular strips of softwood that provided the base for wall plaster. With the help of a demolition contractor, they sorted out the cleanest pieces to reuse. The couple clad the box on the second floor that contains their bathroom and closets with the lath, nail-gunning each piece to the walls.

Maja demonstrates another use for the guest bed: a trampoline. Behind her is a wall of storage, an essential attribute in the 1,260-square-foot house. Extreme editing of material possessions also helps.

Green tea and a sweet for a guest.

Another guestroom, with a bit more space.

The snug attic in this former fisherman’s cottage in Copenhagen contains the homeowner’s platform bed, custom-designed by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen to maximize storage and fit the unusual space.

"We wanted to keep the exterior walls uncluttered, so you can focus on the views, the light, and the air," says Rosa Garneau, the owner of a 650-square-foot co-op in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. To achieve a clean look, everything gets tucked away, including the mattress and bedding. When looking for the best Murphy bed, look for one that can accommodate basic bedding without having to remove and store it daily.

If letting your bed linens drape onto the floor or the platform bed frame just isn’t your style, keep your bedroom feeling sharp and tidy by tucking your sheets under the mattress and removing any extra blankets or fluffy comforters. A slim, white bed frame such as this one feels skeletal enough to still convey airiness.

The bed, also by Hynam, is on casters, allowing ten Hompel to move it to gaze at the stars.

Brightly colored sheets and a central pendant lamp show this tent to its best advantage.

Debbi Gibbs’s son Blake had one primary design requirement: bunk beds. Specifically, he wanted "two sets of single bunks, one on each side, with a bridge over the top." Gibbs says the Venetian-style arched bridge connecting the two beds exceeded her expectations: "I was expecting a flat platform, but our builder decided to take Blake’s request (to connect them) and made him his very own Bridge of Sighs."

A lofted sleeping pod offers a bit of privacy and helps maximize space. Beneath it is a zippy yellow bathroom.

A colorful shelf offers bedside storage in a London guesthouse.

Courtyard

The vacation complex is designed to promote an easy flow between the two families' spaces, which include guest cabins and a shared porch for hanging out and eating.

Maybe the most enviable bunk in the house, the downstairs guest room has an unadulterated view out into the trees.

One of two charming guest houses tucked away on the property.

The low windows in the master bedroom focus the view on the backyard, not the neighbors. Christopher designed the solid poplar platform bed.

This Murphy bunk bed, the Lollipop IN model from Resource Furniture, stows away flush to the wall when not in use.

Guest House + Courtyard

Madrid-based firm PKMN dreamed up this flexible concept for a client with a tiny home north of the city. Made up of three shelving units on track system, the All I Own House can be configured in countless ways, making space for a bedroom, kitchen, sitting area, changing room, and more. Shown here is a horizontal Murphy bed, which makes a great space-saving solution as well as a comfortable sleeping space.

A common trend among modern Murphy beds is to fold into a cabinet. By lowering the custom Murphy bed and rolling a sliding plywood door, this homeowner creates an instant guest room.

Adjacent to the main living room are four custom bunk beds and a guest bedroom with a queen bed.