Murphy beds use a lift mechanism that attaches to the floor to assist in lifting the bed into the cabinet when not in use. Floor savers are available, when it's not advisable to attach the lift mechanism to the floor, that attach it to the wall through the baseboard. They come with bi-fold doors that you have to open to pull the bed frame out of the cabinet for use. Because Murphy bed frames have thin metal slats across the bed frame to support the mattress, it's often necessary to place a foundation under the mattress for proper support. This is to keep the mattress from sagging.

Wall beds, on the other hand, attach to the wall and use a lift mechanism on the sides of the cabinet to assist in lifting the bed into the cabinet. The mattress sits on  a bed panel when open for sleeping and  becomes the face of the cabinet when the bed is stored. It's for this reason that they are often call panel beds. This bed panel gives you the support that a foundation would for the Murphy bed but it does it without having to add anything to the unit. Your mattress simply sits on the bed panel which is the face of the cabinet when the bed is stored,  so instead of opening up doors to pull out a bed frame, you simply pull out the face of the cabinet or bed panel which becomes the bottom of the bed.

There are different types of lift mechanisms used for wall beds. There are pneumatic gas springs or shocks that are used on many wall beds. These usualy have about a 10 year life span and often need to be exchanged in that time frame. Of course, this depends on how often you open and close your bed cabinet. A longer lasting type of mechanism used on many beds are coil springs. These type of lift mechanisms usually last a lifetime and many come with a lifetime guarantee.

Due to the strain that all Murphy bed and wall bed cabinets have to withstand as the bed is stored and deployed, no matter how you store and deploy your bed, it's always going to be subjected to strain on the joints and mechanisms. Of course, this depends on how often you store and deploy your bed and how much strain it's subjected to while you're doing so. This is why it's important to know how each different bed works and what materials are used for the cabinet, the mechanisms, and how they attach to your home.

All Murphy beds, wall beds and Spacesaver beds have straps to wrap around the bedding, that are fastened to the frame to hold the bedding in place so the bed can be stored in the cabinet without removing the bedding.  The different types of lift mechanisms used in each type of bed are explained below in how each bed functions. Each type of bed uses a different type of mechanism to help lift the bed into the cabinet and some mechanisms allow you to adjust them for heavier mattresses. Some mechanisms have a longer life than others also, which is important to know. This is also explained in further detail below.

Although particleboard is used in many cases to build the cabinet and it's vital, to help keep the initial cost lower, particleboard may give you only a few years of service. A lot of manufacturers are switching from particleboard to plywood because of the longer life that a plywood cabinet will give you over one made out of particleboard, even though they put a layer of mica or melamine over the material to help it last longer. Even though plywood is a little more expensive than particleboard, most manufacturers who use this type of material have found it better to use than particleboard in order to keep their customers satisfied longer.

The most important distinction between a Murphy bed and a wall bed is the way the bed uses the cabinet for storage and the way it's attached to your home. Because of the nature of Murphy beds and wall beds, you also want to make sure they’re setup properly so they can give you years of good use. A good Murphy bed or wall bed needs to be installed in your home rather than just put together and sat up against the wall.  Murphy beds are attached the floor in your home because of the way the lift mechanism works. This can be avoided by using a floor saver, as mentioned above. Wall beds on the other hand are attached to the wall. Hence the name wall bed. This is because of the way their lift mechanisms work and how they're attached to the cabinet.

As mentioned before, Murphy bed  is a bed on a metal frame that's stored in a cabinet. The legs on the Murphy bed frame pivot on the side of the frame to store the bed in the cabinet. The bed frame is designed to allow the legs on the frame to remain vertical while deploying and storing the bed, so the bed is supported by the metal legs on the frame. The frame uses slats to support the mattress for the bed. Because of the way the lift mechanism works on the Murphy bed, the cabinet is secured to the floor to keep the cabinet from moving when the bed is stored and deployed for sleeping.

A wall bed is a bed that uses the cabinet to support the mattress and this is why it's important to know how they differ. The legs on a wall bed fold out from the cabinet face to support the bed when the bed is lowered to sleep on. The rest of the bed is supported by the cabinet itself where the face of the cabinet, which acts as the base for the bed, is attached to the cabinet on an arm that acts as an axle to allow the bed to be lifted up for storage. Because of the way the wall bed uses the cabinet face for the support for the mattress, this has a tendency to put more strain on the cabinet. If you're the type of person that likes to sleep with a lot of covers, this will add to the weight and bulk to the bed putting more strain on the cabinet.

Because the face of the cabinet acts as the support for the mattress, the wall bed gives you the same support that a platform bed, or having your mattress on the floor, would give you. The Murphy bed, because the mattress sits on slats on its metal frame, has only the slats to support the mattress. The slats on the frame are metal to keep the frame lightweight, so it can be more easily stored in the cabinet, and to give the frame a longer life. Slats have a tendency to sag after years of use, therefore not having the ability to offer the support that a flat surface, like the face of a wall bed cabinet offers. Because the face of the wall bed cabinet is reinforced with a metal frame to hold the mattress, it doesn't sag or bend, keeping the surface flat for the life of the cabinet. Although some Murphy beds offer more support than others, they don't always offer the same amount of support that the wall bed or the Spacesaver bed does. Of course, some mattresses will give you more support than others and this is where the buyer must be aware. An informed educated decision is important because your sleep (and maybe your back) depend on it.

To setup a good Murphy bed or wall bed it's essential to know what you’re doing before you do it. It’s kind of like installing new software on your computer. You can do it if you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, it's best to leave it to someone who does. A good DIY craftsman can achieve the same goal and this is why Spacesavers Murphy Wallbeds ships wall bed kits nationwide. We supply you with the needed hardware, the plans, instructions on how to build it and a cut list that you can take to your local lumber yard where they will cut your wood to the specifications on the list so you can make your own wall bed and save the money it costs to build it. You supply the tools, wood, and manpower and we supply the mechanisms,  hardware, instructions, cut list, and savings. It's advised that you have a friend help you also and this advice isn't concerned with how much expierence you have. Some things you just have to have more than one person to do.

A lot of stores and sites sell Murphy beds as wall beds, but they're really not wall beds, because of the metal frame the mattress sets on, on the Murphy bed. By the same token, a lot of sites sell wall beds as Murphy beds, which aren't really Murphy beds, because of the way they work and attach to your home. Murphy bed has become somewhat of a generic label for all beds that store in cabinets to free up space in the home. Because Murphy beds, wall beds, panel beds, spacesaver beds and Flying beds work differently, use different mechanisms and attach to the house or apartment differently, the buyer should be aware of the differences to make a knowledgable, intelligent decision if they or loved ones are going to be using this type of bed to sleep on.