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. 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.

A 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 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.