What Is a Wall Bed, and How Does It Work?

By Dwals Team · Last updated October 2026

What is a wall bed? It’s a proper bed with a standard mattress that folds up into a cabinet fixed to your wall, and folds down when you want to sleep. A lifting mechanism carries the weight, so you guide the bed rather than lift it. By day, it takes only the depth of its cabinet, leaving the floor free.

You may also hear it called a Murphy bed. In everyday use, the two names mean the same kind of furniture; our guide to Murphy bed or wall bed explains why.

This guide explains the parts of a wall bed, how the lifting mechanism works, what you actually do to open and close one, and what to expect when Dwals installs one in your flat.

The three parts of a wall bed

Every wall bed has three main parts:

1. The cabinet. This is the box fixed to your wall. When the bed is closed, the cabinet hides it, and from the front it looks like a tall or wide piece of furniture.
2. The bed frame. This is hinged at the base of the cabinet and carries the mattress. It folds down to the floor to sleep on and folds back up into the cabinet.
3. The lifting mechanism. This carries the weight of the frame and mattress, so you guide the bed up and down rather than lifting the full weight yourself.

The mattress is a standard mattress. On a Dwals bed it stays strapped to the frame, and your bedding stays on the mattress, so you close the bed made and open it made.

How the lifting mechanism works

A wall bed needs a counterbalance: something that pushes back against the weight of the frame and mattress. Without it, you’d be lifting the full weight yourself. Modern wall beds use either springs or gas struts to do this job.

What a gas strut is

A gas strut, also called a gas spring or piston, is a sealed cylinder holding compressed gas, with a piston rod that slides in and out (Wikipedia: Gas spring). When the rod is pushed in, the gas resists, and that resistance is what carries the load. It’s the same kind of part used to hold up car boot lids and bonnets.

In a wall bed, the struts work between the frame and the cabinet. As the bed comes down, the struts take the weight. As it goes up, they push it back into the cabinet. You supply the direction; the struts supply most of the force.

Springs and gas struts

Some wall beds use springs instead of gas struts. Both are ways of balancing the bed’s weight, and designs vary from maker to maker. Whatever the mechanism, the questions to ask are the same: how is it set for your mattress, can it be adjusted later, and what is it tested to?

What Dwals uses

Dwals uses gas spring struts rated for 300 kg and cycle-tested to 40,000 open-and-close cycles. Every mechanism is cycle-tested on our floor before it leaves our Pune factory. The struts are sealed, self-damping units of the kind used in car tailgates, and they don’t rely on springs or cables.

A cycle rating is a test result, not a number of years. For what affects how long a wall bed lasts in a real home, see our guide on how long a wall bed lasts.

Setting the mechanism to your mattress

The struts have to match the weight they carry, and mattresses differ in thickness and weight.

That’s why Dwals asks for your mattress’s thickness and weight at the measurement visit and sets the strut force to match, so the bed is as light to lift with your mattress as it was on Dwals’s test floor. Dwals builds around standard mattresses (single 3×6, double 4×6, queen 5×6 or king 6×6 ft), in spring, foam or coir.

If you change your mattress later, call for a re-tune. Dwals says a re-tune after a mattress change is one of the more common service calls.

Opening and closing it: what you actually do

This is the part that matters day to day. On a Dwals bed, it takes five steps:

1. Clear the floor. Move anything in front of the cabinet out of the bed’s path.
2. Pull the handle. Closed, the struts hold the bed against the cabinet. In Dwals’s words, “the bed cannot fall open on its own”, and “it only comes down when you pull the handle and guide it.”
3. Guide it down. The struts carry the weight of the frame and mattress. As Dwals puts it, “you provide the direction, not the force.” It works with one hand.
4. Let it settle. The struts damp the last few inches, so the bed settles rather than drops. Opening takes about eight seconds.
5. Close it made. In the morning, tuck in loose pillows or a thick quilt, then lift and guide the bed back up. The mattress stays strapped to the frame and your bedding stays on it, and closing takes about the same time as opening.

Looking after the mechanism

Dwals’s struts are sealed units, so don’t oil or grease them yourself. If the bed starts to feel heavier, noisier or less even than it did at handover, call service rather than adjusting anything. Dwals’s own technicians handle service, and parts are kept in Dwals’s own stores.

How much space a wall bed needs

A wall bed takes very different amounts of floor closed and open:

	Closed (by day)	Open (at night)
Depth from the wall	12 inches, with the mattress and bedding inside	The mattress length plus about a foot to walk past the foot of the bed
Wall width (vertical bed)	The mattress width plus 4 inches	The same
The floor in front	Free for a desk, play space or a sofa	Used by the bed

These are Dwals’s stated planning rules. Our guide on how much space a wall bed needs explains how to measure your room step by step.

Vertical or horizontal

A vertical wall bed folds down lengthwise from a tall cabinet. A horizontal wall bed folds down sideways from a lower, wider cabinet. Dwals builds horizontal when the ceiling is under 7 ft 2 in, or when a window or beam is in the way.

Fixing it to the wall

A wall bed is fixed to the wall, because the wall holds the cabinet as the bed moves. Dwals fixes the cabinet with anchors sized for brick, RCC or block walls, through a few points along its back, with no civil work. If you rent, ask about the fixing method; Dwals can describe it in writing for your landlord or society.

What happens at installation and handover

Dwals makes each bed to your measurements in its own Pune factory, and our own team installs it. Installation takes one working day for a bed or a bed-and-sofa unit, and you can use the room the evening it finishes.

At installation, we set the strut force to your mattress. At handover, a professional shows everyone in the household how to open and close the bed, so the first time you do it, we’re in the room.

If you’d also like seating in the same space, our Murphy bed with sofa keeps a real three-seater in front of the bed by day — from ₹1,25,000, custom-built in Pune for Mumbai flats.

Before you choose one

A wall bed is fixed to your wall and used every day, so it’s worth asking any maker about the mechanism, the cabinet, the wall fixing, installation and service before you order. Our wall bed buying guide lists the questions to ask. If you are still deciding between a wall bed vs a normal bed, our comparison covers floor space, comfort and cost.

Talk it through with us

If you’re wondering whether a wall bed will work in your room, the quickest way to find out is to measure it. Dwals measures your wall for free and designs the bed around your room and your mattress.

Book your free space consultation today. Call or WhatsApp +91 906 706 5557, or email contact@dwals.in.

FAQ

What is a wall bed?

A wall bed is a proper bed with a standard mattress that folds up into a cabinet fixed to the wall when it’s not in use, and folds down to sleep on. It’s also called a Murphy bed. Closed, it frees the floor in front of it for other uses.

How does a wall bed open and close?

A lifting mechanism, usually gas struts or springs, carries the weight of the frame and mattress. On a Dwals bed, you pull the handle and guide the bed down with one hand; the struts damp the last few inches so it settles rather than drops. Closing works the same way in reverse.

What are gas struts?

Gas struts are sealed cylinders of compressed gas with a sliding piston rod. They push back against the weight of the bed, so you guide it rather than lift it. Dwals’s struts are rated for 300 kg and cycle-tested to 40,000 open-and-close cycles.

Does a wall bed need a special mattress?

No. A Dwals bed is built around a standard mattress: single 3×6, double 4×6, queen 5×6 or king 6×6 ft, in spring, foam or coir. Tell Dwals its thickness and weight at the measurement visit, so the strut force can be set to match.

How much space does a wall bed need?

Closed, a Dwals bed projects 12 inches from the wall. Open, it needs the same floor as a normal bed, plus room to walk past the foot. Measure your wall width, ceiling height and room depth before you choose.

Can one person open and close a wall bed?

A Dwals bed opens and closes with one hand. The struts carry the weight; you provide the direction. Opening takes about eight seconds, and closing about the same.

Is a wall bed the same as a sofa-cum-bed?

No. A sofa-cum-bed is a sofa that opens out into a bed. A wall bed is a proper bed with a standard mattress that folds into a wall cabinet. Some wall beds, including Dwals’s wall bed with sofa, keep a separate sofa in front of the bed.

What happens at handover?

Dwals’s own team installs the bed and sets the strut force to your mattress. At handover, a professional shows everyone in the household how to open and close it, so the first time you do it, someone from Dwals is in the room.