No joke, this Murphy bed folds into a cabinet

Sunset, March, 1992 by Peter O. Whiteley

MURPHY BEDS HAVE LONG been vehicles for comedy sketches. They've also long been space-savers that can turn any small room into a part-time bedroom. This contemporary version is part of a storage wall in a small family room in Encino, California.

The custom cabinets were built off-site and joined during installation. Varying in width, depth, and height, they fill one wall with a sculptural composition of squares, rectangles, and a partially cantilevered triangular pediment.

Masked behind the center section is a 65-inch-wide bed that eases down on spring-tensioned hardware. The bed stores in the 85 1/2-inch-tall gray section embellished with three red squares that serve as handles, and is capped with part of the offset black triangle. All the cabinetry is covered with plastic laminate.

Cabinet design: Arlene Orlansky, Daniel's Interiors, San Diego.