Hey everyone! Last week I shared how I teamed up with Rockler Woodworking and Hardware as well as PureBond plywood to build a gorgeous Modern Farmhouse Murphy Bed for my office. If you missed the tutorial, you can find that here. Today, I’m continuing on from that post and sharing the free plans and tutorial for the desk modifications. It took a lot of careful thought and consideration to come up with the modifications for the desk. There were a few really important elements that I needed to take into consideration. The most important being the ability to fit the entire Murphy Bed unit in the room and still be able to open and close the door. After all, our guests would probably appreciate a little privacy. I also wanted to make sure that there would still be enough space to sit at the desk if the Murphy bed was down. Mostly because I know my kids will enjoy laying on the bed reading books or playing games while I work in the office. Plus our guests may appreciate a place to sit and use a computer or work on anything without having to fold up the bed in order to use the desk. This left me with a 20″ desktop, which is 4″ narrower than the average width, but still plenty big enough to work at. You can download the free plans for the desk modifications here. They will walk you through every step of the desk modification build. I’ve included affiliate links to products I used in this post for your convenience.
The printable plans are very thorough, but everything is actually really easy to put together. Let’s get started, shall we?
I started by assembling the bookcase. You can see the rabbeted edges to allow for the 1/4″ plywood backing to sit flush against the back edges of the bookcase. I added the middle fixed shelf first. Since I was planning to paint the book case but stain that shelf, I did not glue it when I added my 1 1/4″ pocket screws. I did accidentally glue it to the shorter cabinet vertical which made for fun times when trying to take it off to stain it. Thankfully it all came apart without any plywood breaking apart. The reason for it being attached now is to provide some stabilization until the bookcase is ready to be painted/stained.
Next, I attached the bookcase top and header rails. You can see that I attached it so my pocket holes would be at the top of the book case. This saved me from having to fill them later when it was time to paint.
The bookcases from both the original plans and my modifications went together quickly and easily. I think I had them both put together within maybe 30 minutes to an hour. As you may remember from part one of the Murphy Bed project, I modified the height of the middle fixed shelf on the narrower book case to match the height of the fixed shelf on the modified book case. The idea of them not being at the same height would have driven me crazy! It meant changing the size of the bottom drawer for both book cases, which wasn’t hard at all.
Once the book cases were built, I built the desk cabinet. I attached the fixed bottom with 1 1/4″ pocket screws and wood glue. The top of the cabinet bottom should measure 5 1/4″ up from the bottom of the cabinet verticals. The bottom moulding will be flush with the top side of the fixed bottom.
I measured cut all of my bottom moulding to size and then set it in place and attached it with 1 1/4″ brad nails. I really love the look of this DIY moulding. It was so easy to make and I can customize it to any height I need!
I drilled pocket holes into the top of my cabinet sides with my Kreg R3, attached the plywood backing, and finished it off with paint.
To build the cabinet doors, I needed to add a dado groove into the inside edges of the rails and stiles. I used my router with a 1/4″ straight bit to accomplish this. For the stiles, I plunged the wood onto the router table approximately 1 1/2″ from the end and then lifted it up before I got to the other end. This made it so I didn’t have any holes to fill later on.
I attached the cabinet together with wood glue and 1 1/4″ pocket screws.
I drilled the holes for the cabinet hinges and hung the door. These hinges make it easy to adjust the door once it is hung, in case it doesn’t go in perfectly the first time. I found that two pennies on the bottom and sides of the door worked great to get the right gap.
I replaced the baseboards in the office before beginning this project. I left it off of the wall the Murphy Bed was going on, but didn’t think to do that on the side the desk was going on. I pushed the desk cabinet up against the baseboards where it would be going and marked the cut area with a pencil, then cut them out with a dovetail saw. It was definitely one of those face-palm moments where you realize the baseboards should have just been added later.
When the desk was ready to be assembled, we installed the rear cleat into the studs and then installed the front support rail. You can see that we gave the rear cleat a quick coat of paint to match the wall color and camouflage it a little. Pay no mind to the fact that the cabinet door is swinging the wrong direction. I realized my mistake later and had to flip the door around. Nobody ever said DIYers were perfect:)
The desk was secured to the cleat, rail, and desk cabinet with 1 1/4″ pocket screws.
To keep the desk from sagging under pressure where it met with the fixed shelf, I added a 1×3 over the seam and screwed 1 1/4″ screws from the under side to keep everything tight and secure.
I built all 7 of the drawers from 1/2″ plywood and gave the edges a good sanding to round them off a bit.
I originally planned to install the drawers with side mount drawer slides, but couldn’t find any at Home Depot. Being impatient and just wanting to get it done, I didn’t want to wait to order some, so I bought 12″ undermount drawer slides. NEVER AGAIN! After fighting a losing battle with three of the drawers, I gave up and hopped on Amazon and found some 12″ side mount drawer slides at a great price and got Prime shipping!
Once all of the drawers were installed, I added the drawer fronts and hardware. To get the gap just right on the drawers, I found that 2 pennies and a dime worked perfectly to get me just what I was looking for. If I needed to make an adjustment after installing the drawer fronts, I was able to easily do so by adjusting the drawer slides a little.
I am pretty much in love with how it all turned out. Not only do I now have a gorgeous guest bedroom, but a completely functional office space! The desk came together just as I had hoped and gave me everything I was wanting as far as workable desktop space and enough room to move around, even if the bed is down.
While this was definitely the biggest furniture project I’ve ever built, it wasn’t the hardest, so don’t let the size intimidate you. The printable plans I drew up as well as the plans from Rockler break down all of the steps and are easy to follow.
If you missed the earlier parts of this office remodel, you can find them all here:
Modern Farmhouse Office Remodel (The Plan)
Modern Farmhouse Murphy Bed (Part 1)
DISCLOSURE: This post was sponsored by Rockler Woodworking and Hardware and Purebond plywood. All opinions and ideas are 100% my own. This post also contains affiliate links for your convenience. Please read my disclosure statement for more information.
What an awesome idea! I love that you can still use the desk even with the bed down. Our guest room is in a room with really slanted ceilings, so we can’t use a Murphy bed. I really wish we could, because this would be the perfect solution!
Thank you so much! That’s unfortunate about your ceilings:( They do have Murphy bed hardware for a horizontal mount bed vs. the vertical mount I did. We were holding our breath when it came to lowering it past the ceiling fan. It just barely misses it!
This is fantastic – we’re going to be selling our home so we can downsize into a basic 400 Sq foot Tiny house . We were thinking of doing a Murphy bed to expand the possibilities with our square footage. I really like what you did here You could even add closets on each side of that bed. Well done the desk to the side is brilliant.
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Closets on each side are a great idea! I can see replacing the adjustable bookshelves with closet doors and keeping at least two of the drawers on each side for socks and underwear and maybe have one shelf for shoes:)
Nice work I really loved it and I might consider to make one for my daughter.
Thank you!
I absolutely love this. Can you please tell me the length and width of the entire unit? I’m wondering if there is any hope of it fitting into a 12 x 18′ space I have in mind. TY!
It’s approximately 125″ wide, so definitely able to fit into a 12×18 space as long as when you place it against the wall it doesn’t affect the swing of the door:)
Great post! We are hoping to combine our office and guest room and this looks like the best way to go. How much did you end up spending on materials? I’d like to price it out to see if this makes more sense than a day bed or couch bed.
Thank you!
I would love to build this in our new house! I am just a novice builder though — the biggest thing I have built is our current bed frame. Do you happen to have one plan where the bed and desk have been condensed into one? I am a little bit confused if I completely build the bed part and then go back in and modify one shelf side to add the desk??
Hi Megan, you can certainly build only the bed and not the desk. You can even build just the bed and not add the side bookcases. Rockler has both types of those plans on their site, which I’ve linked to in my blog post. I hope that helps!
What color and type of stain did you use?
I used Minwax Special Walnut stain and Minwax polyurethane
You do not have the measurements for the drawer bottoms on the plan. Could you provide these?
My apologies for missing that! For the drawer bottoms on the bookcases, they are 17″ x 12 3/8″. For the desk drawer, the dimensions are 17″ x 13 1/2″. With the 1/4″ dado groove, you would be subtracting 1/2″ from the overall dimensions of the drawer box to determine the size of the drawer bottom. Thank you for pointing those missing dimensions out to me. I’ll be sure to modify the plans. I’d love to see your finished Murphy bed photos!
Hello Katie – I’m in the painting stages of finishing this project build for my daughter and son-in-law. I’d like to share some of my experiences with your plans. Overall, the design is good. A couple of details were either incorrect math or missing altogether for the mod part. I see the comment about the missing drawer bottoms, which I won’t duplicate. The items I’ll mention are either to improve efficiency in time and /or materials.
1. The middle shelf in the bookcase can be cut to eliminate the dado in the rear. The back passes right over the shelf edge which can be nailed perfectly. 13 3/4″ deep, like the adjustable shelves will work. Same goes for the desk cabinet bottom shelf as well.
2. Desk cabinet door – Door dimensions are incorrect on your plans, specifically the door width. It appears it may have been designed for an overlay application, however all drawers are inset, so the door must be inset as well and as your build photos show. This means the door width must match the drawer front dimension (18 1/4″). Accordingly, the cut list on page 3 and dimensioned sketch on page 15 should be revised to reflect this change in dimension, otherwise door won’t fit.
Also, the cabinet hinges you linked to are not the correct hinge for an inset door. Amazon has a Blum inset hinge for about 15.00 pair, which I’m ordering today.
3. The Tall Drawer Front has to be assembled with pocket screws / glue, opposing growth rings and sanded flush. The parts are listed on page 3, but this process was not noted anywhere.
4. Also, add a 1 x 4 backstrap to the rear top of desk cabinet. This allows securing the cabinet to the wall instead of through the 1/4″ back only.
These are the biggies. Hope this helps others who attempt to build this design.
I’m only doing the modified plan bookcase / desk at this time, the bed I’ll do when they can save up enough for the materials.
Keep up the good work!
I have absolutely loved having these plans, so far they have turned out great! Thanks!
One question: Your cabinets are inset and I bought the hinges that your suggested in the link. From what I can tell they are overlay hinges. Are they adjustable or will I have to buy different ones?
Hi Julianne,
Yes, you would want inset hinges. I apologize if I said overlay and will correct that error in my post. I’d love to see photos of your completed project once you’re all done!
Thank you! I’ll be sure to share a photo once I’m done! I’ve tagged you in my updates on instagram. We found a Murphy bed for sale very cheap so we just ended up buying that piece. Hoping to add plywood eventually to give it that farmhouse look, but that will have to wait.
Hi, wondered if you could give an overall average price on the materials? Thank you.
Hi Jo Anne,
It’s hard to say at this point. It’s been about 3 years. I believe it was about $1500 in materials for the entire project.
Hi there! I’m excited to build this but I don’t see your plans for the Murphy bed. All three links go to the rockler plans.
Hi Ellen,
The plans for the Murphy bed are Rockler’s plans. The desk and book case modifications are linked to in this post.
Thank you so much for all the plans, they are great! Do you happen to have a picture with the bed down? Also do you know what color you painted the wall?
Hi Dan,
Thanks so much! Linked in the post is the first part of the project (building the bed and narrow bookcase), which includes photos of the bed both up and down. The walls are painted Sherwin Williams Mindful Grey.