After looking at several 5ers and a few MHs, Cindi and I are wondering about the space under the bed. Most, if not all, rigs have storage under them, accessible by lifting the bed. I recall once seeing a Gulfstream class A that had a Murphy bed type set up in which a desk/table folded down from the bed after it was tipped up to the wall. I thought this was quite cool in that the bedroom could now be repurposed into a office space or a crafting area away from the kitchen/living room space. For the bed to flip up to vertical the bed could not be in a slide.
So here's the question, these days most beds only tip up to about 45 degrees for storage access, is anybody out there using this space for a desk or similar? I have seen some furniture that might fit the bill, flipping the bed along it's length thus revealing a hidden desk vs from the end of bed which requires the bed to tip up to vertical before a desk/table can be flipped down but this would be impossible because most beds are in slideouts thus preventing an end tipping bed from fully rotating to the vertical position.
If anybody has seen or done such a "conversion", we'd love to see some pix. Any other recommendations appreciated.
Attention RV mfrs, this would be a great option on new rigs or mod to existing rigs.
I was thinking more along the lines of a built-in contraption, but the concept is along the lines we had in mind. The down sides for your suggestion are where do you store it when not in use and the desk surface is only 20 inches deep, not much room for many crafting projects or serious office type activities. The deepest fold out desk design we have seen is 24 inches but the Murphy bed concept I saw had a desk surface that was 30"x48" more than adequate for placing a sewing machine or doing other similar projects. So there is hope that something will fill the bill.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 12:07:26 PM
The Junkman said
12:44 PM Nov 13, 2014
Looks to be a ton of these folking desks on the market.. Maybe you can find one , and just store it under the bed.. as bonus, it will be mobile.. you can use it outside too..
Looks easy to make a custom one yourself ?
I have a "lifetime" small plastic table that has adjustable legs.. we use for what ever.. it's my work bench outside, right now..In fact, I have 3 folding tables with me.. finding I only need one..
-- Edited by The Junkman on Thursday 13th of November 2014 12:45:28 PM
NWescapee said
12:53 PM Nov 13, 2014
Brian - interesting concept. Question for you, is this something you want for just occasional use or every day?
While we never considered the bed area to be convertible into a desk, we did seriously consider a foldable work space inside what used to be the laundry closet. We eventually nixed that idea for a couple of reasons: 1 - if the table was folded out, accessing the bedroom would be impossible, accessing the bathroom would be difficult. 2- because we both still work full time, the thought of having to put everything away each night was not appealing. Now, not everyone works the way we do, I'm pretty good at putting my work stuff away each evening or at least having one small stack left on my desk, but my laptop is almost always left out. Dale frequently has work projects that are a bit more time consuming to put away, more tools, etc. and has found it more convenient to have a work bench with a tray that slides in where he can leave all the work in process, not to mention his stack of supplies, etc.
For occasional use, I think it would be a great idea, I can see using it for my scrapbooking. Today we use a folding 4x2 table for the occasional projects that can be set up in the bedroom or outside. It's the same table we use for outdoor dining when we don't have a picnic table, so it gets a lot of use and is easy to store away when not used.
-- Edited by NWescapee on Thursday 13th of November 2014 12:55:17 PM
BiggarView said
01:04 PM Nov 13, 2014
I have seen some that allow the desk to remain horizontal so that laptops and such don't even have to be put away, the whole thing rotates as the "murphy" portion is lifted so the desk area rests on the floor when not in use and is exposed when the bed is raised... a really sweet device. While not possible in a front bedroom 5er, the www.HiddenbedUSA.com Majestic Queen is one concept idea we are hoping to see some developement in, adapted to RVs.
Cindi is the crafter, so she's the one that would use the space mostly, however a wide open desk not in the living room would be nice because two disparate activities could be had without interfering with each other. I'm sure it would not be an everyday situation but frequent enough that it would be worthwhile to consider.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 01:15:54 PM
The Junkman said
01:51 PM Nov 13, 2014
How about a bunk house RV.. Now you have a whole room..or maybe the DRV full house.. toy hauler.. now you have room for whatever you want?
NWescapee said
02:25 PM Nov 13, 2014
Brian - Love to see what you come up with, cool idea. Now, our only issue with this would be if that were my desk, it means Dale would be getting up much earlier so I could "go to work"! LOL, as the self-employed artist his morning sleep hours tend to extend longer than my Corporate job allows. We could make that into Dale's desk, but would want a way to cover the items on the desk, he works with some very small components at times, leaving those on a desk under the bed could spell all night play time for Tazzy Kat as she can't resist turning anything small left on the floor or near the floor into kitty toys.
One other idea that another artist mentioned to me one time was a table built to go across the foot of the bed that could be collapsed and transported. In his case, he also used it as a display table in his booth during art shows, working space for the days between art shows when he was on the road in his RV away from his normal studio space. He used IKEA components, adjustable table legs attached to shelves that could interlock. He used 2 shelves that interlocked in the middle of the bed, 4 table legs, so when disassembled he had 2 short shelves and 4 table legs. When he would set it up for outdoor art shows, he added 2 extra table legs in the middle to provide a little more support if it were windy outside. He said the middle of the shelf "sagged" just a bit but for his working space inside the RV it worked well for him.
Good luck!
BiggarView said
05:46 PM Nov 13, 2014
Ruth, that's an interesting thought. I've been kicking around some designs as concept and we've seen some IKEA stuff that may work. Fortunately, we have lots of time to work out the details. We don't have Josie curiousity issues, so I doubt we'll have to worry about her using such things as chew toys. She knows which are hers. Whew!!!
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 06:34:10 PM
Bed retracts into the cabinet then you flip down a desk. Slick. Would definitely have to be redesigned to fit into a RV but I don't see any real problems that can't be overcome. The only downside I can see would be the "sleep quality" of the mattress.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 06:32:39 PM
Jack Mayer said
11:01 AM Nov 14, 2014
The issue is one of vertical space. Most 5ers do not have enough room on the upper deck for a "comfortable" bed to be "Murphy'ed", if that is a word. An MH, maybe, but even many of them only have limited headspace.
Diana and Jim said
02:58 PM Nov 14, 2014
Brian,
I'm betting you could mount a Sleep Number mattress to one of those. I think Jack is right about the height...especially if there is a slide involved.
Jim
BiggarView said
03:54 PM Nov 14, 2014
I agree. The Zoom Room bed in stock form is definitely taller than the available space in almost every 5er's front bedroom, especially if using it in a slide.... However, the stock unit is 24 inches deep. using the same basic idea but make bed retract in to about 18 inches in front of the unit and then flipping down a desk to rest on the bed's footboard for support would reduce vertical requirement by 18 inches, so now it might actually work. If the unit is in a slide, the height issue becomes more of a problem. My biggest concern still remains the quality of the mattress that will work in the design.
I haven't paid too much attention to the space available inside the front bedroom slides from top to bottom and I suspect that will be the critical dimension to work with. If it's at least tall enough to tip a king mattress (but more likely a queen) on it's side then I can see more options for desks or tables mounted under it, that fold down from the bed after it has been tipped on its side. It's definitely a solvable engineering problem, and I think many people would be interested in it as an new RV option or a retrofit.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Friday 14th of November 2014 03:56:24 PM
Diana and Jim said
04:31 PM Nov 14, 2014
If the back of the unit attached to the face of the slide, it might work. Our Sleep Number mattress is really flexible, and I think it could work in this situation....although a 90 degree flex every day might destroy the foam sides.
Jim
Terry and Jo said
11:02 AM Nov 15, 2014
Diana and Jim wrote:
If the back of the unit attached to the face of the slide, it might work. Our Sleep Number mattress is really flexible, and I think it could work in this situation....although a 90 degree flex every day might destroy the foam sides.
Jim
In addition to the foam sides surrounding the air bladders, there would also be an issue because of the air pump and the hoses from it to the head of the bed. One would also have to deal the power cord for the pump.
There's no way this would work for us because I like my bed firm.....like a setting of 100 firm.
Terry
Camper Chronicles said
05:09 AM Nov 16, 2014
Brian I love this idea..although I see the point about one person not being able to sleep in. We just moved our sticks and bricks mattress into the camper. Lee has a bad back so it is super firm and very thick. Love the new matress but don't think it would stay up all day every day. My other thought is separation of space...sometimes you want to go to separate rooms and this could cause issues. I am super happy with using half of the front living room model as a desk work area. The desk area is nice and big and is permanent versus something your constantly pulling out. If you spend a ton of time on a computer as we do...I would look for something that would be out all the time.
BiggarView said
07:29 AM Nov 16, 2014
I used to like having a desk to do office type "work" at home. Back then I had a tower CPU etc and paper files and so forth. As the times have gone digital so has the need for all that space shrunk to the point where can do just about all I need on a laptop sitting on the sofa. Cindi likes having a desk more than I, but then she is more the professional than I am. Plus she does crafting projects than require space to do. Having dedicated space for this helps. So a permanent desk is also under consideration. This thinking exercise is my attempt to work outside the typical box, something I enjoy doing. My love of designing and building things to fill a need has been a rewarding activity. I just gotta know how things work so disection and construction of a better way is fun... to me. Cindi has mentioned her concern that doing her crafting in the living room space would interfere with my watching TV (when I'm actually doing that) and I have reassured her that we'll find a workable solution. Cindi says I should channel that engineering talent into being an RV tech when we retire... getting a formal certification seems like too much "work" to me. So I'll continue to look at the ways things are and find better ways to use what is there or redesign it to fit the need the need.
Like you, I had envisoned ripping out a couch and replacing it with built in desk for Cindi. The front living room 5ers out there have more square footage for doing that without crowding the other activities that typically go on there and we were initially drawn to them, but lack of basement storage concerned us. Now some of the those offer storage under the rear bedroom so that problem has been mostly eliminated. Cindi wanted more food prep and counter space plus pantry storage space than the kitchens in the front living models had so we are looking at ways around that issue. Since the kitchen is her "baby" (I personally place priority on function over space), what Cindi wants in this area, Cindi will likely get. Like you, I know Cindi does have some issues with small spaces but they are not insurmountable.
But I digress. with rear bedroom in the 5er, there should be more room ther for a full blown murphy bed type arrangement. I'll need to get some dimensions next time we look at a couple of them.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Sunday 16th of November 2014 07:33:10 AM
Terry and Jo said
09:34 AM Nov 16, 2014
Brian,
Just for informational purposes, check out the photos at the link below to our 2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3. Its design includes a small desk area, as well as a peninsula counter, an entertainment area with a TV that stores below the cabinet, and of course, the dining room table. The pictures aren't organized very well, so you'll see lots of pictures of things not related to the counter space as you go through the photos.
Jo likes to sew and has an embroidery machine, a sewing machine, and a serger. We replaced the rear couch and have ended up with a small recliner and Jo's sewing center (home-made) in the rear of the coach. When she needs to use all three machines, we have a small folding table that she places over the seating area of the recliner for the two extra machines. When she needs space for all the things she is doing, she has lots of "flat surfaces" available for those uses when one considers the kitchen counter, the dining room table and the entertainment center area.
The main thing to remember is that one can learn to adapt to the space that they have.
Terry
BiggarView said
11:00 AM Nov 16, 2014
Terry, we like the sewing center idea and it is also under consideration. We have had many conversations about space and the ways we can configure it for our particular situation. Even this morning we talked about it in the framework of being "banished" to the bedroom while a sewing project was going on.... My reply, "You know there is a pause button on the DVR or thankfully TV shows have sponsors so I can use the facilities or fridge surf during the commercials." We had a good laugh.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Sunday 16th of November 2014 04:52:44 PM
The Junkman said
03:34 PM Nov 16, 2014
Maybe a simular set up to the 50's drop down ironing board. Should be able to do that in any rv.
NWescapee said
11:09 AM Nov 17, 2014
Brian - Technomadia has pictures of different work spaces and ideas on how other RV'ers have used space differently than the manufacturer intended. Might give you yet more ideas since you have all this time to plan.
Unfortunately the area under our bed is already full - hatch to the top of the Cummins Engine.
Barb
TRAILERKING said
04:22 PM Nov 17, 2014
Barbaraok wrote:
Unfortunately the area under our bed is already full - hatch to the top of the Cummins Engine.
Barb
Yeah...........We store a Cummins under our bed too. There is a lot of room under the bed and all around the engine hatch area but I don't know what to store in there. I guess never needed to use it yet.......We have lots of room with all the cabinetry and basement area.
After looking at several 5ers and a few MHs, Cindi and I are wondering about the space under the bed. Most, if not all, rigs have storage under them, accessible by lifting the bed. I recall once seeing a Gulfstream class A that had a Murphy bed type set up in which a desk/table folded down from the bed after it was tipped up to the wall. I thought this was quite cool in that the bedroom could now be repurposed into a office space or a crafting area away from the kitchen/living room space. For the bed to flip up to vertical the bed could not be in a slide.
So here's the question, these days most beds only tip up to about 45 degrees for storage access, is anybody out there using this space for a desk or similar? I have seen some furniture that might fit the bill, flipping the bed along it's length thus revealing a hidden desk vs from the end of bed which requires the bed to tip up to vertical before a desk/table can be flipped down but this would be impossible because most beds are in slideouts thus preventing an end tipping bed from fully rotating to the vertical position.
If anybody has seen or done such a "conversion", we'd love to see some pix. Any other recommendations appreciated.
Attention RV mfrs, this would be a great option on new rigs or mod to existing rigs.
Brian
www.target.com/p/winsome-folding-computer-desk-natural/-/A-10462930
I was thinking more along the lines of a built-in contraption, but the concept is along the lines we had in mind. The down sides for your suggestion are where do you store it when not in use and the desk surface is only 20 inches deep, not much room for many crafting projects or serious office type activities. The deepest fold out desk design we have seen is 24 inches but the Murphy bed concept I saw had a desk surface that was 30"x48" more than adequate for placing a sewing machine or doing other similar projects. So there is hope that something will fill the bill.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 12:07:26 PM
Looks to be a ton of these folking desks on the market.. Maybe you can find one , and just store it under the bed.. as bonus, it will be mobile.. you can use it outside too..
Looks easy to make a custom one yourself ?
I have a "lifetime" small plastic table that has adjustable legs.. we use for what ever.. it's my work bench outside, right now..In fact, I have 3 folding tables with me.. finding I only need one..
-- Edited by The Junkman on Thursday 13th of November 2014 12:45:28 PM
Brian - interesting concept. Question for you, is this something you want for just occasional use or every day?
While we never considered the bed area to be convertible into a desk, we did seriously consider a foldable work space inside what used to be the laundry closet. We eventually nixed that idea for a couple of reasons: 1 - if the table was folded out, accessing the bedroom would be impossible, accessing the bathroom would be difficult. 2- because we both still work full time, the thought of having to put everything away each night was not appealing. Now, not everyone works the way we do, I'm pretty good at putting my work stuff away each evening or at least having one small stack left on my desk, but my laptop is almost always left out. Dale frequently has work projects that are a bit more time consuming to put away, more tools, etc. and has found it more convenient to have a work bench with a tray that slides in where he can leave all the work in process, not to mention his stack of supplies, etc.
For occasional use, I think it would be a great idea, I can see using it for my scrapbooking. Today we use a folding 4x2 table for the occasional projects that can be set up in the bedroom or outside. It's the same table we use for outdoor dining when we don't have a picnic table, so it gets a lot of use and is easy to store away when not used.
-- Edited by NWescapee on Thursday 13th of November 2014 12:55:17 PM
I have seen some that allow the desk to remain horizontal so that laptops and such don't even have to be put away, the whole thing rotates as the "murphy" portion is lifted so the desk area rests on the floor when not in use and is exposed when the bed is raised... a really sweet device. While not possible in a front bedroom 5er, the www.HiddenbedUSA.com Majestic Queen is one concept idea we are hoping to see some developement in, adapted to RVs.
Cindi is the crafter, so she's the one that would use the space mostly, however a wide open desk not in the living room would be nice because two disparate activities could be had without interfering with each other. I'm sure it would not be an everyday situation but frequent enough that it would be worthwhile to consider.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 01:15:54 PM
One other idea that another artist mentioned to me one time was a table built to go across the foot of the bed that could be collapsed and transported. In his case, he also used it as a display table in his booth during art shows, working space for the days between art shows when he was on the road in his RV away from his normal studio space. He used IKEA components, adjustable table legs attached to shelves that could interlock. He used 2 shelves that interlocked in the middle of the bed, 4 table legs, so when disassembled he had 2 short shelves and 4 table legs. When he would set it up for outdoor art shows, he added 2 extra table legs in the middle to provide a little more support if it were windy outside. He said the middle of the shelf "sagged" just a bit but for his working space inside the RV it worked well for him.
Good luck!
Ruth, that's an interesting thought. I've been kicking around some designs as concept and we've seen some IKEA stuff that may work. Fortunately, we have lots of time to work out the details. We don't have Josie curiousity issues, so I doubt we'll have to worry about her using such things as chew toys. She knows which are hers. Whew!!!
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 06:34:10 PM
Just found this idea....
http://www.spacesandiego.com/products-zoom-room.html
Bed retracts into the cabinet then you flip down a desk. Slick. Would definitely have to be redesigned to fit into a RV but I don't see any real problems that can't be overcome. The only downside I can see would be the "sleep quality" of the mattress.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Thursday 13th of November 2014 06:32:39 PM
I'm betting you could mount a Sleep Number mattress to one of those. I think Jack is right about the height...especially if there is a slide involved.
Jim
I agree. The Zoom Room bed in stock form is definitely taller than the available space in almost every 5er's front bedroom, especially if using it in a slide.... However, the stock unit is 24 inches deep. using the same basic idea but make bed retract in to about 18 inches in front of the unit and then flipping down a desk to rest on the bed's footboard for support would reduce vertical requirement by 18 inches, so now it might actually work. If the unit is in a slide, the height issue becomes more of a problem. My biggest concern still remains the quality of the mattress that will work in the design.
I haven't paid too much attention to the space available inside the front bedroom slides from top to bottom and I suspect that will be the critical dimension to work with. If it's at least tall enough to tip a king mattress (but more likely a queen) on it's side then I can see more options for desks or tables mounted under it, that fold down from the bed after it has been tipped on its side. It's definitely a solvable engineering problem, and I think many people would be interested in it as an new RV option or a retrofit.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Friday 14th of November 2014 03:56:24 PM
Jim
In addition to the foam sides surrounding the air bladders, there would also be an issue because of the air pump and the hoses from it to the head of the bed. One would also have to deal the power cord for the pump.
There's no way this would work for us because I like my bed firm.....like a setting of 100 firm.
Terry
I used to like having a desk to do office type "work" at home. Back then I had a tower CPU etc and paper files and so forth. As the times have gone digital so has the need for all that space shrunk to the point where can do just about all I need on a laptop sitting on the sofa. Cindi likes having a desk more than I, but then she is more the professional than I am. Plus she does crafting projects than require space to do. Having dedicated space for this helps. So a permanent desk is also under consideration. This thinking exercise is my attempt to work outside the typical box, something I enjoy doing. My love of designing and building things to fill a need has been a rewarding activity. I just gotta know how things work so disection and construction of a better way is fun... to me. Cindi has mentioned her concern that doing her crafting in the living room space would interfere with my watching TV (when I'm actually doing that) and I have reassured her that we'll find a workable solution. Cindi says I should channel that engineering talent into being an RV tech when we retire... getting a formal certification seems like too much "work" to me. So I'll continue to look at the ways things are and find better ways to use what is there or redesign it to fit the need the need.
Like you, I had envisoned ripping out a couch and replacing it with built in desk for Cindi. The front living room 5ers out there have more square footage for doing that without crowding the other activities that typically go on there and we were initially drawn to them, but lack of basement storage concerned us. Now some of the those offer storage under the rear bedroom so that problem has been mostly eliminated. Cindi wanted more food prep and counter space plus pantry storage space than the kitchens in the front living models had so we are looking at ways around that issue. Since the kitchen is her "baby" (I personally place priority on function over space), what Cindi wants in this area, Cindi will likely get.
Like you, I know Cindi does have some issues with small spaces but they are not insurmountable.
But I digress. with rear bedroom in the 5er, there should be more room ther for a full blown murphy bed type arrangement. I'll need to get some dimensions next time we look at a couple of them.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Sunday 16th of November 2014 07:33:10 AM
Brian,
Just for informational purposes, check out the photos at the link below to our 2010 Mobile Suites 38TKSB3. Its design includes a small desk area, as well as a peninsula counter, an entertainment area with a TV that stores below the cabinet, and of course, the dining room table. The pictures aren't organized very well, so you'll see lots of pictures of things not related to the counter space as you go through the photos.
Our New Home
Jo likes to sew and has an embroidery machine, a sewing machine, and a serger. We replaced the rear couch and have ended up with a small recliner and Jo's sewing center (home-made) in the rear of the coach. When she needs to use all three machines, we have a small folding table that she places over the seating area of the recliner for the two extra machines. When she needs space for all the things she is doing, she has lots of "flat surfaces" available for those uses when one considers the kitchen counter, the dining room table and the entertainment center area.
The main thing to remember is that one can learn to adapt to the space that they have.
Terry
Terry, we like the sewing center idea and it is also under consideration. We have had many conversations about space and the ways we can configure it for our particular situation. Even this morning we talked about it in the framework of being "banished" to the bedroom while a sewing project was going on.... My reply, "You know there is a pause button on the DVR or thankfully TV shows have sponsors so I can use the facilities or fridge surf during the commercials." We had a good laugh.
-- Edited by biggaRView on Sunday 16th of November 2014 04:52:44 PM
www.technomadia.com/full-time-rving-workspaces/
Unfortunately the area under our bed is already full - hatch to the top of the Cummins Engine.
Barb
Yeah...........We store a Cummins under our bed too. There is a lot of room under the bed and all around the engine hatch area but I don't know what to store in there. I guess never needed to use it yet.......We have lots of room with all the cabinetry and basement area.