Wall Bed for a Geelong B&B: A Clever Way to Create Flexible Guest Accommodation
Wall beds aren’t only about making a small bedroom feel bigger. Sometimes they’re about not having a permanent bedroom at all.
This recent wall bed installation in Geelong is a great example. The owners have created an impressive self-contained B&B-style guest area at the rear of their property, complete with a kitchen, polished concrete floors and even a spa.
The challenge was simple: they wanted guests to have a proper queen-size bed and useful storage without having a conventional bed permanently occupying the room. The solution was a queen wall bed with matching storage cabinetry. Guests can pull the bed down at night, sleep on a proper mattress and then put it away again in the morning.
Suddenly, the bedroom becomes a spacious living area again.
A Queen Bed That’s Ready When Guests Arrive
One of the misconceptions about wall beds is that they’re complicated to use. They’re not. This queen wall bed can remain made up while it’s stored vertically. Apart from removing the pillows, there’s no need to strip the bedding every morning.
When it’s time for bed, simply pull the wall bed down and it’s ready to use. In the morning, make the bed, remove the pillows and return it to the upright position.
For B&Bs, holiday rentals and guest accommodation, that’s particularly useful. A conventional queen bed consumes a substantial amount of floor space 24 hours a day. A wall bed only takes over the room when somebody is actually sleeping. For the rest of the day, that floor space is available again.
Built-In Storage for Overnight Guests
Of course, people staying overnight need more than somewhere to sleep. That’s why this installation also incorporates two storage cabinets alongside the wall bed. One section provides hanging space, giving guests somewhere to unpack shirts, jackets or other clothes they’d prefer not to leave in a suitcase.
The other provides shelving for folded clothes and personal belongings. It’s not trying to replicate a huge walk-in wardrobe – nor does it need to. For short-stay accommodation, the aim is to provide enough practical storage for someone to unpack the things they need and feel comfortable during their stay. Together, the wall bed and cabinetry effectively create a compact bedroom that can almost disappear when it isn’t required.
Designed to Match the Rest of the Room
This particular project was very design-conscious. The wall bed cabinetry uses a premium Classic White Ash grain finish rather than a standard plain white board. It’s subtle, but up close there’s a visible grain through the surface that gives the cabinetry more character.
The owners were also particular about the handles. You’ll notice in the installation photograph that handles haven’t yet been fitted to the wall bed or adjoining cabinets. That’s deliberate.
The room also includes a kitchen, so rather than fitting different handles to the wall bed, the cabinetmaker will install matching handles across the kitchen and wall bed cabinetry. It’s a relatively small decision, but exactly the sort of detail that helps make built-in furniture look like part of the architecture rather than something added later.
Going One Step Further With a Finished End Panel
There’s another detail on this installation that you probably wouldn’t notice unless somebody pointed it out. Wall bed mechanisms need to be securely fixed into the cabinetry. Normally, the fixing points on an exposed end can be finished with matching cover caps. That’s perfectly acceptable for the vast majority of installations. These owners wanted an even cleaner finish.
A matching finished end panel was therefore added over the exposed side of the unit, concealing the mechanical fixing points altogether. It’s an optional extra and certainly isn’t necessary on every wall bed. But in a high-end interior where the side of the wall bed is clearly visible, it can provide that final built-in appearance.
An Installation Isn’t Always as Simple as It Looks
This Geelong installation also provided a good example of why experience matters when installing custom cabinetry. When the wall bed was originally measured, the property was still being completed and the concrete floor hadn’t yet received its final polish.
Once the flooring contractors finished their work, a small section of concrete near the wall remained several millimetres higher than the surrounding polished floor. Several millimetres doesn’t sound like much. With large fitted cabinetry, it matters.
When the installers positioned the wall bed and cabinets, the raised section prevented the units from sitting correctly against the wall. Rather than compromising the installation, the cabinetry was carefully modified on site so it could accommodate the uneven section while still sitting level and correctly positioned. Once completed, you’d never know there had been a problem. That’s the point.
Custom installations don’t always happen in perfectly square rooms with perfectly flat floors. Sometimes the real skill is dealing with the things nobody could see when the job was originally measured.
Wall Beds Make Sense for Short-Stay Accommodation
This project highlights a use for wall beds that deserves more attention. If you’re designing an Airbnb, B&B, holiday rental, granny flat or guest suite, ask yourself whether the bed really needs to occupy the room permanently. In many cases, it doesn’t. A wall bed can allow one space to perform several jobs. During the day, guests have a larger living area.At night, they have a proper queen-size bed.
When the accommodation isn’t being used, the owner isn’t left with an entire room dominated by a bed. And unlike many temporary sleeping solutions, a wall bed uses a conventional mattress rather than asking guests to spend the night on a fold-out sofa.
Getting More From a Guest Room
The finished Geelong installation is deceptively simple. When everything is closed, you see a clean bank of white cabinetry running along the wall. Behind it is a queen-size bed, hanging space and shelving ready for the next guest. Pull the bed down and you’ve got a comfortable bedroom. Put it away and you’ve got the room back.
That’s exactly what a good wall bed should do. If you’re planning guest accommodation, a B&B, holiday rental or multipurpose room in Geelong, Melbourne or elsewhere in Victoria, a wall bed can be worth considering before automatically designing the room around a permanent bed.
Sometimes the best way to create an extra bedroom is to create one that doesn’t have to be there all the time.
