Murphy bed sofa storage area?

[fella10]

has anyone done any sort of mod to the storage area under the Murphy bed sofa,..... there's a lot of space under there and yet that plastic drawer only uses a small amount of that space,.....I just figure someone out there must have come up with an idea of how to take better advantage of that space than what the plastic drawer does, ....if you have, please share.....thanks

[rmac04401]

Do you have pics? This is what I did under my queen bed.
Put these under each side IKEA drawers

[iluvlcy]

Here is what we did to our 2011. Cut board in half added hinges put 4 bins underneath for games, hiking stuff, etc., good place to keep shoes as well. Excuse the mess, we are camping.
Also we use an over door hook to hang our fan.



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[fella10]

rmac04401....with the Murphy bed we don't have an open area under the queen bed, the sofa lays flat and takes up the area under the Murphy bed, and the storage area under the sofa is where I was asking about.......

iluvlcy.....I was thinking about hinging the front piece to swing up or to swing down, or to even fix it to lift and remove out of the way when we want access to that storage area under the sofa, but I hadn't considered cutting it in half and opening that way,.....and it looks like you've removed the plastic drawer, I would certainly do that also,.....thanks, you've given me another idea to think about

[rockinron]

i removed the 4 screws holding the kick panel in place and used Velcro to secure the panel. I keep 6 folding camp chairs under the sofa and have never had the panel come off during moving. Works like a charm. I would post pics but the trailer is down at the campground 2 hrs away. Simple and easy!

[fella10]

Originally Posted by rockinron

i removed the 4 screws holding the kick panel in place and used Velcro to secure the panel. I keep 6 folding camp chairs under the sofa and have never had the panel come off during moving. Works like a charm. I would post pics but the trailer is down at the campground 2 hrs away. Simple and easy!

I had assumed all the sofa's related to the Murphy beds would be alike, but what you describe about removing the 4 screws, plus the photos from iluvlcy show that yall don't have the plastic drawer that I had mentioned in the original post,......I can't supply a photo right now because during our trip last week a weld broke on the Murphy Bed aluminum frame and I have the whole frame removed preparing to take to a local welding shop,.....but the kick panel is the drawer front to a small plastic drawer that slides out and is only intended for small items,......that design also has a steel bar that runs across the front of the sofa about 1" off the floor and is there to add strength for the drawer slide, iluvlcy's photos don't show that bar at all,.....anyway yall have given me some ideas I will consider just as soon as I can get the bed frame welded and back installed(still under warranty, so I gotta get FR to pay for the welding job),.......thanks for your post

[iluvlcy]

You are right we did not have a drawer and the panel just hung on the upper sofa frame below cushions . Tried to find a pic of your sofa configuration, none,but I sure like the layout in yours. Dont see why you couldn't remove drawer system and still use front panel.


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[fella10]

Originally Posted by iluvlcy

Dont see why you couldn't remove drawer system and still use front panel.

yes, I agree and that's what I plan to do and because of the way mine is designed, using the Velcro may be the best way to keep the front panel in place,...I don't have an area to use hinges without further modification,... I think using the Tote bins is a better way to take advantage of the storage area than the drawer does, but the support bar will restrict the size of Tote that will fit into that area,...will have to play with it to see what works best, .....gotta get the bed frame welded first, whole trailer is messed up right now because of doing that repair,...will post pics when I can

[rockinron]

I originally thought about hinging the panel but not alot of room near the end wall by the kitchenette to really utilize. I see they changed the sofa's over the years. Mine is a 2012 Coachmen Catalina 22FB. The so called "Engineers" certainly do not think about the logistics to put items into these storage areas. before doing my mod we needed two people to store anything under the sofa. One to hole the dam thing in a semi open position and the other to store items. Can not tell you how many times i got my arm caught up under a falling sofa. Not fun at all!!!

Ron

[fella10]

this is our sofa w/drawer, also shows the bar across the bottom

[fella10]

had to get the bed frame fixed first, but now have finally solved what to do with the storage area under the sofa,....turned out great,.... removed the drawer and the kick plate from it, hinged the kick plate with pieces of rubber to allow for flex,....it swings up into place with a snug enough fit that I don't think I'll need the velcro, but easy to add later if needed to hold it up,.....very large storage area utilized, .....will hold 4 of the large tubs in back and 6 of those in front all at one time with room to spare or any other combination of the two sizes,....her stuff, her stuff, shoes, her stuff, her stuff, tools, her stuff, her stuff, you get the point.................shes happy

[53flattie]

Fella10 - do you not have the support bar running just below the drawer? Or did you remove it?


2015 Rockwood 2306
2015 Tundra CrewMax

[fella10]

Originally Posted by 53flattie

Fella10 - do you not have the support bar running just below the drawer? Or did you remove it?

I did not remove it, on the last photo you can see where the wood is screwed into that bar from the side,...I ripped a 2x4 to fit down to the floor and then cut it to be thick enough to extend out equal to where the two top stops are at the top corners,....that created a solid point to hold the door in place at the bottom,....a little difficult to explain without photos, but solid hinges wouldn't work and the rubber holds the door in place and yet allows for flex when the door swings down, ..... very pleased with the results,....

[iluvlcy]

Looks great! So much more room.

[rockinron]

Wow looks great
Awesome job. You have to wonder who thinks up the plant for these trailers. Look at the cheap thin black metal covers for the stove top they try to sell you. I made my own cover using a sink counter top. Covers the stove and one side of the double sink. Now the wife has all kinds of counter to prep meals and the table can be used.

[MudyOvl]

Fella10 et al, thank you for the inspiration and direction to take this project on. I removed the drawer and front facia from under our couch as well. I modified some hinges to secure the front facia to the lower cross-bar and still swing down to allow full access to the new and improved storage area. I can post pics later if anyone would like to see the modification.

My question is this. While making this mod, I noticed that our couch seat was sagging about 1-1/2" lower in the middle compared to the sides (by the arms). I noticed the front tube of the seat frame was bent. Upon closer inspection, I noticed two end joints (see brackets in pictures) were unused and it appears they are supposed to secure a bar that travels across the entire width of the couch. Can anyone tell me if our trailer is missing this support bar? It's lack of presence would give reason to the bending of the front frame tube.

Thank you for any feedback.

[fella10]

Originally Posted by MudyOvl

My question is this. While making this mod, I noticed that our couch seat was sagging about 1-1/2" lower in the middle compared to the sides (by the arms). I noticed the front tube of the seat frame was bent. Upon closer inspection, I noticed two end joints (see brackets in pictures) were unused and it appears they are supposed to secure a bar that travels across the entire width of the couch. Can anyone tell me if our trailer is missing this support bar? It's lack of presence would give reason to the bending of the front frame tube.

I had to go and look, but no, our sofa is the same as yours,...no bar across that front area, .....

[MudyOvl]

Thanks Fella10!

[fella10]

Originally Posted by MudyOvl

My question is this. While making this mod, I noticed that our couch seat was sagging about 1-1/2" lower in the middle compared to the sides (by the arms). I noticed the front tube of the seat frame was bent. Upon closer inspection, I noticed two end joints (see brackets in pictures) were unused and it appears they are supposed to secure a bar that travels across the entire width of the couch. Can anyone tell me if our trailer is missing this support bar? It's lack of presence would give reason to the bending of the front frame tube.

MudyOvl, even though our sofa bar isn't bent as you described, because you brought to our attention, I can certainly see how it could happen and the benefit of some sort of extra support in that area. I attached an additional "post", to support in the middle of that bar. Its attached to the fold-down door and when the door is up the post is resting on the wood piece at the bottom and the bar is resting on the post. Works great and adds a little bit of confidence that the bar is better supported than it was when it came from the factory, and hopefully it will prevent it from ever getting bent.................

[MudyOvl]

fella10,
Nice addition to your modification. I agree having the support post provides a more solid feeling when sitting down on couch. Sadly, the format of my modification does not lend itself to such an elegant solution as yours. Instead I used a 2x4 cut to the proper height and it is held in place between the lower cross bar and the facia. It holds really well, but has to be removed before I can lower the facia to access the storage bins. It works, but yearns for improvement, but that's a project for later down the line.