Richmond upon Thames · London
Wall beds in Barnes, Richmond upon Thames
Thinking about wall beds in Barnes? We start with a design visit and a written quote.
- A studio that works by day and night
- A flexible room for a growing family
- A guest room that sits empty most of the time
Wall beds designed for your room
Wall beds for homes in Barnes
A wall bed, sometimes called a Murphy bed, lifts up into a cabinet during the day and comes down when it’s time to sleep. It lets one room do two jobs, such as a spare room that is also a study. We build the cabinet around the bed to suit the room and paint it in a colour you choose. If you are living with a study that doubles as a spare room and a storage wall with a bed inside, wall beds made from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood, spray-painted or hand-painted can solve it.
Ceilings in homes built before 1919 are often tall, and a large share of homes around Barnes are that old. Fitted furniture can run right up to the ceiling or the cornice, with high storage for the things you use least. Original mouldings are worked around rather than removed, so the furniture suits the house.
The furniture is built in our workshop after you have had the quote and decided to go ahead. The quote sets out the agreed design, materials and finish, so you can check every detail beforehand.
- Place
- Barnes (SW13, SW15, SW14)
- Borough
- Richmond upon Thames
- Price
- Quoted for your room
- First step
- Design visit, then a written quote
- Where it’s made
- Made in our workshop and fitted on site
- Materials and finish
- MDF and plywood, painted to order
- When we fit
- Weekdays (Saturdays if arranged)
- Get in touch
- Our contact form
- Last updated
- 27 October 2026
Your questions about wall beds in Barnes
Can parking be tricky on fitting day in Barnes?
It depends on the street, as many London boroughs run controlled parking zones. A van may need a visitor permit, a pay-and-display bay or a suspended bay, which the council arranges, often with notice. Let us know what parking is near you at the design visit.
Do you cover homes near Barnes Bridge station?
Yes, homes across Richmond upon Thames and the rest of London are within the area we cover. To get started, you can tell us about the room on our contact form with a few details about the room, and tell us about parking and access at the same time.
What finishes do you offer?
There are two choices: a spray finish from the workshop, which is smooth and even, or hand painting, which can be done in your home. Your quote sets out which you have chosen.
Do I need permission in a conservation area?
Normally not. Inside a house, fitted furniture does not normally need planning permission. If the building is listed, works affecting its character can need listed building consent.
How much room do I need in front of a wall bed?
That depends on the size of the bed. We measure up and make sure the bed has room to fold down.
Do I need the building owner’s consent?
Possibly. Leases vary, and some require the building owner’s consent for alterations. Your lease is something we can’t advise on, so check it or ask your managing agent.
Other services in Barnes
Do you need wall beds in Barnes?
Some people are tired of sofa beds. A wall bed takes a proper mattress, chosen to suit its mechanism, and the bed sits flat on its frame.
Wall beds can help with:
- A playroom that can sleep visitors
- A bed that fills a little-used room
- More floor space in a studio flat
- A real mattress for visitors
Chiswick House, about 0.9 miles north-west, is one of the historic houses in the wider area. For a period home anywhere nearby, a bedroom chimney breast and its alcoves often shape where wall beds go.
Questions to ask before you hire anyone
- How the furniture will be finished, and where
- How the doors are hung and adjusted
- Whether you’ll get a quote in writing, not just a figure
- Who does any electrics, plumbing or gas work
Caring for painted furniture
None of this takes much effort. What we’d suggest:
- Plan where chairs and desks will sit
- Let us know what the wall is made of if you know
- Look at your lease before fixing to the walls
- Keep the floor in front clear before lowering the bed
The paint needs time to cure fully after fitting. Go easy on the doors and front at first, and clean the cabinet with a soft, damp cloth.
Leasehold flats can have rules on alterations, so check your lease early. Your lease is something to check with whoever manages the building.
What wall beds can’t fix
Our work is the furniture itself: designing it, making it in our workshop and fitting it. In practice, that means:
- Structural work to the wall or floor
- Mattresses, which you choose to suit the mechanism
- Getting consent under your lease
Not sure whether your space suits wall beds? You can get in touch through our contact form and we will tell you. Our process from visit to fitting.
What goes into it
- Spray-painted finish
- Hand-painted finish
- Birch plywood
- Shelves or a desk alongside
- Fold-down bed mechanism
- Moisture-resistant MDF
What it costs
When we put a quote together, we consider:
- Whether you choose a spray or hand-painted finish
- Walls and floors that are out of level or out of square
- Parking near your home
- How big the furniture is
The inside of the furniture affects the price as well: drawers take more making than shelves, and each rail, divider or pull-out adds to the work. We will talk through what you need inside during the design visit.
What to send when you contact us
The more you can tell us at the start, the better the design visit goes. When you contact us, it helps to send:
- The type of home and how the room is reached
- Any ideas or images you have saved
- Pictures of the whole wall or room, including the floor and ceiling
- Where you live, with the postcode
You don’t need exact measurements to get started. Everything is measured properly when we visit, along with the walls, floor and ceiling. To arrange it, drop us a line using the contact form and let us know about the room. You receive a written quote after the visit.
What happens on fitting day
When we arrive on fitting day, the first job is covering the floors and protecting the way in from the front door. The sections made in our workshop come in next. How long the fitting takes depends on the size of the bed and the cabinets around it, and the fitting days are agreed in your quote. Hallways in period houses are often narrow, and the stairs turn sharply, so the furniture comes in sections sized for the route in. Floors, stairs and doorways are covered before anything is carried through, and the sections are joined and scribed in the room.
- First, you let us know about the room and how you’d like it to work. A desk or shelving around the bed can be part of it.
- We visit, measure up and check the wall the bed will fix to. We also check there’s clear space in front to lower the bed.
- You get a quote in writing for the bed cabinet and any storage around it, for you to look over.
- The bed cabinet and any shelves or desk are built in our workshop, from moisture-resistant MDF and birch plywood.
- The bed and cabinets are fitted in your home and the mechanism fixed securely.
Preparing the room
- Arrange any electrical changes with your electrician in advance
- Let us know if your street is in a controlled parking zone
- Let us know where the boiler and meters are
Arranging a design visit
To make a start, get in touch through our contact form and tell us which room you have in mind and roughly what you’d like. We then arrange a design visit to measure and talk through the design, and send you a quote in writing afterwards.
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Barnes homes and wall beds
Homes built before 1919 make up about 52% of the housing in the neighbourhood around Barnes, with about 17% built between 1919 and 1939, in the VOA’s 2025 council tax stock figures. For carpentry, the era of a house is a useful clue to how square its rooms are and what its walls are made of. There are 27 entries on the National Heritage List within half a mile of the centre of Barnes. Original fireplaces, shutters and panelling are worth keeping where they survive, and the furniture can be designed around them rather than over them. Controlled parking zones are common across London, and Richmond upon Thames sets its own rules. Where a street in Barnes is controlled, a van may need a visitor permit, a paid bay or a bay suspension from the council. It’s useful to let us know about parking during the design visit.
If your home is as old as some of the listed buildings nearby, like Church of St Mary, original features like shutters, panelling and fireplaces are worth designing around. If your own home is listed, check with the council before fixing into original features. If your children go to St Osmund's Catholic Primary School or a school nearby, wall beds in a child’s room can be planned so the inside layout changes as they grow.
Barnes is about 4 miles south-west of Twickenham, within the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. We can visit homes in Barnes on weekdays, or on a Saturday by arrangement. Barnes is one of 19 places on our list for Richmond upon Thames.
In SW13, SW15 and SW14, the process is the same as anywhere else in London. Our area takes in homes on streets such as Church Road, Station Road and Barnes High Street, along with the roads around them, whether you want wall beds or another piece made for the room. Barnes sits close to the A306 and B349. Close by, we also work in Old Chiswick (1 mile north), Turnham Green (1 mile north-west), Mortlake (1 mile south-west), East Sheen (1 mile south-west) and Putney (1 mile south-east). Other parts of Richmond upon Thames we cover include Twickenham (4 miles south-west), Richmond (3 miles south-west), Richmond upon Thames (2 miles west), Teddington (5 miles south-west), Hampton (7 miles south-west) and Kew (2 miles north-west).
What’s near Barnes
Around Barnes, we cover homes near Polish Library POSK in London, The Harrodian School and Chiswick School, among other places. There’s a railway station in Barnes itself: Barnes Bridge station. Nearby you will also find Putney Exchange (1.4 miles south-east) and Antique Breadboard Museum (1.2 miles south-east). Green spaces nearby include Duke's Hollow.