Custom Murphy Beds Built in Nashville

As the holiday season approaches, many homeowners face a familiar challenge. Extra guests arrive for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s gatherings, yet giving up an entire room for a bed used only occasionally can be impractical. Bonus rooms grow cluttered, home offices lose purpose, and the joy of hosting competes with limited space.

Since 2014, Nashville Murphy Beds has offered a refined local answer. The Middle Tennessee company builds custom Murphy beds in Nashville using real wood and local hands, turning everyday spaces into rooms ready for daily living and seasonal entertaining. What began as an idea between longtime friends has grown into a trusted business serving homeowners from Belle Meade and Green Hills to Franklin, Brentwood, College Grove, and Columbia.

The idea was born when coworkers Billy Simon and Pete Strayer at General Dynamics turned a coffee-break conversation into a business, one coffee break at a time. “We kept meeting at the coffee station and talking about furniture instead of work,” Simon remembered. “I had the wood shop, Pete had the marketing mind, and Nashville had a lot of houses running out of bedrooms. At some point one of us said we should build the thing, and neither of us could think of a good reason not to.”

That wood shop still sits behind Simon’s south Nashville home, and it remains the heart of the business. Before Simon built furniture, he wrote songs, and he will tell you the two crafts are not as different as they sound. Both start with a rough idea, both get reworked a dozen times, and both are done when they feel right, not just when they measure right. Step inside on a December afternoon, and the shop smells like sawdust and fresh lacquer, with cabinet doors lined up on the workbench waiting for a final coat, each one tagged for a family expecting company.

In 2019, Allan Hicks joined as co-owner and CEO, bringing business experience and a shared respect for the craft. “I had spent my career around businesses that made things you couldn’t hold in your hands,” said Hicks. “Then I stood in Billy’s shop and watched him fit a cabinet door by hand until it closed with this soft little click. I went home that night knowing I wanted in.”

Unlike mass-produced wall beds, every Nashville Murphy Bed is built locally, by hand, and built to blend in, using real wood rather than particleboard or laminate. Cabinets feature high-quality lacquer finishes, soft-close drawers, and solid construction meant for years of daily use. Clients can choose shaker-style trim, custom stains, or paint matched to existing Benjamin Moore or Sherwin-Williams colors, so the finished piece reads as permanent millwork rather than an add-on.

Customization runs deep. Projects can include side built-ins, fold-away desks, media consoles, LED lighting, USB charging ports, and even extended sofas, in any bed size from a twin nook to a king-sized retreat. A home office can convert into a guest suite for visiting relatives, or a bonus room can serve as a movie space by day and sleeping quarters by night. In August, Nashville Murphy Beds showcased a custom queen-sized bed unit, painted in Sherwin-Williams Stargazer, complete with a desk, side built-in shelves, floating shelves, charging ports, and lights for Project Open House. The project benefited Folds of Honor Tennessee, and as a Platinum Sponsor, they helped raise $18,000 for FOH.

Ask the team for a project that stuck with them, and they point to a bonus room in Franklin. A family had recently moved to town and wanted to host extended family, but couldn’t because the only spare room in the house was a bonus room full of exercise equipment and moving boxes. Early that fall, the family had the room measured, cleared, and fitted with a queen-size Murphy bed with side built-ins, painted to match the trim in the rest of the house. In December, for the first time, everyone woke up under the same roof on Christmas morning. “That’s the part that stays with you,” Hicks said. “We build furniture, but what people are really asking us for is more time with the people they love.”

Every project is truly custom, and the process starts with a free in-home consultation. A team member visits, measures the space, talks through placement options, and listens to how the family lives. There is no pressure, no fixed menu of products, and each project is priced based on the requested customizations. “People sometimes apologize when we show up for a consultation, like a cluttered bonus room is something to be embarrassed about,” said Hicks. “I love those rooms. Every one of them is about to become the place where somebody’s family or friends sleeps, and that never gets old.”

Once a design is approved, a 50 percent deposit begins the build in the local Nashville shop. When the piece is ready, the company schedules white-glove delivery and professional installation, anchoring the unit securely and walking the homeowner through care and use before the first guests arrive. Final payment is collected at installation.

That combination of longevity, local roots, quality materials, and attentive service has earned recognition, including features on WSMV’s Today in Nashville, Williamson County Living, and Maury County Living. Homeowners value that the same craftsmen who design and build the beds also stand behind their finished work. That commitment to quality, paired with the company’s dedication to giving back, makes for a company built on integrity.  

Nashville Murphy Beds is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and serves Williamson and Maury Counties and the greater Nashville area. Call (931) 272-8992 or visit nashvillemurphybeds.com to schedule a free in-home consultation. Make room for what matters this holiday season and into 2027!