Last year I built a murphy bed for an AirBnb property. It was a fun project, and I am a decent woodworker, so it came together in about a week, and for a fourth the price I might have paid to buy one.

But, there was a problem. Since the bed folds up into the wall, the sides stick out a foot or so, and then the bedside tables don’t really work for lighting because the side of the bed is in the way.

Mine is like this, but without the shelves on the sides.

So you can see how it might be interesting to get reading lamps on each side. So I started looking for lamps that might work, that had a narrow focus, and I found one on Amazon that was very expensive and could be focused – overkill, but would work well. Then I found one on AliExpress that was inexpensive, bright, ran on 12 volts, and had a 30 degree beam — perfect!

These are less than $10 each,12 volt, and are tiny!

But I needed a small switch. Looking on eBay, there are some little 12v controllers that let you turn them on and off, and dim – so that’s what I got, and installed them on the inside edges of the bed where they were easy to get to – and they work great! Just hook up a 12v power supply and you are all set.