There are many ways to describe the high-tech hideaway bed called the Zoom- Room: A mattress that is stored vertically behind cabinets or an entertainment center, and that, with the push of a remote control button, slips down the wall and out into the room like an enormous upholstered snake. A German-made bed that rests on bowed beechwood flats and uses a mechanism reminiscent of an automated garage door, if you can picture a garage door mechanism upside down. An irresistible piece of equipment with which to torment a cat.
Then there’s the description offered by Peter Medvin, the owner of Zoom-Room, who is importing the bed from Germany. “I call it the James Bond Seduction Bed,” says Mr. Medvin, who has two in his Miami apartment, which doubles as the Zoom-Room showroom. “No one knows it’s there. It just looks like a home entertainment center, the perfect place to hang the wide-screen TV. Then you open it up and there’s this huge wow factor.”
A former investment manager on Wall Street, Mr. Medvin, who is 51, first saw the retractable bed at a home-design show in Montreal about six years ago. He was living in a one-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, and the bed seemed ideal for guests. It was, however, manufactured by a German company, B & M International, and was difficult to import. Mr. Medvin managed to do so, paying what he recalls as $11,000 or $12,000. When a friend asked for help in buying the bed two years ago, Mr. Medvin, approaching 50 and ready for a life change, signed a deal with B & M to become the bed’s United States distributor. The beds, which are available with or without custom cabinetry, range in price from $6,495 (for a twin without cabinetry) to $9,995 (for a king-size bed with cabinetry).
Information: Zoom-Zoom
JOYCE WADLER
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