The Case for a Hidden Bookcase Door
Hear me out. Our house *needs* a hidden bookcase door.
Do you know what I’m referring to?
A wall that looks like it has a gorgeous bookcase, but you pull a secret lever and the bookcase opens to reveal a hidden room behind it.
How cool is that?
No question about it. We DEFINITELY need a hidden bookcase door.
I just have to convince Handy Husband that it wouldn’t be a colossal pain in the patootie to build one. Just the normal amount of pain.
For instance, we don’t need to have a curved arch over the hidden bookcase door. I could compromise and let that idea go. See how helpful I am?
(image: Photo by Jonathan Wallen | courtesy of Peter Pennoyer Architects |via One Kin Design)
In addition, by building the hidden bookcase door ourselves, we can save a ton of money. That’s always a perk!
The company that makes Murphy Beds also makes Murphy Doors. Cool, right? The doors come ready to install and operate on nifty sliding hinges. You can see what I think is them in this below photo.
However, those doors can run thousands of dollars. I do not have thousands of dollars to spend on this project. I have tens of dollars…maybe. Depends on what the price of eggs is when I grocery shop next.
Therefore, building a hidden bookcase door ourselves could save us big money. Not sure how many grey hairs it will cost us though.
(image: Jasmine Roth)
Where would I put a hidden bookcase door? I’m so glad you asked.
I have thought A LOT about this. We all have our hobbies. This is mine.
Our house is old enough (circa 1780s) that a secret passage or hidden door isn’t out of the realm of possibility. There are two potential spots in our home to install a hidden door. We’ll talk secret passages another time.
The first potential spot is the door that opens to our attic stairwell. On the pro side, this spot is in a hallway and we don’t use the attic stairwell very often. A bookcase shelving unit would look natural here. On the con side, I’d like to remove the door and open up this wall someday because this window has the best view in the house. It’s a shame to keep it hidden.
The second contender for a hidden bookcase door is the door to our basement.
I purposefully did not clean this spot up because the mess is going to make my point for me.
This landing area at the top of the basement stairs functions as a utility closet. It’s where I keep the broom and mop. It’s also where I keep random DIY-related things that should probably go down to the basement, but I use them often enough that they stay at the top in this planter (on the right) that functions as a shelf.
I had to stand with my back against the wall and zoom out to .5 to take this out-of-level photo and you still can’t see everything because this entire landing is maybe 4 ft x 5 ft. It’s small, but needs to function in a mighty way.
Instead of a hidden bookcase door that would hold books, it could hold all the random utility room stuff that collects here like the caulk gun, paintbrushes, watering can, masks, gloves, etc.
I haven’t seen anyone on the internet do that.
We could also reuse the existing door and make it the back panel for the hidden bookcase door. I need a better name for it, but you know what I mean. There could be hidden storage on the bottom of the door and shelves with brass railing above that.
I haven’t figured out what color we’d paint it or how the trim would work, but I just know we could build something functional and visually amazing.
Who knows, it might even keep the ghosts and their footprints out of the house.
I’m kidding about the ghosts!
They don’t leave footprints.
They just knock stuff off the walls in the middle of the night. So rude.
What do you think about my hidden bookcase door idea? How long do you think it will take me to convince Handy Husband this could work? Let me know! You can always comment on this blog post, email me here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.
Happy DIY Dreaming!
P.S. Image at the top of the post is credited to Dylan Thomas via The Gloss.
P.P.S. Was I joking about the ghosts? Not knowing the answer might haunt you.
Thank you for dreaming with me today. If you’d like another blog post to read, it’s the least that I can do.
Back Porch Shelves for Drink Storage (The other wall of this basement landing)
The Doors of our Colonial Farmhouse
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