Secret doors aren’t just the stuff of royals and spies. The modern man is just as deserving of a little privacy, albeit with a dash of mischief.Hidden doors have been used for centuries, serving as private passageways otherwise unknown to the wider household and prying eyes. These secret entryways were capable of guarding riches, as well as simply providing a bit of security for the room’s occupant, and continue to promise the same today. And now you can have your own thanks to these wild hidden door ideas.
A secret door is your chance to get a little creative with your secrecy, regardless of what lies on the other side. Clever bookshelves with a “trick” latch, wall paneling, and even built-in household implements can conceal a sacred chamber or secret passageway, providing endless entertainment and intrigue for guests and owners alike.
Many hidden pocket door designs are deceptively easy to install, featuring a number of additional components to suit your space and needs. One thing is certain: your home will be the winking embodiment of the phrase “more than meets the eye.”
From Batman’s lair to the tombs of the ancient Egyptians, there are a number of inspirations behind a secret door or hidden closet door. Whether you’re looking to add a bit of fun and mystery to your abode or are keen on some old world seclusion, these hidden door ideas are your escape from the obvious–and an endlessly fun approach at that.
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1. Creative Concealment Hidden Door Ideas
This is one of the traditional methods for creating a hidden doorway in a foyer area. You’ve probably seen a large bookcase that takes up an entire wall. Then there’s one section that magically hinges open to reveal a hidden space. Another hidden door idea is to have a door-sized bookshelf built into the wall but this bookshelf is actually a door you can open to go into a panic room.
One thing that you’ll notice about all of these bookshelves is that they are flush with the rest of the wall. This makes it easier to attach the concealed hinges on the backside so that the door opens inward to the safe room.
When creating this style of door, you’ll want to think about the depth of your bookcase. You can buy a pre-built Murphy door or construct your own from scratch. The bookcase door needs to sit flush with the wall but also have enough room to swing open.
You can get creative in how your door opens by installing a latch on the backside that’s connected to a cable. Thread the cable through the bookshelf and attach it to a woodblock. Cover the woodblock with a book cover and mount it to the shelf on a hinge. Then when you tilt that “book” forward, it pulls the cable, which opens the latch.
2. Blending Elegance and Secrecy
The brilliance behind a hidden paneled door is that you can be staring right at it and not know it’s even there. To the unknowing observer, the wall looks like a continuous wall with no breaks. This type of secret entrance is a bit easier since you can use a standard door that you’ll cover with panels.
Your first step is to choose the wall that you want to cover in panels. Remove any trim that’s currently around the door. You want to create a smooth canvas across the entire wall and door. Then choose your paneling material. This look works well in modern homes since it blends in with the sleek and minimalist look.
You have a lot of freedom with this choice of hidden door. You can use repeating square panels, horizontal wooden shiplap, floor-to-ceiling panels, or vertical wood paneling. If you choose a panel pattern that has vertical seams, then it will be easier to hide the door seams in the panel pattern.
To make your door a success, you’ll need to buy a spring-loaded latch that’s more powerful than the standard. A spring-loaded latch will eliminate the need for a traditional door handle. Your hidden door is more substantial and weighs more than a typical door, so standard spring-loaded latches won’t have the pressure or power to thrust your hidden door open. Look for a latch with more than the standard 2-3 pounds of pressure.
3. Sophisticated Secrets
While having smooth panels looks nice, they may not completely camouflage the door. This is where wainscoting becomes useful. Traditionally, wainscoting is used on the lower half of walls to hide evidence of rising dampness. These days, it’s purely decorative.
There are five types of wainscoting: beadboard, overlay, raised panel, flat panel, batten, and board. If you want to easily apply wainscoting to your wall and hidden door, you can buy pre-fabricated panels and other trim pieces. This will make installation faster.
Raised-panel is the most traditional and respected form of wainscoting. It requires close attention to detail as each piece of trim is cut, routered, and beveled to exact measurements. It features a variety of raised trim and panels to create a pattern of squares and rectangles. This style looks best in Queen Anne or Colonial-style homes.
Flat-panel wainscoting is similar to the raised panel, but there are no raised center or decorative trim pieces. There’s a flat panel as the base and then trim pieces called stiles are placed over it. The raised stiles will create a square pattern. This style looks best in Mission-style homes that embrace simple lines, exposed rafters, and an emphasis on craftsmanship.
You’ll see board-and-batten used more often as exterior siding, but it can also appear indoors. This type of wainscoting has alternating boards that have wider planks of wood placed first and then more narrow strips, or battens, placed over the edges of two neighboring boards. This type of paneling is more informal and considered “classic Americana”. It first became popular during the Victorian Era because of its durability and affordability.
4. Seamless Integration
One of the more popular hidden doors ideas is to hide away a bathroom. Hiding the bathroom door can create a cleaner look for your home by disguising the entrance to this secret room. This may not be the best choice for your main bathroom in the home, though. It can work well for your master or rarely-used guest bathroom.
The downside is that your bathroom location won’t be readily distinguishable to guests. This can lead to that awkward conversation of them asking and you having to show the way. But if you enjoy the theatrics and mystery, then this won’t be a big deal.
While you can use a bookshelf for your bathroom door, consider how often the door will get used. This door will get moved more often than a regular door, so you want everything on the shelves to be stable. A more practical choice is to use paneling or wainscoting.
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5. Ingenious Camouflage
A hidden cabinet door can blend beautifully into your kitchen or dining room. You already have cabinetry in these rooms, so creating a false cabinet that’s actually a door will be relatively easy. To make this look work, you’ll make the door look like another cabinet door, complete with matching hardware.
If you have custom cabinets, you can ask the carpenter to make you a cabinet door in the dimensions you need. If your cabinets aren’t custom, you can recreate the look by covering a standard door to look like your cabinets. Be sure to use cabinet hardware instead of a doorknob.
If your door is part of a wall of cabinetry, you can make it blend in by repeating a pattern found elsewhere. You can have a fireplace or bookshelf in the center of the wall, and then cabinets or bookshelves framing the central feature. One side is actual cabinets or shelving, the other matches in appearance but hides the door. This symmetry appeals to the eye and will trick people into not noticing that one side is a door.
6. Floor Hatch Hideaways
Staircases can take up a lot of room. Instead of building out a set of stairs going down to your basem*nt, why not create a secret hatch on your floor? This lets you use the floor space when you aren’t using the stairs.
When creating your floor hatch, keep in mind that it will be bigger than you think it needs to be. The floor needs to open up large enough so you won’t hit your head while going up or down the stairs. Most end up being a long rectangle. You’ll also want to consider installing hydraulic arms. This will help you lift the concealed door easily and close it smoothly. For increased safety, consider installing a handrail on the underside of your hatch door.
7. Maximizing Space
The space under your stairs is the most unused and wasted space in the home. Depending on the construction of your stairs, you can turn this space into a child’s playroom, storage room, guest bathroom, or mini-home office. All of these ideas need a door. But having a door under the stairs may look odd and out of place. Hiding the door allows you to utilize the space while not compromising the architectural design of your stairs.
To create this look in your home, skip the door handle, and opt for a spring-loaded hinge. This will give you a seamless appearance. Also, consider following the lines of your trim that are already in place. This may mean that your door is a unique shape, such as having an angled top to follow the angle of the stairs.
Consider having this hidden door swing outward. There may not be enough room under your stairs to have the door swing inward and still leave enough space for you to comfortably walk through the doorway.
8. Artful Disguises
So far, every hidden door idea we’ve discussed requires you to blend the door into the surrounding furniture, home decor, or architecture of your house. But sometimes, you can hide the door in plain sight.
One bold idea is to remove the door and instead mount a floor-to-ceiling piece of artwork on hinges. The picture will sit on the wall instead of being flush like other hiding strategies. Guests will walk by and admire your impressive and large display of artwork, but you’ll know that it hides the entrance to a hidden room.
Another option is to disguise the door with wallpaper or paint. For the most effective camouflage, choose wallpaper or a painted mural with a lot of detail and design. The eye will get distracted by the pattern and image. You can choose a plain color, but you will still be able to see the seams around the door when it’s closed.
The advantage of this method is that you can have a standard door handle on the door, and most people won’t notice it. It also works well for doors you want to hide but can’t turn into cabinetry, wainscoting, or bookshelves. Try using this method in a hallway where space is limited, but a bold wallpaper will make a beautiful interior design statement.
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