Per Vivere [To Live]

Wednesday, September 14

Holly Shelf Unit, Batman!

BeforeAfterWe were running out of shelf space in our back room, so I thought it'd be a fun project to build a shelf unit. It took about a month longer than I had planned and significantly more money (you can never have too many power tools...) but we were really happy with the end result.

You may notice that the new unit now covers the three louvered doors seen to the right of the "Before" picture. I have always wanted to build a concealed room or have secret trapdoors or similar in a house, well this is my first (very amateur) attempt. This explains the title - my cousin Kate decided that it was the bat cave.

On this shelf the left-most book is an old Sherlock Holmes book that I picked up (quite apt for its new purpose I thought.)

Tilt this book and...

Voila!!!

Nothing too exciting, it's just a broom closet. It's a pity that the hot water service is in there because it would have made a great wine cellar.

The mechanism turned out to be pretty simple - if you look closely on the back of the opened shelf, there is a piece of 20mm dowel the full height of the door. This dowel rides over and locks behind a little "ramp" fixed to the floor. To release it I made a miniature block and tackle with small yacht rigging pulleys. The shelf sits on two casters and opens quite smoothly and effortlessly.



PS: Lots of people asked about the hinges - this might help explain.

posted by Simon at 2:21 PM

100 Comments:

  • That is so cool !!

    By Anonymous Daniel, at 5:24 PM  

  • Pure class. A++

    By Blogger zmoney, at 6:31 PM  

  • Really cool idea!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:56 PM  

  • holly schau!!!! I wish my water heater closet was as cool as yours... but no it has to be in the basement : (

    By Blogger milty2, at 8:59 PM  

  • Any chance of some pics of the hinges? Like where they are placed so that when the shelf swings out it doesn't bind on the shelf next to it or on the wall?

    Like it a lot. I wonder if my wife would like something like that... Hmmm....

    Thanks,
    saF

    By Anonymous saF, at 10:20 PM  

  • is it a shelf unit for flowers, or did you mean "Holy"

    just a quick FYI

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:24 PM  

  • I also created a secret room in my basement, and I told everyone about it. So like yourself, it is a secret no more.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:29 AM  

  • Again, AWESOME work, thanks for sharing.

    Would LOVE som epics of teh hinge side, I have the perfect application for something like this!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:58 AM  

  • That is awesome! The only thing I might add would be to paint the wall over the opening brown so that it is even better hidden

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:59 AM  

  • What did you use for the hinge on the shelves? Will it take the weight of lots of books?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:59 AM  

  • What did you use for the hinge on the shelves? Will it take the weight of lots of books?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:59 AM  

  • I would guess that everyone posted comments on how cool it looks is a guy. We love this stuff. I showed it to my wife who thought it was weird. Women don't appreciate cool stuff like that.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:00 AM  

  • anonymous at 3am.

    you don't have this wife though! my husband pointed it out and i went "oooooooooh!"

    i love stuff like that. :-)

    By Anonymous amity, at 3:15 AM  

  • This wife also thinks it's the coolest bookcase ever. Guess what's next on the honey-do list?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:19 AM  

  • This wife also thinks it's great!

    No honeydo here though, when we buy a house it'll be my job. Between us, I'm the engineer, he's only the physicist. :-)

    By Anonymous Yvonne Adams, at 3:32 AM  

  • Awesome job! As a realtor I would love to get the chance to tour or sell a house with such a great feature. After a while granite counters just are not that exiciting.

    By Anonymous Steamboat, at 5:38 AM  

  • The first rule of having secret room is NOT to tell anyone about it.

    Now you are going to have to shoot everyone you told about this...

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:51 AM  

  • Wow, a couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were just talking about doing this in his house and this latching system is, more or less, exactly what I came up with.

    I would also like to see some pics of the hinges.

    When I buy a house, this is definitely on my list of stuff to do.

    By Blogger Thomas J. Brown, at 6:53 AM  

  • Excellent! Please post some pics of the hinges tho.

    By Anonymous Ian, at 7:04 AM  

  • This wife wants to join the secret bookcase room club ;-)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:40 AM  

  • Very nice! Who doesn't want a hidden, secret room in their house? Sure, first a broom closet, but later... The possibilities are endless.

    By Blogger Chris, at 7:56 AM  

  • Anyone have any other links on the subject?

    Here's what I found.
    Hidden Door Company
    [LINK]

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:07 AM  

  • One day im going to find a hippie that would be content with digging/living in a dungeon under my house lol :) He needs to be skilled in martial arts, know how to grow a great hash plant, and have a desire to live deeper underground :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:31 AM  

  • i hope there is a way to open the door while inside! someone could get trapped in there. cool door though!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:36 AM  

  • Looks pretty neat, but someone looking for a secret door would notice the double-wall and the gap at the base of the shelves. Well, of course you weren't trying to be really secretive.. :)

    By Anonymous netsharc, at 8:42 AM  

  • " Looks pretty neat, but someone looking for a secret door would notice the double-wall and the gap at the base of the shelves."

    Oh yeah, first thing I do when I visit my friend's houses is look around for secret doors. I hate it when my friends have secret doors.

    :p

    By Blogger hankyhawaii, at 9:35 AM  

  • This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

    By Blogger hankyhawaii, at 9:35 AM  

  • A wide piece of facing trim attached to the door would cover up the gap so it wouldn't be noticed.

    By Anonymous Clark, at 9:45 AM  

  • Wow the plumber is going to be amazed when he comes to fix your hot water.

    By Anonymous Josh, at 10:00 AM  

  • We love you!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:28 AM  

  • Wow, it's not often you get an idea SO cool that barely anyone has any negative comments to leave.

    Congratulations!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:34 AM  

  • Put those doors you removed to good use and conceal the water heater. That way you can turn the room into whatever you want and it'll look good.

    By Anonymous Maxim2735, at 10:39 AM  

  • So what happens if you jump inside this closet and get locked in? :P

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:42 AM  

  • That is just pure brilliant

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:01 AM  

  • Another wife who loves it. I dream of secret doors and passageways in my perfect home. And a secret tunnel....

    By Anonymous scorpy01, at 11:07 AM  

  • If you look carefully, you'll see that it's a piece of PVC tubing that is used to move up and down to latch into place. I would assume you could always assemble a "T" handle partway up and use it to unlatch the door from the inside.

    However, you need a periscope or secret peephole to see if it's safe to come out without being seen or giving away the secret location.

    The hinge could easily be a piano hinge, but the weight of all those books makes me wonder about torsional forces, although the castors mentioned would probably do a great job. They need to be very large wheels to overcome any dust/dirt that might get lodged underneat.

    Fantastic job! I'm looking for a place to put such a door in my own house. :-)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:23 AM  

  • Sweetness! Good choice with the Sherlock Holmes

    By Blogger NinjaGwaqk, at 12:37 PM  

  • You, sir, are a winner.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:21 PM  

  • I have a http://www.hiddendoors.com/index.htm hidden door in my house. The build quality of their door is quite good.

    The secret room is the terminus of the coin drop from the 3rd floor. Coins snake thru flexible metal elecrtrical conduit, making a skittering sound. They hit a drum and then a cymbol before going into the coin bin.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:31 PM  

  • Sweet project, too bad you couldn't put something cool in the hidden room like a wine cellar.

    By Anonymous Coupon King, at 5:46 PM  

  • Ah that's awesome. Ive always planned to include some hidden rooms n stuff in my house.

    Not only is it cool, but now instead of a wall with crappy doors on it you have a wall length bookshelf.. reclaim that space! :D

    By Anonymous ZeffriN, at 7:00 PM  

  • I. Want. One.

    (and because you are probably bored of just having "anonymous" comments...)

    Nicky
    http://www.virtuallynicky.co.uk

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:29 PM  

  • Hum, ain't there a reason that doors before were louvered, didn't the water heater need "fresh" air? Or did you pipe in some fresh air?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:16 PM  

  • omg i must say that door pwns all the other doors.
    man that is so freakin cool.
    bah i want!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:41 AM  

  • I don't see any holly or even other type of plants on that shelf. I assume you mean holy?

    As others have said, how do the hinges work without binding?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:21 AM  

  • There aren't any hinges are there? Is it just a wheeled bookcase that "locks" into place to hide the doorway? I don't see how you could swivel the bookcase on hinges without binding against the other bookcases unless you pulled it straight out first....

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:28 AM  

  • A couple of ideas. First, stain the wall the same color as the wood to hide the lttle white part. Or get one of those paper wood panels that have sticky on them. Also, get the same paper wood panels to add to the very bottom of the door, so that it isnt quite as noticable as the gap you have now. Also, you could get rid of the end blocks of wood (The ones parralel to the books) on the side that comes out if you add a 2x4 to the back of the she]f, so that you loose the double division that you have now (You might need to add l-brackets if you havent already). And finally, add wheels if you havent already. You have a bottom that would hide them and they would support plenty of weight (Get rubber wheels if you can, but due to the size of them, you might have to add them behind the door. Plastic castor wheels would work as well, but they arn't as durable if the door weighs alot. I plan on building a hidden door into my closet, but I can't add a bookcase to the entire wall (The door is recessed into the wall).

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:09 AM  

  • Why is there gay porno magazines on the bookshelf you built? Are u a pickle puffer?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:46 AM  

  • I know a guy in Seattle who built a secret bookshelf door at the bottom of the stairs to hide a room that he made into a theater. Then, on the side wall was a armoir. Open it up, push on the right side of the back of it to reveal a doorway you step through into a back area where he kept the video equipment, a little wine rack, etc. Pretty sweet setup.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:20 PM  

  • "Put... ze candle... BACK!"
    ---YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

    By Anonymous planettom, at 4:24 PM  

  • Another link to a hidden door:
    http://www.garymkatz.com/Charts/pivot-bookcase.htm

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:56 PM  

  • Not to be a stickler, but, "To live" would just be, "Vivere." You don't need the "per." :D

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:55 AM  

  • have had a friend with a secret room and his appeared to be normal drywall wall but if you knew where to use a strong magnet you could open wall, but without magnet you would never even think wall was concealing small storage room

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:05 AM  

  • Wow...you must have been trying really really hard to spot a gay porno magazine on that bookshelf.....

    By Anonymous Capt'n Fluff Fluff, at 3:13 PM  

  • So awesome!
    +digg

    By Anonymous Rudy246, at 10:24 PM  

  • Look into a tankless water heater system. The benefits are boundless. You'll notice a cost savings, limitless hot water and (the best part) a new space for a secret wine cellar!

    By Blogger onetwentyone, at 12:39 AM  

  • I know a house that was once owned by a pot smuggler. In the basement was a closet and inside the closet was a secret door in the pine wainscoting you could open by putting your finger in a knothole. You had to crouch down to enter the secret room where he kept his stash. This secret room also had another secret door that led to ANOTHER secret room. Inside the 2nd secret room was a huge safe where he kept his money. I got a tour of the house after the cops raided the place. He got caught eventually.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:53 AM  

  • all my lime I dreamed something like this!!! it's fantastic!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:09 PM  

  • I want one! I need one! My parents had a "secret" closet. God, I don't want to know what was in there.

    By Blogger spinster girl, at 2:10 PM  

  • Great Idea, I am renovating an old house in Atlanta,Ga, how would you like to fly over and help me build a secret room!

    By Blogger Trae, at 10:49 AM  

  • Great Idea, I am renovating an old house in Atlanta,Ga, how would you like to fly over and help me build a secret room!

    By Blogger Trae, at 10:49 AM  

  • That is awesome. My hat is off to you for doing this yourself. Very creative. That book opening mechanism is sweet! :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:46 PM  

  • thats awesome

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:44 AM  

  • I love the idea. I went to that link for The Hidden Door Company and their doors are sweet!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:56 AM  

  • Just curious, I like the door, but whos gonna tell him that theres smoke in the pic from the water heater.....or a "smudge" lol

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:54 AM  

  • This wife definitely loves this idea too. We're working on getting our own place, so as soon as we do...like another wife commented on here, its on the honey-do list.

    By Anonymous rina, at 4:18 AM  

  • I built a bookshelf in my home office too, it covers a closet space w/ i keep a small safe etc. To support the heavy weight of books I used a rubber caster wheel opposite of the hinges, it works very well. I used a strong magnet to hold the bookcase closed(no danger of stuck kids) friends love it. I enjoy mine as a conversation piece more so than a safe room.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:49 AM  

  • I think that it's a crappy job really

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:14 AM  

  • As others have said before, this is a really great idea. I'm so glad to have found a source online which has a simple, pictured method of doing this. Soon we will be moving to a house with loads of cupboards, one of which I was hoping to hide a safe in. I'm gonna nab your idea!

    By Anonymous The Urban Kunoichi, at 6:03 AM  

  • I understood it all, with no more than Nancy Drew and art to help. Wonderful idea! Can't wait to use it!

    By Blogger Elle Fagan, at 5:22 AM  

  • THAT IS SO COOL!

    By Anonymous Kelly, at 12:01 PM  

  • That is allsome

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:40 AM  

  • Holy crap, try cleaning the floor a little before you post closeups of it ;-)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:18 AM  

  • Just for the record.. its HOLY... not holly..

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:36 AM  

  • Holly shat, thats bad ass

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:10 PM  

  • Love it, but there is only one big security problem with it - it's not secret any more ;-)
    I would also go for rubber wheels. Anything harder might mark the floor and give away the 'secret' .
    When creating a secret room or space, especially for any potentially serious use (e.g. intruder fraidy), it would help to disguise the room further by drawing attention away from the fact that there is an unaccounted-for space. Having the space along an entire windoless wall would be one way, and keep it as shallow as possible. Plant bushes outside to blurr the edges. Drawing attention away with eye catching objects is a trick used in magic.
    And last, but not least, in any serious situation, sniffer dogs may be your down fall. Not sure if this works, but I know from fox hunt sabbing, the sabboteurs sprinkle anaseed on the ground, which confuses the dog's sense of smell. Best not to douse the place with it, so that humans would smell it and get suspicious.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:00 PM  

  • A little more on this
    http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/scooby-doo-secret-passages.html

    http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/eight-rooms-well-nine-but-thats-their.html

    By Blogger Speedmaster, at 9:04 PM  

  • I'm sure you know this but be sure that small room is adequately ventilated. Those louvered doors were a good choice to vent your hot water tank...wouldn't want any explosions in the bat cave. ;)

    By Anonymous Jude, at 11:09 PM  

  • Where's the picture with the removable eyes?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:26 PM  

  • Anon@9:16 --

    Yes, the original louvered doors were to let in fresh air for a gas water heater, but this one looks to be electric (It has no flue).

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:10 AM  

  • Here's a small thought you might consider adding to the design: Attach small wedges of wood like the one used for the "latch" under the wheels. This way, upon pulling the book, the bookcase has a small ramp to roll down to get it started on opening. Obviously, you can experiment with various inclines for your ramps. This may lead to putting springs between the wheels and the base of the bookcase, depending on how much push you want.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:00 AM  

  • In the 1940's, the famous and tragic Jewish girl Anne Frank and her family hid for years in Amsterdam during the German occupation, in a small appartment only accessible through a secret bookcase door very similar to this one. You can visit the house when you go to Amsterdam. The Dutch site shows the bookcase door on it's front page: www.annefrank.org. Choose English from the language button in the right hand upper corner.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:31 AM  

  • Very nice work. Excellent idea.
    I wonder if you considered the use of a pivot hinge to make the door/bookcase swing away from its edge (as is in the case of a butt hinge), and one less caster?
    It would certainly reduce your access to the water heater.
    Just wondering.
    Great job.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:36 PM  

  • ANYWAY OF GETING A FULL HOW TO ON THIS?

    I would love to do this in my basement ?

    thanks

    By Blogger CATSCLAW, at 2:35 AM  

  • very impressive! good job!
    i'm putting your link on my site.
    www.geeklabs.blogspot.com

    By Blogger wiL-shAkes, at 4:18 AM  

  • I'm going to sell my house and look for one I can build secret rooms and passages in! I have always anwted to do this.

    By Blogger Bill, at 4:49 AM  

  • I think you did very well for a first timer. I have been on many links, And almost gave up on finding anything new. Those web sites that have the great Hidden books shelfs start at $805.00 and go up. You have used your own creative mind and figured it out. I have not been able to find out a how to do it yet. I have been all over the Barnes and Noble web site looking for something cool but, something not to cost an arm and a leg. I saw the cool gizmo's and gagets. But, shoot who can really afford a $21,000 for the rotating fire place. You have made this real. As the old saying goes where there's a will there's a way. Thank you for sharing the info. No doubt, I will have some thing myself. I too will come up with something. I Also would like to thank each and everyone who made an entry. I have read each comment and listen to the other suggestion. I have also recorded this web like as one of my favorites. Thank you everyone. I think that there will be more people out there looking extra hard to find that hidden room.Who know maybe your neibor or family may be hidding one. But, I will never tell. Would you? Peace, Lorraine

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:04 PM  

  • Have you ever been to the instructables website? By looking at this project I can tell that you would absolutely be thrilled by it. In fact this would make a great addition to the site....
    Instructables.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:15 AM  

  • Wow! That's truly amazing! You did a great job! I might try something similar in my basement, but I think I'd need to have the Shakespear bust with the red button under the head :-)

    Again, great job!

    By Anonymous Tom, at 1:25 AM  

  • this is a thing of beauty. and yes, i did immediately wonder about the hinges. it was the same question on the one at instructables.com cool!

    By Anonymous kem, at 2:16 PM  

  • WOW amateur my butt!! This looks VERY professional and really really well hidden, you could make a lot of money building shelves this nice for people. I've been looking at a lot of "hidden doors" but these all stick out like a sore thumb and practically jump out a scream "LOOK HERE A HIDDEN DOOR I'M SOOOO COOL". What always sticks out is the frame, not here. I couldn't figure out what was going to open. Seriously impressed.

    Jason
    subskdetty@yahoo.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:12 AM  

  • May I Suggest:

    One thing I would want to add for a shelf like this is to make it harder to get into from the outside but easier from the inside. Quite easy to add is a sliding steel plate. If you're interested I could email a hand drawn picture, but I'm sure you could figure this out. Well a sliding steel plate set into slot in the floor, or a steel rod setup much like what you already have. This steel rod or plate would have no visible way to open it. What you would do is find a magnet (maybe a rare earth magnet) big/strong enough to attract the steel from the outside and then hold on to the steel long enough to slide it up, there by "UNLOCKING" the door with a very nonstandard key, who could or would carry a magnet that big around. Simply stick the magnet in a drawer away from the shelf or use it as a paper weight and no one would guess what its for. My grandpa use to have magnets like these from rotors I think, he slid them down into old rusting gas tanks to collect the rust. Well let me know what you think.

    Jason

    subskdetty@yahoo.com

    p.s. super glue some felt or other soft material to camoflouge the magnet and to prevent any scratches or other markings from giving away you secret opening.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:38 AM  

  • Not bad for a beginner. Now for the rest of you who want a truly hidden doorway ( no large gaps, obvious seperations and dragging on the floor bookcases check out our site at hiddendoorsdirect.com and see designs truly unique and truly hidden compared to others in this fast growing market.

    By Anonymous Frank Thomas, at 4:13 PM  

  • This comment has been removed because it linked to malicious content. Learn more.

    By Blogger Anything goes..., at 5:34 PM  

  • IT"S BEEN DONE BEFORE!

    CLICK MY NAME

    By Anonymous Kessler, at 1:52 AM  

  • freakin' brilliant! thanks so much! I've been working on my own design to accomplish this, but now I don't have to. Great job!

    By Anonymous Jeffrey, at 11:44 PM  

  • It looks like the left most side on the door is angled in. That must be how the door doesn't bind against the next shelving unit to the left of it. This is most visible in the 3rd picture down which shows the door unit next to the shelf unit closed. Great write up and great work. Very inspiring to us DIYers. Thank you!

    By Blogger j-ho, at 12:11 AM  

  • nicepost

    By Blogger tercumenette, at 6:39 PM  

  • I saw a link to your blog on TWOP, and I was very impressed! Maybe you can build a bigger "Batcave" someday. :-)

    By Anonymous stekkin, at 6:16 AM  

  • I know this is really old, but I was inspired by your idea and am grateful for the pictures of the book mechanism.

    I was trying to think of a way to improve this and came up with a theoretical combination (sort-of) dowel system. If you have multiple size dowels, you can put carve out part of your bigger dowels and put smaller ones in them, so that the bigger ones can't move until you pull out the smaller ones. Then you can decide which books pull which dowel. It's more of a sequence than a combination since you can figure out which one will pull next, but it's still fun.

    I'd love to hear if you can build on this idea.

    By Blogger Jon, at 6:20 AM  

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