Shh... don't tell anyone about my super-secret passage

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Until a few months ago, I had never built anything, even attempts at hammering in a nail usually ended poorly. However, I decided one day that my present library was inadequate and I would build a proper one. Notwithstanding the fact that I didn’t know how, of course. My reasoning was that, after bringing copious amounts of wood and tools together, the outcome would eventually be a library. You wouldn’t believe the grumblings of all the naysayers I told of my plans, telling me how my drawings were insanely elaborate and whimsical for someone who can’t figure out a hammer.

Well, skip ahead a bit and it’s nearly done. But, what I’m here to make sure noöne tells anybody about, I just put the finishing touches on today:

In the center bookcase on the wall opposite the entrance, on the third shelf down, is a strange book bound in yellow with a slightly ripped and soiled cover.

If you grasp that book and attempt to remove it, you’ll find it only tilts down and that it weighs much more than you’d expect a book of that size to.

With the book in the down position, you’ll find that the bookcase seems much less stable than it did before. Perhaps if you were to lean into it…

Yes, the entire bookcase slides back three feet, revealing a secret passage to a hidden storeroom containing such wonders as the fuse box, some disused window screens, and miscellaneous, mostly empty, boxes. And maybe a painting.

After marveling at those treasures, you can grasp one of the shelves and pull the bookcase back into place, watching as the seam disappears behind the trim work, and lock it in place by sliding back the curious yellow book.

Now, you must tell nobody of this most inspired deception. It’s our secret. Ours and everybody who I can lure into the library long enough to show it to them. I suppose that’s the downfall of most ‘secret’ passages.

2

One of the houses my inlaws built had a balcony in the greatroom, and at the end of the balcony was a bookshelf which was, in fact, a door into the attic over the master bedroom. I always thought that was very cool.

Wish I had a place to put a secret door in my house.

3

My cousin’s house had a deep cupboard in one of the bedrooms. At the back, there was a small hidden door that led to the attic. Very impressive for us as kids.

4

I had that growing up. Behind my bookshelf was a passage that lead through the attic and joined up to a bookcase in my older brother’s room. It was excellent for sneaking in and swiping his stuff.

5

I don’t care where I live when I have a place of my own, but (barring apartments and the like) I expect it to have secret passages and secret rooms. If the house I get doesn’t have any, I will plan and plan and plan and save and save and save and make some, dammit.

6

You are now officially my hero. Doubly so since it leads to… a largely empty storeroom.
When we win that $100m jackpot, and build the house on the acreage I talked about in that other thread, the first thing I’m designing is a bookshelf with a secret passage.

7

I bought my first house from a serviceman who had shipped out to another location. I never met him before the sale or after, his attorney dealt with the closing.

Couple weeks after we moved in, he called me to tell me about two hidden compartments he had built beneath the floor. He used them to store his guns. I ignored them because I’d have forgotten anything I put in there.

8

That’s really, really cool.

9

I demand photos.

10

That’s just beyond cool. I want one myself. Of course, my secret room behind the bookcase would most likely be filled with…more books. :smiley:

11

I wanna secret passage too!

I used to wish for one as a kid. Alas, no such luck.
If I had a slide-away bookcase, in behind I think I’d put one of those plastic anatomy skeletons, hidden amid a bunch of junk. Would be great for freaking out guests. They’d acccidentally lean against the lever, the wall would slide back and reveal skeleton… I’d just look mildly dismayed and say, “Uh oh, you’ve seen him…now I’ll have to kill you.” :smiley:

12

We definately need photos. That’s extremely cool, and as a fellow constructionally impaired person, I want to congratulate you on making not only bookshelves, but a secret passage too!

13

As teenagers in the back of my friends closet we made a secret passage to the crawlspace to the garage. Excellent for sneaking in and out in the middle of the night.

I’m just jealous. If I made a secret passage behind my bookshelves I’d be in a bathtub.

14

It’s awfully messy, but if you want to see:

I’ve taken down the trim (it was only help up with a few finish nails) as I want to stain it separately, but imagine if you will two inch wide moulding running up each of the vertical members and how that would hide the seam running down the middle of the two that slide apart.

Here is the secret passage, disguised as a bookcase. It’s the one with books on it, I wanted to see if you could still move it when fully loaded. There’s no indication it’s anything but a bookcase, since all the seams are covered and the locking mechanism doesn’t betray the slightest hint of instability.

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And here the strange yellow book with the slightly torn and soiled cover (“Le Secret de Raoul”, hence my joke about “maybe a painting”). It’s made from MDF wrapped in yellow cloth aged with tea. The visible pages are from an old romance paperback. I know of a place with great heaps of free discarded romances, I dug through it until I found one with nice yellow pages.

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The strange book when tilted down. The hinge it’s on is also homemade, since I needed one that not only allowed it to tilt, but also raise up slightly so the spine can clear the shelf and not get wedged.

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A masterfully executed, most fluid animation worthy of Disney. The bookcase, unlocked, slides back revealing the hidden room. That’s Bette Davis, if you’re wondering.

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A side view of the passage from inside the hidden storeroom. Visible are the four lower tracks the bookcase slides on. The two outer flat ones take the weight, the inner rounds one guide it when moving. The laminate flooring stacked to the side will eventually find its way to the floors of library and adjoining screening room. A couple of the window screens I mentioned you can just see leaning on the far wall.

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And the passage as seen when closed from the hidden room. You can see the two upper rails it rides on. These take some of the weight, but are more to prevent the bookcase from tipping. With them, it can only move forward and backward. Also visible are two of the four additional guides on the sides of the neighbouring bookcases that ensure it slides back into the center of the opening. The mechanism towards the bottom is the latch that the yellow book operates. It locks the bookcase in firmly place on both sides. (The room is too small to get a big picture, so I had to take two. The seam is where they’re stitched together.)

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15

The house I grew up in had a tunnel! It would have been pretty neat to make it a seceret tunnel, but my parents used it as a wine cellar, so they were never game. It just went thirtyfive or so feet to where the waterpipes fed into it from the street.

16

I love that the stop animation you have shows a giant woman’s head peering out at you from the inside of the secret chamber.

17

That’s super cool!

I had every one of your links trying to open in a new windown, patiently waiting for my 56k to load them all and when they were all done loading…I realized that they all linked to different pictures on the same page. Curses!

18

Yes, I should have mentioned that. They’re all on one page, the links are just to anchors at each picture. You can just open the first one. My explanation is also repeated there.

19

I’m thinkin’ you got that hammer thingy figured out. Very nice.

The bookshelves I built only have a secret compartment. Frankly, I’m now emabrassed by my apparent lack of imagination.

20

That’s awesome!

And now, when your spouse goes mad, you’ll have everything worked out. Brilliant!