Looking for ideas...hidden room

[Zakk]

Okay so I'm making this here hidden room thing, it's actually a 'gun vault' (a requisite for easy storage of firearms in Canada).   Anyway, I've got it tucked away, and thinking of hiding the entrance behind a bookcase (basic ply construction, 5 shelves, on a hinge in front of the door opening, likely a caster on the bottom for weight).  Any tips on a) construction of the swinging bookcase, and b) cool add-ons in the gun room?

Room will feature LED lighting (backlit on the most interesting guns), a motion sensing camera, a control panel (for lights), in-wall first aid kit (you never know what can happen).  But it's small (6'x7') so it's not like I can get a TV in there

Any ideas for cool 'wow' items I can install?  Walls are either concrete or a mix of wood, rebar, binder twine and concrete board.  The actual door is a steel exterior door (with reinforced steel around the deadbolts). 

This is where I'm at in designing.  So far the room is built and the birch plywood is up (not stained).  Not sure what the back wall is going to be made of, I'm not sold on the brick, might be too dungeon-y.  Apologies to those that are anti-gun

[Vigo]

Can you trigger it to open from a hidden switch?

[pbj]

So do you go in there and masturbate while you look at all your precious, precious guns?

In that case, beanbag chair, bottle of lotion, and box of kleenex ought to cover it.

 

[Malenko]

condoms = less clean up time

[Zakk]

So do you go in there and masturbate while you look at all your precious, precious guns?

In that case, beanbag chair, bottle of lotion, and box of kleenex ought to cover it.

 

Yes, but not everyday.

[Zakk]

condoms = less clean up time

EVERY SPERM IS SACRED!

[Zakk]

Can you trigger it to open from a hidden switch?

I will not sacrifice this bust of van buren!

[Ed_McCarron]

I couldn't care about the guns, but the caster will eventually leave a mark on the floor where it travels, which could lead a smrt person to discover said vault.

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/15880/stealth-door-with-heavy-duty-hidden-hinges

[ChadTower]

Is the vault for security or secrecy?  Having a hidden room is cool but if you really need it to be impossible to find now you have little issues like Ed mentioned.

Even Kevin Flynn couldn't hide his secret lab behind the Tron cab forever. 

[saint]

This thread has been de-smurf'ed. Kindly keep it politics free - kthxbai!

[saint]

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

[Malenko]

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

There is already one there, its where I live and post from!

[saint]

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

There is already one there, its where I live and post from!

Damnit, I knew my beer was going somewhere....

[opt2not]

Stripper pole.

[knave]

I still would put a TV in there...perhaps a LED tv that could swing out from the wall.

If it were my room to design, I would take out the chair, add in a sit/stand workbench with a stool.

Perhaps one designed to fit in with your paneling. That way you still have a place to sit in there but it's also practical for cleaning/maintenance.
I would still put a TV/monitor in this case...but now on the bench wall...

[yotsuya]

I thought it was supposed to be a vault. You start adding furniture in there, it turns into a compound. 

Although I agree that a workbench and stool would be very practical for cleaning and maintenance.

[BadMouth]

I'm leaning towards this motorcycle suit version:



Joking aside, it's a fairly small space.  You're not going to spend a lot of time in there.
Little touches like the lighting would add to the "awe factor" when showing off your collection.

I'd go with 2 stages of lighting.  One red or green tinted underground bunker setup, maybe even with bunker style lights.


The other would be bright useable light you could work by.
If you have collectible items, descriptions and old black and white photos of them in the field would be pretty cool.
That's the way I'd go about it anyway.

If you don't like the bunker look, go overboard on the wood and one rich complimentary color.

[SavannahLion]

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

There is already one there, its where I live and post from!

Damnit, I knew my beer was going somewhere....

That's just creepy. Reminds me of that 80's flick, "Real Genius."

[Zakk]

I still would put a TV in there...perhaps a LED tv that could swing out from the wall.

If it were my room to design, I would take out the chair, add in a sit/stand workbench with a stool.

Perhaps one designed to fit in with your paneling. That way you still have a place to sit in there but it's also practical for cleaning/maintenance.
I would still put a TV/monitor in this case...but now on the bench wall...

I have a whole separate room/area for realoading and maintenance of smurfs.  This is for security/storage and evidently masturbatory purposes. 

[Le Chuck]

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

There is already one there, its where I live and post from!

Damnit, I knew my beer was going somewhere....

That's just creepy. Reminds me of that 80's flick, "Real Genius."

Lazlo Hollyfeld?

Lazlo Hollyfeld. (smarter than you and me put together!)

[knave]

I have a whole separate room/area for realoading and maintenance of saint's minions.  This is for security/storage and evidently masturbatory purposes.

Remove chair install coffin and a fridge full of Tru Blood.

[BadMouth]

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

There is already one there, its where I live and post from!

Damnit, I knew my beer was going somewhere....

That's just creepy. Reminds me of that 80's flick, "Real Genius."

Food and beer was disappearing from my girlfriend's fridge.  She assumed her teenage son was sneaking the beer and eating the food.
Turns out, the guy living in the basement of the unrented house next door was taking it. 

[yotsuya]

Food and beer was disappearing from my girlfriend's fridge.  She assumed her teenage son was sneaking the beer and eating the food.
Turns out, the guy living in the basement of the unrented house next door was taking it. 

How was he getting inside?

[Zakk]

I have a whole separate room/area for realoading and maintenance of saint's minions.  This is for security/storage and evidently masturbatory purposes.

Remove chair install coffin and a fridge full of Tru Blood.

I have absolutely no idea what that means. 

[mcseforsale]

Yikes!  Good way to get shot in some parts of this country.

AJ

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

There is already one there, its where I live and post from!

Damnit, I knew my beer was going somewhere....

That's just creepy. Reminds me of that 80's flick, "Real Genius."

Food and beer was disappearing from my girlfriend's fridge.  She assumed her teenage son was sneaking the beer and eating the food.
Turns out, the guy living in the basement of the unrented house next door was taking it. 

[Zakk]

If this helps, here is a visual.  I think on the back wall I will just do the same furniture grade plywood and shelf, just seems to work (I've installed the ply and shelves in the room already, going to stain them today). 

Maybe the chair is a little creepy.  I really don't plan to spend a lot of time in there, and if I can't figure out a decent cold air return setup, hardly any at all. 

[Zakk]

I totally want a hidden room in my house one day!

There is already one there, its where I live and post from!

Damnit, I knew my beer was going somewhere....

That's just creepy. Reminds me of that 80's flick, "Real Genius."

Food and beer was disappearing from my girlfriend's fridge.  She assumed her teenage son was sneaking the beer and eating the food.
Turns out, the guy living in the basement of the unrented house next door was taking it. 

Really?  That's crazy.  Sounds like your girlfriend needs a full auto smurf beside the bed, loaded with hollowsmurf rounds. 

[Well Fed Games]

Make sure the bottom of the bookcase door (and really, shouldn't it be an arcade cabinet door, like Tron: Legacy?) doesn't scrape the floor. That is how they always find secret rooms on TV. Oh, and turn the lights off in there when you are done. That is the other way. Damn CSIs.

[Zakk]

Yeah I think I'm going to try and avoid the cabinet on the ground.  I picked up 2 extra heavy duty hinges, so there will be a total of 4 on the shelf, and 12 -6" screws through the doorframe.  The only trick will be making it not "float" in the air.

[pbj]

Dude, I lost it on that smurf pic.

 

Didn't even know you could own smurfs in Canada.  Didn't Michael Moore hand them out at the border once?

[ChadTower]

Food and beer was disappearing from my girlfriend's fridge.  She assumed her teenage son was sneaking the beer and eating the food.
Turns out, the guy living in the basement of the unrented house next door was taking it. 

How was he getting inside?

Of the house or the girlfriend?

[BadMouth]

How was he getting inside?

She never locked the doors to her house until this happened.  She does now. 
This is still pretty common in rural areas and a lot of people take pride in living where they don't have to lock their doors.

She owns the property next door where the guy was crashing, so knew something was going on when she saw a light on in the basement at night.
She discovered a sleeping bag and backpack in the basement and pieced things together.  The guy moved on when he found out he'd been discovered.  No idea who he was.....or if it was even a he.

Yikes!  Good way to get shot in some parts of this country.

Good way to get shot here, but he only entered the house when nobody was home and didn't steal or disturb anything else.
That's how it usually goes in places where everyone has smurfs.
They wouldn't dare break in while someone is home.  I'll refrain from further comment that may send us back to P&R.

[Zakk]

Dude, I lost it on that smurf pic.

 

Didn't even know you could own smurfs in Canada.  Didn't Michael Moore hand them out at the border once?

Note the smurfberry boxes, for storage of extra smurfberries.

To own smurfs I have to take a 3 day, 20 hour safety and handling course (not online).  They send your test results in (an 80 or above is a pass), to be confirmed by the Chief Smurf Officer's office.  They then send your test results back to you (usually 3-4 weeks).  THEN you put $80 in an envelope and send your tests BACK to the CSO.  Then there is a 28 day cool-off period, after which they do a background check and phone references (including your spouse and any and all 'conjugal partners').  If that's okay, then they take another 2 or 3 months and maybe send you out a license that you MUST keep valid (renew on time), in order to own any kind of smurf.  You also consent to a daily automated criminal check for the rest of your life.   Oh, and you HAVE to be a member of a shooting range in order to keep restricted smurfs, under which handsmurfs fall into.  Absolutely true story.

However, after that, you can own pretty much anything, except any smurfs that were in the Terminator movie, automatic smurfs, smurfs under 3" and of course AK-smurfs. 

One other difference... if I was to pull out a smurf and discharge it at an intruder in my own house, there is a 80% chance I am going to prison.  There is almost no defensible reason to pull a smurf on anyone in Canada, like ever. 

[Le Chuck]

If it's Gargamel does that land squarely in the 20%?

[AtomSmasher]

Yeah I think I'm going to try and avoid the cabinet on the ground.  I picked up 2 extra heavy duty hinges, so there will be a total of 4 on the shelf, and 12 -6" screws through the doorframe.  The only trick will be making it not "float" in the air.

I looked into doing this a while back, but never pulled it off.  Here's a good how-to I found way back along with the hinges that seemed to be ideal for the job
http://www.garymkatz.com/ChartsDrawings/pivot_bookcase.html
http://www.epivots.com/rixson-370.aspx

Also, if you're going to do it without a wheel, then make sure to make the back panel really thick since it will drastically help with keeping the bookcase from eventually sagging.

[leapinlew]

I couldn't care about the guns, but the caster will eventually leave a mark on the floor where it travels, which could lead a smrt person to discover said vault.

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/15880/stealth-door-with-heavy-duty-hidden-hinges

Couldn't you solve this by having the door open into the room?

[ark_ader]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/31-beautiful-hidden-rooms-and-secret-passages?s=mobile

if my post wasn't positive enough for this thread, please feel free to berate me and complain to Saint.  Your help in this matter is most appreciated.  Thank you.

[leapinlew]

http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/31-beautiful-hidden-rooms-and-secret-passages?s=mobile

if my post wasn't positive enough for this thread, please feel free to berate me and complain to Saint.  Your help in this matter is most appreciated.  Thank you.

Can someone give me a link to contact Saint? 

[pbj]

Can someone give me a link to contact Saint? 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=reporttm;topic=137805.36;msg=1423201

There you go.

 

Those Canadian restrictions are chilling.  I suppose the weather up there weeds out the most depraved riff raff, though.

[Zakk]

Can someone give me a link to contact Saint? 

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?action=reporttm;topic=137805.36;msg=1423201

There you go.

 

Those Canadian restrictions are chilling.  I suppose the weather up there weeds out the most depraved riff raff, though.

Drives them indoors for a while anyway...