Can You Add Cabinet Doors To A Bookcase

We wanted to reach two goals with i project:

Find a clever, affordable, and easy-to-install (and interruption down) cloak-and-dagger door in our rental dwelling house (we've always wanted ane) AND …

… make this weird middle room in our home with doors and windows on every wall useful!

We already have a living room. Our kitchen has space for our tabular array, and this room is just oddly in the eye of everything. New England houses, man!

Our solution was to plough the infinite into our whiskey and tea library, with a wall of dark shelves, some dainty seating options. And, in doing then, create a secret door that leads to our home part/guest room, turning it into a unique underground room.

View slideshow of the Whiskey and Tea Library with Secret Door

Afterwards some belatedly night creativity and lots of measuring, I realized the BILLY Bookcase the perfect width to fit in front of the door to our office/guest room. And information technology could be tucked into the wall well. Simply information technology was besides actually affordable and easy to get together.

I'd also been considering some of IKEA's closet and wardrobe systems, primarily the PAX system. But those were more expensive, stuck out more than from the wall, and about of the door options didn't feel right for the space.

IKEA items used:

Baton Bookcase – 2 wide and 1 narrow
Baton Bookcase Height Extension – ii wide and i narrow
OXBERG glass doors for Baton Bookcase x 5
OXBERG Peak Extension glass doors x five
five ÖSTERNÄS leather handles (technically iii packs)

Other materials and tools:

Tinted reflective static window film
Floor wedge levelers

How to make a secret door using Baton bookcases

Measure the infinite

Measure the open wall space and door opening. This both ensures that you'll buy the right number and sizes of the IKEA BILLY Bookcase and as well that the door opening to the room you lot want to hide will line upward with the broad Baton Bookcase.

We accept an actress ~xiv″ to the corner on the right side of the bookcase but nosotros'll solve that at another time!

Whiskey & Tea Library hides secret door to home office — before

Assemble bookcases and height extensions one section at a time based on IKEA instructions. Then, anchor WELL to wall using IKEA provided anchors and the proper screws for wall type.

On the section that will be in front of the secret door, simply assemble the outer frame of the main bookcase – without the back or base of operations. Then, assemble the full acme extension and attach information technology to the BILLY frame. Carefully put in place and ballast well to the wall.

Install the doors

Install OXBERG doors on all units once anchored.

We installed ÖSTERNÄS door handles on lower doors. (And nosotros left the standard OXBERG handles on the height extensions just to save a little money. Only I imagine it would look great for all doors to accept leather handles).

Apply window tint film following manufacturer'south instructions. We used ZEALOTT Solar Control Window Tint Static Cling that we institute on Amazon. It seemed to be the all-time nighttime tint.

Better yet, it besides creates a nice reflective mirror event for those sitting in the whiskey room (every bit we call it). I had to cut this for each window section and used a spray bottle to go the surface adequately wet.

Fill shelves with whiskey and tea and books and enjoy!

How long did information technology take?

It took a full day to assemble the bookcases and doors. Another day to really practise the window moving-picture show right. And so an embarrassing 4 months to finish unpacking. (We had just moved into this house summer of 2018. I built all this, and then stashed all of our junk in the function then it was an utter mess until at present!).

Conspicuously, nosotros haven't finished painting the part yet, but that won't happen until afterward in 2019. But I can't wait any longer to share this hugger-mugger door hack.

Looking out from the home office/guest room through the secret door

View from inside the home office/guest room to the Whiskey room

What was the hardest part?

Honestly applying the window moving-picture show was the hardest. It was so deadening and tricky to brand sure the cut is centered, clean of all fuzzies. (Dog pilus in our case). So spraying and smoothing and spraying and smoothing to become out the air bubbles and creases.

But in the end, it was all worth information technology. Our whiskey and tea library is awesome. And no one volition be whatsoever the wiser of our hugger-mugger door to the hidden role.

~ by Meg Salocks (Follow me on @megandtinyblueberry)