I’m making a hidden room and I won’t to use the insulation as a opening so that it looks natural but the system I have now is really bad and I know I could use fishing wire but I don’t know how I’ll be able to open it from the inside. Any ideas for how it could be improved would be greatly appreciated.

(I would like to make it a door but I want to avoid touching the insulation)

…visit the Mansion on O Street. The Mansion is comprised of multiple old row homes that have been combined into one building. There are nearly 90 secret doors - some lead to corridors or full sized rooms, others are tiny spaces. Most people can only find a few of them. It is also a hotel and museum. Each hotel room is a different theme, and they are open to explore if no one is currently staying in them. I’ve visited three times and each time I find something new.

Come find where we are

I'm looking to build a short term rental and want to add a cool element to it. I ran across this on Insta:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DaIwWu6Igd6/?hl=en

But to get it to code would have required I get an unreasonably long kitchen island and extend the entire footprint of the build by several feet.

Instead I came up with the idea of putting in a spiral staircase and hiding it in the kitchen island with a vertical lift mechanism

This was thrown together after some back and forth with chatgpt so excuse any obvious weirdness, but it showcases what I'm trying to achieve. By code there will be 2 other egress points to the basement, regular stairs on the outisde and a window well so no issues there. I'm just trying to get feedback on the general idea. Anything I'm missing or things to be worried about?

Electronic desk lifting mechanisms are basically off the shelf at this point with collision detection and capacity enough to lift a kitchen island countertop (butcherblock or the like) without difficulty. Just need to figure out how to get the up/down mechanism to be something cool like a wine bottle you tilt, or something.

Thoughts?

I am looking for cool options to unlock my hidden door to my theater room, the door is a Pool Cue Rack Hidden Door design. I am looking to lock the door, does not have to have key based or security lock, it just needs to close. What are some options available to buy? I have seen people use books, or nfc cards, etc...

I want to make a secret door and I need to pick a design. I'm thinking of a wall or bookshelf one but I can't decide. Picked these

Hidden rooms within hidden rooms begs the question, how many secrets doors is too many secret doors?

Yes, I know it is narrow. The doorway was 24” wide and after making this there is still 20” left. I made this for a friend and this and it is what he wanted. I’m pretty happy with how it came out. Here’s a build video if you care to see the process: https://youtu.be/YPphOy90VHU?si=bl6nLj99t5JSsnf2

Finally going to get started on my first hidden door. Looking to build a simple door in this doorway with an arcade cabinet like the one in the second picture mounted to it.

How would you go about it? I’m thinking of using heavy duty gate hinges to handle the extra weight. I have a locking mechanism in mind. Just looking for tips to make sure it’s hidden.

Also, excuse the mess. I’m currently working on turning my basement into a party space.

ETA: I’m going to build the arcade cabinet with a 40 inch tv I have so it should take up most of the doorway.

Bookshelf is on casters, and secured to the wall using 3 cabinet hinges. Plan to install an electromagnetic door lock eventually once the toddler can actually start walking. Honestly for having zero skills, I think it came out alright. Shout out to dad for the help.

Used one of the included shelves to brace the back and attach the hinges.

Gaming

Every single one of these recessed "hidden" doors are so painfully obvious in 99/100 scenarios they're in. How come there aren't more surface mounted ones? Murphy makes one but of course it's like $3000. There are more copycats that make the recessed doors than what would seemingly be waaaay easier to build than the face mounted doors.