UA-cam was a bit glitchy with me on this video for some reason, but all links for products discussed in the video are now in the description and timestamps are back in!
The Covobox Amazon link isn't working for me and even searching it by name doesn't show it. Do you have any other link I could try please? It's such a great idea!
I do not think hidden rooms make a great sense in high rise apartment buildings. But living in the USA in single family homes where high crime rate and home break-ins are an issue. Hidden room can offer a hiding place when someone is breaking in. It can provide enough time to hide in and call the police while the criminal is trying to figure out where it is if they have beard someone being inside.
True story. My husband got lost in the Wolcott Hotel in NYC one night and somehow ended up in a abandoned service stairwell that led to a very art deco ballroom that must have been closed off for at least 10 years, It was completely disheveled with at least an inch of dirt on everything. He's always looking for neat hidden spaces and rooms because growing up in old town Lunenburg, it was common for homes to have hidden spaces for sometimes odd reasons.
As a librarian, I give you all permission to make DIY stuff-hiders with old books, as long as they're not rare. It's the ideas that are sacred, not the paper and glue!
Half price books will sell you old books by the pound. You know, if all of the ones that you own are so precious! And you have rescued some older books & given them a home & gainful employment.
OMG - thank you for this. For some reason the idea of tearing apart a book made me cringe really hard because it feels so destructive but then I talked myself off the ledge and realized there are plenty of remainder/used books that are one of millions of copies of said book that would be safe to do this with, lol.
Try going to the charity shop and asking for encyclopedias. They usually just recycle them because out of date encyclopedias are pretty much useless. They'll probably give you them for free or for a hamd full of loose change in the charity box. I volunteered for a while, and the book section was my area.
Hidden rooms: I once had a sewing room that could only be accessed through my walk-in closet. The point was that I didn’t have to worry about it looking messy when I left an unfinished project spread out all over.
I remember a friend of my mother’s who was renovating an old house. She had a room where she could leave up her ironing board and sewing machine at all times. Became my goal in life
I have a pretty small house and the primary bedroom is right off the living room. I've always thought replacing the bedroom door with one of those swinging bookshelf doors to make it more hidden could be a cool way to hide a private area when entertaining in the public living space
When we built our fairly compact kitchen, we had a few odd spaces that we decided to make into very needed storage. We have to bump our fridge forward to make the layout work & have access to the water line. We ended up with a very deep, but only 5” wide space, the height of the fridge, so we added a door on the side of the fridge cabinetry and made it a broom closet and a shelf above for cleaning supplies. We also had an odd niche up high between a ceiling beam and upper cabinets, so we added a wee little door and a couple shelves. It’s only 3-4” wide but deep enough to keep medicine, matches, birthday candles and flashlights. We also planned & built toekick drawers that slide open under most the cabinets, it was wasted space but now they open to store large serving platters, placemats, cookie sheets, gift wrapping supplies and I occasionally hide Oreos, from my kids, there. Totally invisible but so easy to access.
For years we had this beautiful sidewalk cabinet. When you opened it you saw 8 solid wood folding chairs and table inserts, you pull what looked like a drawer and it pulled out to a table for eight (we actually sat 9 it with an extra chair pulled up at the end). We were so said when we lost it in a fire. It was from either the 60s or 70s really well built, I believe imported from Europe, with the play of wood tones I think Scandinavian. I have never found the same quality in construction or design.
That's heartbreaking to lose such an iconic piece of furniture like that. Mind you, I'm guessing that you likely lost a lot more. Living in the bush in Australia the landscape is ablaze half the year. It's a risk we live with constantly and know the devastation it causes when people lose their homes and loved ones. Thankfully, my timber cottage is still standing.
One bit of caution with the TV niche: the TV _will_ get replaced. The replacement may not have similar enough dimensions to fit and the hole pattern for the bracket may be positioned differently. We encountered that, the new TV sits higher on the bracket and, no, we cannot just reposition the bracket as the new holes, in the wall structure, would be too close to the old holes.
oh! I know the answer to this since I lived a similar situation: try installing something sturdy (sturdy plank etc) to fit to the drywall so you are not direct screwing into the same drywall holes.
I had the same thought. I think a niche for cords/outlets/AV equipment is still brilliant to hide behind a TV. But trying to get the whole TV flush mounted seems like a recipe for frustration later. Besides, modern TVs are so slim anyway that personally I don’t find them all that intrusive just wall mounted.
@@mylifewithmarmalade4624 We have one placed amongst a built-in bookcase and the replacement TV sits higher on the bracket, and you can see the difference.
@@erina6319I had a similar thought, except I was wondering if you could attach a small piece of plywood to the studs that could be replaced if necessary. Your planks would be sturdier, though. I don’t know that plywood could support a large TV hanging off it.
We're buying a new house and whenever we looked around I was obsessed with planning storage, my husband thinks I focus on it too much but it's SO important... It makes such a big difference to everyday life, and it's often not thought about much in newer homes here in the UK. They seem to just put in endless bathrooms instead lol.
So, for the secret-keeping books, they actually sell "books for making art" which are actually designed for this type of project and other projects. They have spines for classics in the public domain but they either have no text at all on the inside or its all text filler. Using out of date reference books that aren't old enough to be of historical significance (meaning they're new enough that they were heavily mass-produced but old enough to be irrelevant for research) is another great option. Like, if I were doing this for my spouse's office, I might go looking for some out of date engineering textbooks I can pick up for a few dollars rather than sacrificing materials others could use to learn from or reference. For myself, being an artist, I wouldn't dare sacrifice a real book for mine but would opt for the books for making art.
Yes to the out of date books. Libraries often have to weed out such books. Ones that just aren’t being checked out but are still valuable and useful (a lot of fiction) are given away, but out of date history, science, and other nonfiction books are often just thrown away because they aren’t useful and might actually be harmful depending on subject matter. Talk to a local library to find out when they do their weeding and ask if you can buy or even have these books destined for the dumpster anyways. I’m sure the library staff will be happy these books will be given a new life, even if it is to hide your wifi router.
@@TwirlGirl2197 how can a history books subject matter be harmful? Our history is our history. And many of the old history books have more truth in them than the newer editions because a lot of our history has been hidden from us in the updates. Even Roald Dahl books are being rewritten for the sake of political correctness.
When we built our home (14 years ago) I opted to put double cabinet doors on the pantry rather than an awkward door in the kitchen, or putting a glass door with the word Pantry etched in it like many were doing. It was just more aesthetically pleasing to have it all blend in seamlessly. It's not a large panty, it's walk-in, lol, rather step into. Also added a motion sensor light. The builder thought we were crazy but ended up loving it and doing the rest of their houses in this manner.
My previous house had a slim cabinet that previously stored a fold-down ironing board. I installed thin shelves throughout and turned it into a large spice rack.
I was going to write about this same thing! Only in my case it was a framed opening in the kitchen wall. I bought 1 by 3 shelving and quarter round molding. I cut the shelving for shelves, and used short pieces of the quarter round as supports. Glue and nail the quarter round to the opening, glue and nail the shelves to the quarter round. Our landlord left a partial can of kitchen trim paint, I used that to paint the unit to match the kitchen. We stored spices, oils, soy sauce, etc. on the shelves ... they even stayed put during an earthquake! [California]
Your pillar spice cabinet reminded me of what my friend JUST DID in her kitchen! She wanted to encase the fridge but didn't have the space for a full pantry cabinet next to it and didn't just want to have a slab of wood next to it so there's pull out cabinet that's about 6in wide. It perfectly holds a folding step stool, the broom and dust pan, and the swiffer and you'd not know it was there! It opens by being pushed on (like my dad's old stereo cabinet). She also did similar pull outs on either side of the waterfall edge of her island but in those she stores her cookie sheets and spare oven racks.
I have the "4 inch deep" pantry thing, and I have a friend who redid her whole kitchen, with a house extention, $120K, 6-burner gas oven, walk-in pantry... and she was still jealous of my little spice cupboard LOL I love that thing!!!! No more hidden spices in the back!
I am redoing my kitchen and I had the option of a 36 inch cooktop and no spice pantry or 30 inch and a 12 inch spice pantry . Hands down picked the 30 inch and able to get a higher end brand :) who says bigger is better
I think this is the first UA-cam video where all of my thoughts are addressed during the video. Like the heat issue on the flush mount TV. Really shows that you've actually thought about the consequences of life with these things instead of just "oh, this looks neat. *Share*" like most things I see on Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest and other UA-cam videos 😅 Great stuff 👌🏼
Two things from Expand Furniture that you missed that I love. The bookshelf table is also great for small spaces, and I love that they have freestanding Murphy beds. Most apartments won't let you anchor something like a regular Murphy bed to the walls (especially if the walls are concrete slab or cinderblock) but they actually have twin and queen sized Murphy beds that are stable without anchoring. Fantastic for a spare room that needs to do double duty without risking your damage deposit, and you can bring it with you much more easily if you move.
I just sent my sister a set of books that were destined for the pulp recycling place but had been repurposed. The covers had been covered in a beautiful world map paper and the spines when stacked say,” Paris is always a good idea. - Audrey Hepburn”. Such a great reuse.
This whole video was great. When I was having my downsized house built I insisted on using the space under the stairs. The builder just couldn’t grasp what I was talking about, even with pictures. I finally managed to pull it off but I must say that looking at all the options online was great fun. Everything from bookcases to home office to reading nook. My other clever thing was to have built out cabinet space over the fridge that has vertical dividers for cookie sheets, platters, muffin tins and extra cutting boards. Would love to see more on storage hacks. Or please just write a whole book about it.
My husband is just at this minute installing a cupboard above the fridge. I intend to put all my serving trays, baking trays and stuff. He is also making different levels on the side of the cupboard for different things. This will give more space in the pantry which will also be customised.
I think hiding a door/staircase makes sense if you rent out part of your house as a separate unit. Especially if it's on the tenant's side. No one wants to have a sad door reminding them their landlord lives upstairs, and extra shelving is always nice.
I love the hidden compartment behind the TV. I wonder if overheating could be avoided if the TV was pulled forward, when in use. To remember to pull it forward, I could store the remote in the compartment, as well. Just a thought. In general, I appreciate your fast delivery of information. Thanks for the tips.
I recently built one for a client and one issue with hiding the Apple TV and cable box behind is that the infrared remotes won't work. Solution is to get an IR extender.
I do love the hidden room idea as a way to help redirect visitors too. My friend ended up putting a bookshelf door in front of the stairs to go up to the second floor (bedrooms and office space). Because of the kitchen lay out, the ugly stairwell was a prominent sight line, so she figured aesthetic shelving would be much nicer to look at. It is. A nice surprise however was that it discourages guests, especially young ones, from wandering upstairs exploring/snooping. She’s been thrilled with the additional security/privacy boost.
She tends to have big open house style parties where she’ll invite the whole neighborhood, or host house concerts for local musicians where she doesn’t know a lot of the people coming. Mostly works fine, as the whole lower floor is all open except the powder room so she and her friends can keep an eye on things. But the upper floor bedrooms/office/baths are another story. She used to just lock everything off at the top of the stairs, but if the stairs aren’t even visible even better.
@@bluewren65 100% with you on that. But she loves a big party they way I love an evening with no plans, my favorite takeout and the remotes all to myself.
I love stuff like this! I have a 1952 time capsule home (including furnishings, appliances, decor, etc) and am always dreaming up ideas to hide the necessary modernity without harming the bones. Even when I see solutions that wouldn’t work for my home, they spark ideas. 😊 We do have a huge family room on one side of the house that we use for TV, computers, exercise equipment, etc. It is SUPER helpful to have that separation to keep the main area historically accurate.
@@sarahwatts7152 Yes, and they cook better than any modern appliances I’ve ever owned! My oven looks like the front of a 50’s car and is HUGE. We have heavy steel cabinets that look brand new. It’s a privilege to be the stewards of this house, we absolutely love it. ✨
Installed a Murphy Bed into my snug and it is just genius. To be able to offer a queen size bed to my guests without losing an entire room to a "guest room" when space is at a premium...is amazing. Love the drawer mantel. 💜
I love the Harry Potter under the stairs cupboard that is turned into a cozy space for the pet. Some are crazy little well appointed bedrooms for bigger dogs. A quiet space for the "place" command or if a guest is allergic, or the even just to contain their stuff-toys, bed etc. If I was a little kid, I would have loved a little place like that for myself!
Lots of book so come with Dust jackets & while they often don't look as classy as the book themselves, they'll be easier to wrap around and you can keep your books intact. :)
I have a relatively small livingroom which has a huge old computer armoire from when they were furniture and expensive and well built (this one is two pieces) and you are so right: hiding away all that stuff is magic -- but I just realized, it feels like a hidden room (my office). I love closing those doors and shutting off the overhead lights at the end of my work-from-home days. I have a console table that opens to a 50 x 40 inch dining table on the other wall. Most of my friends are happy sleeping on the sectional sofa occasionally but I also have purchased a 4" memory foam trifold mattress I keep in the bedroom closet for when the grandkids come over.
My husband built a mantle with the door that folds down. It’s open while we use the player, but closed the rest of the time. I love it. No ugly wires. Our remotes live in there, too.
My mom is an architect, so when we remodeled the bedroom where I grew up in, she put a small bookcase on hinges so that it was actually a door that led to a staircase/fire escape. I wish we had a photo or video of that. Too bad, this was back in the day (decades ago) and our house has been demolished to make way for new construction. My siblings and I always teased mom and called her "MacGyver"! ;-)
I love small space and double duty furniture. I've seen these before, and there are so many more amazing ones out there. The one advantage of the shelf door it is double duty.. if you don't have much wall space for a book shelf, then the doorshelf to the stairs is a great solution. And a door infront of the stairs is often needed eg in old English houses because they are not well insulated. So the door keeps the heat in downstairs in the living space. Fun vlog.
Another tip: buy those storage boxes from Ikea to place things above your wardrobe if it doesn't reach all the way to the ceiling. Also, just get everything with built-in storage. Everything.
Actually, that trick with book covers from old books that will absolutely never be read again is also a decent way to hide some valuables too - though it's also why some thieves will pull all the books off of bookshelves (if they do it on TV there's gotta be some IRL that do it too 🤷♀️)
We live in a tiny 1 bedroom (approx. 400 sq ft) so I am always looking for these types of ideas. Absolutely loved all of it. All the way through, light bulbs were popping. Thank you so much! I also subscribed to that link for Kiva's videos for Wayfair. You always provide such great and helpful information, Nick! Totally loved the spice cabinet idea as well as the expanding furniture. The hidden book storage idea was great too. It was all great!!! LOL
I have to disagree on one point, I think clever storage is incredibly sexy, or if not sexy per se, then perhaps thrilling and delightful! There are few things I appreciate more than clever ways to deal with daily life stuff in an aesthetically pleasing manner! Your floor to ceiling wall of spicy storage was my favorite along with the paneling that concealed wonderful cabinets! Brilliant use of space and aesthetically pleasing! I think the conversion furniture is smart but the complete opposite of my style and I would never go modern just for some storage. Built ins are my favorite thing ever! Great video! 💗💗💗
The TV nook and the mantle one are by far my favorite. The former is very clean, but it keeps the wires accessible which is VERY necessary for my very-much-not-tech-savvy ass. The mantle one is just a nice and easy way to keep the remotes and batteries accessible when I don't want to add another table there. I love it! I love hidden rooms, and someday, I will incorporate some in my dream home!
For those that hate destroying books, go to a thrift store and buy the boring ugly books. Usually there are ton of them, and they only throw them out if they don't sell after so long to make room for new ones. I bought ugly books, but then I decoupaged small pictures of flowers, or faces, and other things on the spines to cover up words and make my own fun books. It was easy and fast. I turned my book stack in to a lamp, but this could work just as easy for any project you want to use books for.
Wish we could take credit for this one, but it was done by the previous owners. When we replaced the countertops in our kitchen, we discovered about 4 inches of empty space behind all the bottom cabinets. This space pushed the cabinets out from the wall for that extra 4 inches, thus expanding the overall, counterspace.
Okay, now I’m officially a binge watcher of your channel. Love your ideas! I own a 1,420 sq ft home but maybe use 1/3rd of it and always thinking of selling this and buying as small as I can. The ideas here are inspiring. I’m a music lover and collector, and housing a large collection that keeps the music accessible but disguised when not in use is my design dilemma. I’m pretty minimalish otherwise. Leaning toward custom cabinetry that is mostly drawers with the push to pop open mechanism for a clean look. I’m all about getting rid of most things and keeping just what brings joy, which I’ve already done 90% of.
@@BuckSecord and if tips from other comments are not achievable - last idea can be to put your dog to sleep, I mean some type of SAFE, vet-approved injection. It might seem drastic, but if you consider this as valid, possible situation that robbers might be interested in your place then you can go with it... I mean it is not great idea, but still better than being found out and hurt
I wanted a craft room, but we also wanted somewhere to put a guest bed, so murphy bed to the rescue! When folded up, it has a nice big desk on the outside that I use to do projects at. The best part is that the shelf pivots when you pull the bed back down so you don't even need to clear the desk off!
The best "hidden room" ones I've seen actually hide the litter box! The one I've seen IRL, the cat goes through a little cat door in coat closet by the garage door, through the coat closet, and into a little cubby in the garage that holds the litter box. The one I hope to do someday when I have a house (instead of condo) is to have the cat go through a flap in the side of a kitchen cabinet (I'll sacrifice the back half of the cabinet) and into the cubby in the garage. It keeps the smell out of your house and provides a place to catch the litter. There's also lots of smart furniture that does something similar. Another friend has a bench in their mudroom that actually holds the litter box, all the litter supplies, and has a place for the litter catch mat. It just looks like a bench with cubby doors under it until you look at the side and see the cat face shaped opening.
I live in a 126 year old house, and storage is an issue. Closet space is at a premium, to say the least. In one room, the 'closet' was just an 8" deep, empty space, that runs about a couple of feet behind the wall. (I assume that when central heat was installed at some point, it cost the closet space quite a bit of depth.) So, I had a handyman build several shelves into it, and was able to store away a ton of stuff.
@@elizabethclaiborne6461 Yes, and I've seen closets that just had a few hooks on them for hanging clothes. People didn't have near as many clothes then, as we do now. And armoires (or 'chifferobes' as they're called down here) were usually all one needed.
Our old house also had those kind of closets. The rod for hanging clothes was perpendicular to the door, not parallel. They were called clothes presses. We put in shelves and added regular closets.
I love home hacks like that, please do more video of these! I aslo love how japanese appartement hide small kitchen appliances under cabinets and even add vent to use them safely. Another hack i saw is electrical outlet in drawers "docking drawers".
Love this! At my last house, there was a there was a space like your spice cabinet. It. It was actually cut into an existing small dividing wall between the kitchen and dining room. Since since the studs are 4" inches and the width between them is 16",, it made a nice little floor to top-of-the-door cabinet. (To keep the horizontal line.) It didn't seem deep enough so my dad added a header to expand to 24" width plus some molding to increase the shelves to 5.5" deep which still only brought it out 1.5" from the wall, including the doors. (The drywall was .5" so that didn't count) I'm going to recreate this at my new place. It's used it for coffee supplies, tea, mugs, and tea pots as well as larger canisters of herbs & spices. Olive oil, etc.
This could just be due to me not being well traveled but I went to Ireland on vacation and stayed in the charming pub/inn. I was disappoint when we got the our room and I didn't see the bathroom. I was sure the listed didn't say anything about community bathrooms. But when i checked the closet, it wasn't a closet anymore. It was the best laid out tiny bathroom I have ever seen. A wonderful surprise and use of space. I would happily stay at the pub/inn again.
Love these. When I had my very small en suite remodeled I had the contractor remove the dry wall between 2 studs and had a cabinet installed behind the door. It is not deep but it holds a lot of bottles, etc in the bathroom. Amazing how much I can it in it. When I had crown molding installed I had the contractor run the cable for the tv behind the crown molding since the cable comes in the back of the house and the tv is in the front and it's a slab house, so can't go under the house and 2 stories so can't go through the attic.
in my country (Poland) we have space for cables in the back of baseboards (I hope it is correct word, I mean something like crown molding, but going next to floor), they have two layers: one that is screwed to wall (base) and second - outer that you put onto that base that have hallow space for cables. Second part can be taken off to add another cable and then put back on the "base". It is useful when you want to add something (TV, optical fiber etc) and don't want to drill trough whole room
Love that pantry on the side of the column. Good choice to show. All kinds of small spaces like that were used in the older owner built farm houses in Nova Scotia. When looking at 100+ yr old houses, often built by ships carpenters when on land, the most fun part is finding the 'cubbies' and the back stairs that the help used & the cute room beneath. And many layers of wonderful wallpaper as well as nice easy on the body linoleum on the kitchen & working pantry floors.
I don’t need a hidden room, but for reasons unknown, I’d love to have one. Realistically, It would probably become a dumping ground for all my unfinished craft projects.
If something needs ventilation, drill or cut a hole in it, and frame it with an vent cover. If you want to be fancy, get some old speakers you no longer need, salvage the speaker cloth and the trim, and put that over your vent hole.
Nick I absolutely love you in your videos! You are so very talented in adding humor into your wonderful videos. The world needs more people like you these days. ❤❤
The "Book Hide" is a great idea. Bye Bye "Remote Boat". I don't want the butler's pantry hidden room unless there is a butler that goes with it. I Totally came up with the add on hidden storage in my kitchen. I added 10 inches to the over hang side of my island. So under the marble top where the bar stools go four large hidden touch open cabinet doors. When open they house all my books. I don't need to clean book shelves or have a wall of books somewhere in my smallish house. Nobody realizes there is storage there as the bar stools are in front of it. When I need a book, I pull back one chair and pop touch the door to open and retrieve the book or replace it etc. I also store serving pieces I use for the holidays or gatherings etc.
I love all of these! I like a smaller hidden room, say, through a mirror in a bedroom or office, if it's well designed, to store any valuables etc. A safe! Perhaps not every thief would think to look there..... they may not have time to discover it. I love the shelf that is a drawer. And recessed medicine cabinets that look just like an ordinary mirror!! 💕🌹💃🏻💃🏻 ... Oooh lala!
I’ll tell you why those hidden doors that look like bookshelves are great even if you live in the house. We have a bifold closet door in the middle of our living room that leads to our hot water tank and water filtration system that’s under the staircase. It means we have this stupid bifold door in the middle of the living room. Which isn’t aesthetically pleasing at all. And also that I have nowhere to put a tall shelf or any display in the room because of the rest of the living room being as it is ( a fireplace wall and various doors and windows etc). One of those shelf Murphy doors with a bookcase would be an incredible solution there.
I actually always wondered what that wood pilar was🤣 Genius!! Additionally, I bought under bed storage to use under my couch to store seasonal pillows and decor. Life changing.
I'm collecting ideas for a future home design, and the 8" cheater wall for spice storage was a fantastic idea! Since I store my pantry dry goods in 1-qt mason jars, as you do with your spices, it would be easy to incorporate this where a wall return separating rooms would otherwise be wasted. Combine that with a hidden-room pantry for bulkier pantry items and small appliances, and I can create a "magic kitchen" capable of producing far more than its' apparent footprint suggests. Another benefit of the "cheater" wall, is that you still have a wall to hang art work.
My super duper console to dining table transformer is about to get on a boat from Italy to Australia this week and it's the most exciting furniture I've ever purchased! Downsizing to an apartment mid year and I have been coveting this thing for at least two years
I love books! But I think the second idea is still genius because a lot of books can get really messed up and it's easier to use these things to hide stuff if you already have a bunch of other books. Sort of like camouflage!
We have our tv mounted up under a soffit and have the wires go along the top of the soffit so you don’t see any of them. The guy didn’t even know how he was gonna do it until he did it. It’s so clean and pretty!
I've done two things to hide "ugly" which might work for others.... My sewing machine is an older Singer preferable for its durable metal parts but therefore too heavy to move about for frequent use. I made a cover for it that would both hide it and keep it free of dust. The cover is basically a lightweight wooden box with no bottom panel. It sits upon my sewing cabinet, completely hiding the machine inside, and is easily set aside when I wish to sew. But it is not just any wooden box. I bought a victorian style balsa wood dollhouse kit in the necessary dimensions. I sanded, painted, and glued all the zillions of parts to build a house with windows, shutters, doors, a railed porch, shingled roof, omitted the interior walls and floors, and added a back panel so the house would have 4 walls. Sometimes I leave the sewing machine light turned on so it looks like someone is at home inside the dollhouse, a ghost in the machine. If that was not wacko enough for you, I had other method to my madness. As planned all along, I cut a mail slot in the roof of the dollhouse, added a temporary bottom panel, and displayed the house at my wedding reception. (I had spare shingles to make repair). My wedding guests filled the dollhouse with all their delightful greeting cards and gift envelopes. My other hideaway is a wall cupboard in my teeny tiny bathroom. I bought a homemade plywood cabinet at a yard sale for a few dollars. It has the proportions of a typical medicine cabinet so when hung on a wall it does not project into the room far enough to cramp the space. It happened I already had an amply supply of tempered glass narrow enough to use for shelving. These I had salvaged from one of those older model louvered storm doors that someone had discarded. I took the louvres to the local hardware store to have them cut to length. I bought adjustable shelf brackets for the inside of the cabinet and heavy duty wall brackets that I modified so I could remove the cabinet from the wall as needed to clean and paint. The wall unit is about 2 feet wide x 3 feet high so it holds an amazing quanity of small toiletries, medicines, and cosmetics that women are prone to collect of a sort that would otherwise be jumbled into a drawer.
That mantel drawer will get heated up from the fireplace, as will the TV. Also, the TV over the mantel creates neck strain. You need a console table for the tv and a mirror over the fireplace, there’s a reason we’ve done this for centuries.
For shallow kitchen storage you don’t even need to add on to cabinetry. If you have wall space that can’t have a cabinet or appliance there because it’s at a doorway or walkway create a storage space between the studs. Depending on what you plan to use it for it can be open shelves or you can add a door. But the depth of a stud is enough to store spices, smaller sized canned goods, some cleaning products, etc.
Very helpful...especially your spice "closet." My husband and I really love to cook and we have all of our many spices in those same jars. That is such a great idea. Wish I knew of it BEFORE we remodeled our kitchen! ;) Always appreciate the humor that accompanies your videos! Makes it really fun to watch!
I am planning a hidden room in my house build! Through the study (bookshelf) into a small sun room, plant room. I've seen this done with a broom closet and it's so interesting.
I added the recessed area behind my TV. On the top of the recessed area I used pegboard for ventilation instead of having it solid. The heat rises and the holes in the pegboard give it a place to go.
The storage behind the TV is a good idea, to improve the idea would be to integrate some small quiet fans to exhaust the heat. The TV's are definitely mounted a bit too high but overall these hacks are worth trying.
I've incorporated a hidden room into my house plans, because I decided last minute to add a spare bedroom off the end of my house, but the adjoining wall was already planned to have 1 metre deep 'nook' storage all the way along it. I didn't want to sacrifice my sewing nook for a door, & also didn't want the symmetry of that wall of nooks to be thrown off... so I decided to hide the door to the spare room in the back of my sewing nook & have my sewing machine cabinet swing out on the bottom half of the door panel, whilst the top half swings all the way back. This is actually better, because now I will be able to watch tv while I sew, instead of staring at the wall. And, that wall is one continuous line of moulded panels.
My husband and I plus our two young kids love in an 800 sqft condo. We used expand furniture for our Murphy bed in the living room (now our bed), my daughter has the folding bunk beds, got the office desk. I just want to focus on the Murphy sofa queen bed that I got. It has storage under the whole couch (about a105 inches in length). Most Murphy beds only have storage on the Chez lounge side. We could attach a closet to the bed. The foot rest is detachable. I can simply push it to the side to have more space for the kids. The more I use the beds the more impressed I am in their design. I get that it’s pricey, but their designs helped stay where we are vs moving (which costs more).
I'm late to this video too... I love the expandable kitchens that fold away, Dizz Concept PIA pop up kitchens are my favourite, aside from the obvious benefits, not being able to accumulate tonnes of excess kitchen clutter makes me irrationally happy.
Love Kathryn from Do it on a Dime! Her book hack is brilliant ❤ I would also LOVE to see you do a collab with Cas from Clutterbug about organizational/storage solutions that fit with different design styles. I find the “clever” storage is often quite modern looking which doesn’t really fit with my mcm/rustic vibe. ❤
Nick has expressed that he’s not really into organizing. It’s his partner’s thing. Also those two women you mention are dollar store queens while Nick is more classy.
My aunt and uncle have a hidden room in their house. It's more of just a large closet, but it's what would have been empty/wasted space under a staircase. They put up a bookshelf door to hide it, and their grandson uses it as a cool hideout of a playroom. I definitely like hidden closets more than full-on hidden *rooms* or hidden staircases or whatever, because like you say, if it's being used all day every day, then what's even the point of having it be hidden? Secret doors are a nice way to tuck away some of those less aesthetic spots like awkward closets under the stairs, but they're less fun when you need to go in and out of the secret door all the time.
Hidden rooms are neat if you have a multiple entrances to a room or corridor. Hiding one of the cabinet or room that is rarely used can improve the aesthetics by not having doors in every corner.
I think the hidden electrics behind the TV won't have a problem with heating up too much because the TV is out from the wall while they are watching it. That space holding all the boxes and wires is wide open during use. Cool ideas!!
If I could have the hidden room installed while the other family members were away, I could finally have the peace and quiet I crave. Only I would know it was there; the others would only care that I was missing when it was dinner time. Lol. I am both a book lover and a book hater. Once read, they go to the library. My husband will hang on to them for some reason even he can't name. We have a beautiful ceramic crock on our coffee table that my daughter made; I put the remotes in it whenever I straighten up. The crock is right there on a table in the open. The TV gets watched, but the remotes never get put back in the crock. Maybe I should get one of those hidden remote boxes, but I don't have any books I can spare without my husband dying. Sigh.
An open nook for TV and related wires is great because none are INSIDE the wall. That’s against the building codes where I live. Inspector would not allow my DVD, antenna cords etc. to run behind the drywall. I had even created vent holes in the sides of the space with AC floor grills for ventilation. He still said no. All wires had to be in front of a wall’s finished surface. Thanks for your hack. Now I can fix this!
I have a hidden room, my bathroom has a bookcase for a door. And yes it is a bit gimmicky but I love it because it adds much needed interest to a boring little hallway. If I just had a door there it would be super dull, I would want to have some piece of furniture in that hall but there's no space, so having a bookcase door creates a nice moment in the hall while not blocking access to the bathroom. In my dream home I intend to have a hidden walk in wardrobe. I have a beautiful Art Deco wardrobe that belonged to my great aunt but it's not really a practical size to use as a modern wardrobe, it's a bit narrow, hangers have to put in at an angle. I have it in storage because one day I will have a walk in wardrobe and I intend to cut the back panel off Aunty's wardrobe, remove the shelf and rail inside, and place it in front of the entrance to my walk in so I will walk through the antique wardrobe to get into the modern wardrobe. I'll be able to make use out of a treasured heirloom that I just wouldn't have use for otherwise and also get to have a bit of a magical Narnia moment every day.
the very old fashioned hack I found in this new to me house was the faux drawer at the sink was tilt out storage, great for dish gloves and the various vegetable brushes I have ....fit perfect....
The router solution you mentioned is AWESOME... cause people should NOT put a router into anything too "closed".It will inevitably disrupt your overall wifi service and could potentially cause it to overheat. I suggest looking at routers that aren't hideous and using your own rather than the ones provided by the internet companies, but if you cannot do that ensure you vent the back and top of the any solution used to disguise a hideous router for proper wifi signal distribution as well as ventilation, and it should be centrally placed within the home. Tho again, I stress that people consider opting to buy their own router that compatible with their internet provided (I like Netgears Orbing or an Eero, neither of which are horrible to look at on a day to day basis, and they both provide the option for a "mesh" network which extends the signal through larger homes.
Hi Nick. Would you consider doing a video on designing for function and behavior vs just style? I struggle with ADHD and being messy but I need order to function so I’m torn between my natural self and my functioning self. Most decor advice I find is for style over function but after all we live in a house not a museum right ? Thank you so so much ❤
If you're not familiar with them, both How to ADHD and The Spiral Lab have videos on neurodivergent spaces and design. It can be really difficult to keep a "nice looking" space when hiding things from view makes stuff mentally disappear because of how our brains work, and we can be so inconsistent/impulsive in the moment, but we also need to have order to avoid overstimulation. It calls for a completely different kind of visual and functional space than most interior decorators would ever advise or recommend.
I have major ADHD and everything Hass to function and be organized. I’ve become creative with it living in small spaces by furniture that doubles as storage, making storage part of the decor for example baskets with lids That match the wicker on the shelf, the dollar tree! There’s tons of videos on how to organize with dollar tree stuff. It is an expensive. As for decor, keep it simple and Let it flow. There are always things to find for free, hand me downs or even store-bought items but that is not as important as functionality and a lot of these channels as you said aren’t as focused on functionality. With all the vessels, book says decor and needless things to purchase that don’t add anything to your life really. Oh another thing I swear by our bins all over the house and hooks. Hooks over the doors every single door so things can get tossed upon hook and/or. Thrown into the baskets that are readily available throughout. Of course it’s not a perfect system, it’s sometimes an unorganized mess but stuffs off the floor and I know where to go look for it.
For me, majorly minimizing my belongings in my entire house was a huge help with my ADHD. Fewer visual distractions, fewer items to organize, fewer decisions to make (what to wear), etc.
Yeah, I’m hanging out for Nick to do a designing for ADHD because it’s tough to get aesthetically pleasing interiors that are functional; and having personality in a space that doesn’t create overstimulation (unless that’s the purpose of the space). There is a huge market for this.
A video like this would find viewers who don’t have ADHD too (or who don’t realize and may never realize they do). I love how good Nick is about making space for people with different tastes and how his design style videos include a “this is not for people who” part. He could do it for function too, like “this is for people who feel like a house fire might be a blessing in disguise” and “this is not for someone who feels like their house is devoid of personality”.
There's always garage sales where you can pick up a few books for 10 cents or less . cute idea.. I favor the Box myself. I have several wooden boxes that works real well to declutter small items yet handy ....🙂
I love your herringbone sweater, one of my favorite "patterns", you're looking so dapper in this video 😊 The UA-cam glitch actually caused me to miss this video for 5 months, not cool UA-cam, but today I got 2 new Nick videos, so it kinda feels like Christmas and I'm not really mad anymore!!!!!!
Here's a thought: If you don't have a guest room, give guests YOUR bedroom and YOU sleep on the couch. I do. Mostly, I do it because I normally wake early and it's just more comfortable to be able to follow my normal routine in the morning. And, yes, of course, I change the linens before they arrive.
Sensible idea, done such sometimes, others people were too embaressed to sleep on master's bed. But for me the trouble is to fit everything into my one living room. I used to have a great foldable chair but I gave it to my friend for everyday use and it actually gave me more space which I desperately needed...buuut now I only have an old good orphaned mattress and sleeping bag for when guest stay over and that's a bit sad
UA-cam was a bit glitchy with me on this video for some reason, but all links for products discussed in the video are now in the description and timestamps are back in!
Thank you!
Do you have the youtube link for the DIY book spin cover? I'm only seeing the amazon link.
The Covobox Amazon link isn't working for me and even searching it by name doesn't show it. Do you have any other link I could try please? It's such a great idea!
your kidding please say your kidding us on youtube
I do not think hidden rooms make a great sense in high rise apartment buildings. But living in the USA in single family homes where high crime rate and home break-ins are an issue. Hidden room can offer a hiding place when someone is breaking in. It can provide enough time to hide in and call the police while the criminal is trying to figure out where it is if they have beard someone being inside.
Hidden rooms are fantastic for kids' play rooms. They love showing them off to their friends
My grandmother had a Narnia style wardrobe that was a hidden room I found it super cool when I was a kid.
True story. My husband got lost in the Wolcott Hotel in NYC one night and somehow ended up in a abandoned service stairwell that led to a very art deco ballroom that must have been closed off for at least 10 years, It was completely disheveled with at least an inch of dirt on everything. He's always looking for neat hidden spaces and rooms because growing up in old town Lunenburg, it was common for homes to have hidden spaces for sometimes odd reasons.
Wow that is so cool😃👍 maybe a speakeasy, there are places like that in Florida.
He is a Door Jiggler. My sister is like that. You never know what you'll find when you try a strange door.
😆
Who cares
That’s exactly how the plot of The Shining started.
“The jig is up! “ on the hidden room…you live there! I laughed so hard. I’ve thought the same…like who are you hiding from…you live alone!
As a librarian, I give you all permission to make DIY stuff-hiders with old books, as long as they're not rare. It's the ideas that are sacred, not the paper and glue!
Oohh, beautifully said! 😊
Half price books will sell you old books by the pound. You know, if all of the ones that you own are so precious! And you have rescued some older books & given them a home & gainful employment.
OMG - thank you for this. For some reason the idea of tearing apart a book made me cringe really hard because it feels so destructive but then I talked myself off the ledge and realized there are plenty of remainder/used books that are one of millions of copies of said book that would be safe to do this with, lol.
I only have rare books I handpick for my reading pleasure 😂
Try going to the charity shop and asking for encyclopedias. They usually just recycle them because out of date encyclopedias are pretty much useless. They'll probably give you them for free or for a hamd full of loose change in the charity box. I volunteered for a while, and the book section was my area.
I really love reading the comments because so many people have extra ideas of what they did in their homes.
Hidden rooms: I once had a sewing room that could only be accessed through my walk-in closet. The point was that I didn’t have to worry about it looking messy when I left an unfinished project spread out all over.
I remember a friend of my mother’s who was renovating an old house. She had a room where she could leave up her ironing board and sewing machine at all times. Became my goal in life
I have a pretty small house and the primary bedroom is right off the living room. I've always thought replacing the bedroom door with one of those swinging bookshelf doors to make it more hidden could be a cool way to hide a private area when entertaining in the public living space
Great idea
I’m actually doing this in my small home!
Best idea ever ! Love it
When we built our fairly compact kitchen, we had a few odd spaces that we decided to make into very needed storage. We have to bump our fridge forward to make the layout work & have access to the water line. We ended up with a very deep, but only 5” wide space, the height of the fridge, so we added a door on the side of the fridge cabinetry and made it a broom closet and a shelf above for cleaning supplies. We also had an odd niche up high between a ceiling beam and upper cabinets, so we added a wee little door and a couple shelves. It’s only 3-4” wide but deep enough to keep medicine, matches, birthday candles and flashlights. We also planned & built toekick drawers that slide open under most the cabinets, it was wasted space but now they open to store large serving platters, placemats, cookie sheets, gift wrapping supplies and I occasionally hide Oreos, from my kids, there. Totally invisible but so easy to access.
Love all the ideas, and parents do need a place to stash emergency rations like Oreos!
For years we had this beautiful sidewalk cabinet. When you opened it you saw 8 solid wood folding chairs and table inserts, you pull what looked like a drawer and it pulled out to a table for eight (we actually sat 9 it with an extra chair pulled up at the end). We were so said when we lost it in a fire. It was from either the 60s or 70s really well built, I believe imported from Europe, with the play of wood tones I think Scandinavian. I have never found the same quality in construction or design.
That's heartbreaking to lose such an iconic piece of furniture like that. Mind you, I'm guessing that you likely lost a lot more. Living in the bush in Australia the landscape is ablaze half the year. It's a risk we live with constantly and know the devastation it causes when people lose their homes and loved ones. Thankfully, my timber cottage is still standing.
One bit of caution with the TV niche: the TV _will_ get replaced. The replacement may not have similar enough dimensions to fit and the hole pattern for the bracket may be positioned differently. We encountered that, the new TV sits higher on the bracket and, no, we cannot just reposition the bracket as the new holes, in the wall structure, would be too close to the old holes.
oh! I know the answer to this since I lived a similar situation: try installing something sturdy (sturdy plank etc) to fit to the drywall so you are not direct screwing into the same drywall holes.
I had the same thought. I think a niche for cords/outlets/AV equipment is still brilliant to hide behind a TV. But trying to get the whole TV flush mounted seems like a recipe for frustration later. Besides, modern TVs are so slim anyway that personally I don’t find them all that intrusive just wall mounted.
Buying the same size it’s very easy. Possibilities are endless. TV can be slightly bigger to prevent overheating. Nowadays TVs are 1/4 inch thick.
@@mylifewithmarmalade4624 We have one placed amongst a built-in bookcase and the replacement TV sits higher on the bracket, and you can see the difference.
@@erina6319I had a similar thought, except I was wondering if you could attach a small piece of plywood to the studs that could be replaced if necessary. Your planks would be sturdier, though. I don’t know that plywood could support a large TV hanging off it.
We're buying a new house and whenever we looked around I was obsessed with planning storage, my husband thinks I focus on it too much but it's SO important... It makes such a big difference to everyday life, and it's often not thought about much in newer homes here in the UK. They seem to just put in endless bathrooms instead lol.
So, for the secret-keeping books, they actually sell "books for making art" which are actually designed for this type of project and other projects. They have spines for classics in the public domain but they either have no text at all on the inside or its all text filler. Using out of date reference books that aren't old enough to be of historical significance (meaning they're new enough that they were heavily mass-produced but old enough to be irrelevant for research) is another great option. Like, if I were doing this for my spouse's office, I might go looking for some out of date engineering textbooks I can pick up for a few dollars rather than sacrificing materials others could use to learn from or reference. For myself, being an artist, I wouldn't dare sacrifice a real book for mine but would opt for the books for making art.
Yes to the out of date books. Libraries often have to weed out such books. Ones that just aren’t being checked out but are still valuable and useful (a lot of fiction) are given away, but out of date history, science, and other nonfiction books are often just thrown away because they aren’t useful and might actually be harmful depending on subject matter. Talk to a local library to find out when they do their weeding and ask if you can buy or even have these books destined for the dumpster anyways. I’m sure the library staff will be happy these books will be given a new life, even if it is to hide your wifi router.
@@TwirlGirl2197 how can a history books subject matter be harmful? Our history is our history. And many of the old history books have more truth in them than the newer editions because a lot of our history has been hidden from us in the updates.
Even Roald Dahl books are being rewritten for the sake of political correctness.
When we built our home (14 years ago) I opted to put double cabinet doors on the pantry rather than an awkward door in the kitchen, or putting a glass door with the word Pantry etched in it like many were doing. It was just more aesthetically pleasing to have it all blend in seamlessly. It's not a large panty, it's walk-in, lol, rather step into. Also added a motion sensor light. The builder thought we were crazy but ended up loving it and doing the rest of their houses in this manner.
My previous house had a slim cabinet that previously stored a fold-down ironing board. I installed thin shelves throughout and turned it into a large spice rack.
I was going to write about this same thing! Only in my case it was a framed opening in the kitchen wall. I bought 1 by 3 shelving and quarter round molding. I cut the shelving for shelves, and used short pieces of the quarter round as supports. Glue and nail the quarter round to the opening, glue and nail the shelves to the quarter round. Our landlord left a partial can of kitchen trim paint, I used that to paint the unit to match the kitchen.
We stored spices, oils, soy sauce, etc. on the shelves ... they even stayed put during an earthquake! [California]
Very clever!
A cabinet that is four inches deep can store brooms and small dustpans, with shelving higher up for, say, cans of cat food.
Omg I did the same thing!
"Why not just put a fucking door on it and call it a day." That made my day.
Your pillar spice cabinet reminded me of what my friend JUST DID in her kitchen! She wanted to encase the fridge but didn't have the space for a full pantry cabinet next to it and didn't just want to have a slab of wood next to it so there's pull out cabinet that's about 6in wide. It perfectly holds a folding step stool, the broom and dust pan, and the swiffer and you'd not know it was there! It opens by being pushed on (like my dad's old stereo cabinet). She also did similar pull outs on either side of the waterfall edge of her island but in those she stores her cookie sheets and spare oven racks.
I have the "4 inch deep" pantry thing, and I have a friend who redid her whole kitchen, with a house extention, $120K, 6-burner gas oven, walk-in pantry... and she was still jealous of my little spice cupboard LOL I love that thing!!!! No more hidden spices in the back!
I am redoing my kitchen and I had the option of a 36 inch cooktop and no spice pantry or 30 inch and a 12 inch spice pantry . Hands down picked the 30 inch and able to get a higher end brand :) who says bigger is better
I think this is the first UA-cam video where all of my thoughts are addressed during the video. Like the heat issue on the flush mount TV.
Really shows that you've actually thought about the consequences of life with these things instead of just "oh, this looks neat. *Share*" like most things I see on Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest and other UA-cam videos 😅
Great stuff 👌🏼
Are you kidding me, “not a sexy topic”? Storage is the best topic of al 😂l, thank you Nick!!
Two things from Expand Furniture that you missed that I love. The bookshelf table is also great for small spaces, and I love that they have freestanding Murphy beds. Most apartments won't let you anchor something like a regular Murphy bed to the walls (especially if the walls are concrete slab or cinderblock) but they actually have twin and queen sized Murphy beds that are stable without anchoring. Fantastic for a spare room that needs to do double duty without risking your damage deposit, and you can bring it with you much more easily if you move.
Is the Murphy bed he featured from expand? I loved it
I really loved the work from home unit. When the chair came out, I actually gasped! I haven’t gasped at a video in forever!
I just sent my sister a set of books that were destined for the pulp recycling place but had been repurposed. The covers had been covered in a beautiful world map paper and the spines when stacked say,” Paris is always a good idea. - Audrey Hepburn”. Such a great reuse.
This whole video was great. When I was having my downsized house built I insisted on using the space under the stairs. The builder just couldn’t grasp what I was talking about, even with pictures. I finally managed to pull it off but I must say that looking at all the options online was great fun. Everything from bookcases to home office to reading nook. My other clever thing was to have built out cabinet space over the fridge that has vertical dividers for cookie sheets, platters, muffin tins and extra cutting boards. Would love to see more on storage hacks. Or please just write a whole book about it.
My husband is just at this minute installing a cupboard above the fridge. I intend to put all my serving trays, baking trays and stuff. He is also making different levels on the side of the cupboard for different things. This will give more space in the pantry which will also be customised.
I think hiding a door/staircase makes sense if you rent out part of your house as a separate unit. Especially if it's on the tenant's side. No one wants to have a sad door reminding them their landlord lives upstairs, and extra shelving is always nice.
I love the hidden compartment behind the TV. I wonder if overheating could be avoided if the TV was pulled forward, when in use. To remember to pull it forward, I could store the remote in the compartment, as well. Just a thought.
In general, I appreciate your fast delivery of information. Thanks for the tips.
I recently built one for a client and one issue with hiding the Apple TV and cable box behind is that the infrared remotes won't work. Solution is to get an IR extender.
I do love the hidden room idea as a way to help redirect visitors too. My friend ended up putting a bookshelf door in front of the stairs to go up to the second floor (bedrooms and office space). Because of the kitchen lay out, the ugly stairwell was a prominent sight line, so she figured aesthetic shelving would be much nicer to look at. It is. A nice surprise however was that it discourages guests, especially young ones, from wandering upstairs exploring/snooping. She’s been thrilled with the additional security/privacy boost.
What kind of guests is your friend hosting that she has security concerns when they visit?
She tends to have big open house style parties where she’ll invite the whole neighborhood, or host house concerts for local musicians where she doesn’t know a lot of the people coming. Mostly works fine, as the whole lower floor is all open except the powder room so she and her friends can keep an eye on things. But the upper floor bedrooms/office/baths are another story. She used to just lock everything off at the top of the stairs, but if the stairs aren’t even visible even better.
@@mylifewithmarmalade4624 Even the thought of that makes my introverted brain explode 🤣
@@bluewren65 100% with you on that. But she loves a big party they way I love an evening with no plans, my favorite takeout and the remotes all to myself.
@@mylifewithmarmalade4624 🤣🤣🤣👍👍👍
The murphy bed/ bookshelf/ table combo & the drawer/ chair/ desk combo are my faves. Clever designs!
I love stuff like this! I have a 1952 time capsule home (including furnishings, appliances, decor, etc) and am always dreaming up ideas to hide the necessary modernity without harming the bones. Even when I see solutions that wouldn’t work for my home, they spark ideas. 😊 We do have a huge family room on one side of the house that we use for TV, computers, exercise equipment, etc. It is SUPER helpful to have that separation to keep the main area historically accurate.
I love the idea of living in a time capsule! Does that mean things like kitchen appliances are also from the 50s?
@@sarahwatts7152 Yes, and they cook better than any modern appliances I’ve ever owned! My oven looks like the front of a 50’s car and is HUGE. We have heavy steel cabinets that look brand new. It’s a privilege to be the stewards of this house, we absolutely love it. ✨
Wow I’d love to see you home
I have an original 1956 oven going strong in my house!
Installed a Murphy Bed into my snug and it is just genius. To be able to offer a queen size bed to my guests without losing an entire room to a "guest room" when space is at a premium...is amazing. Love the drawer mantel. 💜
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Which murphy bed did you buy?
I love the Harry Potter under the stairs cupboard that is turned into a cozy space for the pet. Some are crazy little well appointed bedrooms for bigger dogs. A quiet space for the "place" command or if a guest is allergic, or the even just to contain their stuff-toys, bed etc. If I was a little kid, I would have loved a little place like that for myself!
Lots of book so come with Dust jackets & while they often don't look as classy as the book themselves, they'll be easier to wrap around and you can keep your books intact. :)
I have a relatively small livingroom which has a huge old computer armoire from when they were furniture and expensive and well built (this one is two pieces) and you are so right: hiding away all that stuff is magic -- but I just realized, it feels like a hidden room (my office). I love closing those doors and shutting off the overhead lights at the end of my work-from-home days. I have a console table that opens to a 50 x 40 inch dining table on the other wall. Most of my friends are happy sleeping on the sectional sofa occasionally but I also have purchased a 4" memory foam trifold mattress I keep in the bedroom closet for when the grandkids come over.
My husband built a mantle with the door that folds down. It’s open while we use the player, but closed the rest of the time. I love it. No ugly wires. Our remotes live in there, too.
My mom is an architect, so when we remodeled the bedroom where I grew up in, she put a small bookcase on hinges so that it was actually a door that led to a staircase/fire escape. I wish we had a photo or video of that. Too bad, this was back in the day (decades ago) and our house has been demolished to make way for new construction. My siblings and I always teased mom and called her "MacGyver"! ;-)
I love small space and double duty furniture. I've seen these before, and there are so many more amazing ones out there.
The one advantage of the shelf door it is double duty.. if you don't have much wall space for a book shelf, then the doorshelf to the stairs is a great solution. And a door infront of the stairs is often needed eg in old English houses because they are not well insulated. So the door keeps the heat in downstairs in the living space.
Fun vlog.
Another tip: buy those storage boxes from Ikea to place things above your wardrobe if it doesn't reach all the way to the ceiling. Also, just get everything with built-in storage. Everything.
Actually, that trick with book covers from old books that will absolutely never be read again is also a decent way to hide some valuables too - though it's also why some thieves will pull all the books off of bookshelves (if they do it on TV there's gotta be some IRL that do it too 🤷♀️)
I love storage. In a smaller home everything needs to do double duty as much as possible.
We live in a tiny 1 bedroom (approx. 400 sq ft) so I am always looking for these types of ideas. Absolutely loved all of it. All the way through, light bulbs were popping. Thank you so much! I also subscribed to that link for Kiva's videos for Wayfair. You always provide such great and helpful information, Nick! Totally loved the spice cabinet idea as well as the expanding furniture. The hidden book storage idea was great too. It was all great!!! LOL
I have to disagree on one point, I think clever storage is incredibly sexy, or if not sexy per se, then perhaps thrilling and delightful! There are few things I appreciate more than clever ways to deal with daily life stuff in an aesthetically pleasing manner! Your floor to ceiling wall of spicy storage was my favorite along with the paneling that concealed wonderful cabinets! Brilliant use of space and aesthetically pleasing! I think the conversion furniture is smart but the complete opposite of my style and I would never go modern just for some storage. Built ins are my favorite thing ever! Great video! 💗💗💗
I actually like the idea of the hidden room for a utility/storage room I want to build in the future. Thanks for the tip - great show
The TV nook and the mantle one are by far my favorite. The former is very clean, but it keeps the wires accessible which is VERY necessary for my very-much-not-tech-savvy ass. The mantle one is just a nice and easy way to keep the remotes and batteries accessible when I don't want to add another table there. I love it!
I love hidden rooms, and someday, I will incorporate some in my dream home!
For those that hate destroying books, go to a thrift store and buy the boring ugly books. Usually there are ton of them, and they only throw them out if they don't sell after so long to make room for new ones. I bought ugly books, but then I decoupaged small pictures of flowers, or faces, and other things on the spines to cover up words and make my own fun books. It was easy and fast. I turned my book stack in to a lamp, but this could work just as easy for any project you want to use books for.
Wish we could take credit for this one, but it was done by the previous owners. When we replaced the countertops in our kitchen, we discovered about 4 inches of empty space behind all the bottom cabinets. This space pushed the cabinets out from the wall for that extra 4 inches, thus expanding the overall, counterspace.
Okay, now I’m officially a binge watcher of your channel. Love your ideas! I own a 1,420 sq ft home but maybe use 1/3rd of it and always thinking of selling this and buying as small as I can. The ideas here are inspiring. I’m a music lover and collector, and housing a large collection that keeps the music accessible but disguised when not in use is my design dilemma. I’m pretty minimalish otherwise. Leaning toward custom cabinetry that is mostly drawers with the push to pop open mechanism for a clean look. I’m all about getting rid of most things and keeping just what brings joy, which I’ve already done 90% of.
Hidden rooms can also be a security feature if one ever need a panic room
I haven't figured out how to keep the dog from showing robbers where we would be hiding...or if the dog was in here with us, how to keep him quiet.
@@BuckSecord Sound proof it? Obviously more expensive, but that would solve the problem of the dog making noise.
Or make it so secure they can't get in the room or find the entrance even if they hear dog barking
Or a tornado shelter.
@@BuckSecord and if tips from other comments are not achievable - last idea can be to put your dog to sleep, I mean some type of SAFE, vet-approved injection. It might seem drastic, but if you consider this as valid, possible situation that robbers might be interested in your place then you can go with it... I mean it is not great idea, but still better than being found out and hurt
I wanted a craft room, but we also wanted somewhere to put a guest bed, so murphy bed to the rescue! When folded up, it has a nice big desk on the outside that I use to do projects at. The best part is that the shelf pivots when you pull the bed back down so you don't even need to clear the desk off!
That Expand Furniture coffee table that converts to a dining table is amazing! And it looks really high quality also.
The best "hidden room" ones I've seen actually hide the litter box! The one I've seen IRL, the cat goes through a little cat door in coat closet by the garage door, through the coat closet, and into a little cubby in the garage that holds the litter box. The one I hope to do someday when I have a house (instead of condo) is to have the cat go through a flap in the side of a kitchen cabinet (I'll sacrifice the back half of the cabinet) and into the cubby in the garage. It keeps the smell out of your house and provides a place to catch the litter. There's also lots of smart furniture that does something similar. Another friend has a bench in their mudroom that actually holds the litter box, all the litter supplies, and has a place for the litter catch mat. It just looks like a bench with cubby doors under it until you look at the side and see the cat face shaped opening.
I live in a 126 year old house, and storage is an issue. Closet space is at a premium, to say the least. In one room, the 'closet' was just an 8" deep, empty space, that runs about a couple of feet behind the wall. (I assume that when central heat was installed at some point, it cost the closet space quite a bit of depth.) So, I had a handyman build several shelves into it, and was able to store away a ton of stuff.
Very Macgyver of you! Creative solution working with what you have.
@@stefs3460 Ha! :)
In 1900, people had armoires. Furniture versions of great big closets.
@@elizabethclaiborne6461 Yes, and I've seen closets that just had a few hooks on them for hanging clothes. People didn't have near as many clothes then, as we do now. And armoires (or 'chifferobes' as they're called down here) were usually all one needed.
Our old house also had those kind of closets. The rod for hanging clothes was perpendicular to the door, not parallel. They were called clothes presses. We put in shelves and added regular closets.
I love home hacks like that, please do more video of these! I aslo love how japanese appartement hide small kitchen appliances under cabinets and even add vent to use them safely. Another hack i saw is electrical outlet in drawers "docking drawers".
Love this!
At my last house, there was a there was a space like your spice cabinet. It. It was actually cut into an existing small dividing wall between the kitchen and dining room. Since since the studs are 4" inches and the width between them is 16",, it made a nice little floor to top-of-the-door cabinet. (To keep the horizontal line.) It didn't seem deep enough so my dad added a header to expand to 24" width plus some molding to increase the shelves to 5.5" deep which still only brought it out 1.5" from the wall, including the doors.
(The drywall was .5" so that didn't count)
I'm going to recreate this at my new place. It's used it for coffee supplies, tea, mugs, and tea pots as well as larger canisters of herbs & spices. Olive oil, etc.
This could just be due to me not being well traveled but I went to Ireland on vacation and stayed in the charming pub/inn. I was disappoint when we got the our room and I didn't see the bathroom. I was sure the listed didn't say anything about community bathrooms. But when i checked the closet, it wasn't a closet anymore. It was the best laid out tiny bathroom I have ever seen. A wonderful surprise and use of space. I would happily stay at the pub/inn again.
Love these. When I had my very small en suite remodeled I had the contractor remove the dry wall between 2 studs and had a cabinet installed behind the door. It is not deep but it holds a lot of bottles, etc in the bathroom. Amazing how much I can it in it.
When I had crown molding installed I had the contractor run the cable for the tv behind the crown molding since the cable comes in the back of the house and the tv is in the front and it's a slab house, so can't go under the house and 2 stories so can't go through the attic.
in my country (Poland) we have space for cables in the back of baseboards (I hope it is correct word, I mean something like crown molding, but going next to floor), they have two layers: one that is screwed to wall (base) and second - outer that you put onto that base that have hallow space for cables. Second part can be taken off to add another cable and then put back on the "base". It is useful when you want to add something (TV, optical fiber etc) and don't want to drill trough whole room
Love that pantry on the side of the column. Good choice to show. All kinds of small spaces like that were used in the older owner built farm houses in Nova Scotia. When looking at 100+ yr old houses, often built by ships carpenters when on land, the most fun part is finding the 'cubbies' and the back stairs that the help used & the cute room beneath. And many layers of wonderful wallpaper as well as nice easy on the body linoleum on the kitchen & working pantry floors.
For the fake book idea, some books have water damaged pages, but the covers are still intact, could be a good use for those.
And some books are really boring but have beautiful old fashioned covers.
Perfect. Reusing ruined books is good.
I don’t need a hidden room, but for reasons unknown, I’d love to have one. Realistically, It would probably become a dumping ground for all my unfinished craft projects.
I'd love a "craft lair!" You wouldn't have to quickly clean up when visitors pop in!
If something needs ventilation, drill or cut a hole in it, and frame it with an vent cover. If you want to be fancy, get some old speakers you no longer need, salvage the speaker cloth and the trim, and put that over your vent hole.
Nick I absolutely love you in your videos! You are so very talented in adding humor into your wonderful videos. The world needs more people like you these days. ❤❤
Love the Murphy bed / shelves & desk combo for our guest room.
The "Book Hide" is a great idea. Bye Bye "Remote Boat". I don't want the butler's pantry hidden room unless there is a butler that goes with it. I Totally came up with the add on hidden storage in my kitchen. I added 10 inches to the over hang side of my island. So under the marble top where the bar stools go four large hidden touch open cabinet doors. When open they house all my books. I don't need to clean book shelves or have a wall of books somewhere in my smallish house. Nobody realizes there is storage there as the bar stools are in front of it. When I need a book, I pull back one chair and pop touch the door to open and retrieve the book or replace it etc. I also store serving pieces I use for the holidays or gatherings etc.
I love all of these! I like a smaller hidden room, say, through a mirror in a bedroom or office, if it's well designed, to store any valuables etc. A safe! Perhaps not every thief would think to look there..... they may not have time to discover it. I love the shelf that is a drawer. And recessed medicine cabinets that look just like an ordinary mirror!! 💕🌹💃🏻💃🏻 ... Oooh lala!
I’ve been wanting to comment for a few videos. Now is the time.
You. Are. Hilarious. In the best way.
Educational in the most entertaining way.
I’ll tell you why those hidden doors that look like bookshelves are great even if you live in the house. We have a bifold closet door in the middle of our living room that leads to our hot water tank and water filtration system that’s under the staircase. It means we have this stupid bifold door in the middle of the living room. Which isn’t aesthetically pleasing at all. And also that I have nowhere to put a tall shelf or any display in the room because of the rest of the living room being as it is ( a fireplace wall and various doors and windows etc). One of those shelf Murphy doors with a bookcase would be an incredible solution there.
I actually always wondered what that wood pilar was🤣 Genius!!
Additionally, I bought under bed storage to use under my couch to store seasonal pillows and decor. Life changing.
I'm collecting ideas for a future home design, and the 8" cheater wall for spice storage was a fantastic idea! Since I store my pantry dry goods in 1-qt mason jars, as you do with your spices, it would be easy to incorporate this where a wall return separating rooms would otherwise be wasted. Combine that with a hidden-room pantry for bulkier pantry items and small appliances, and I can create a "magic kitchen" capable of producing far more than its' apparent footprint suggests.
Another benefit of the "cheater" wall, is that you still have a wall to hang art work.
My super duper console to dining table transformer is about to get on a boat from Italy to Australia this week and it's the most exciting furniture I've ever purchased! Downsizing to an apartment mid year and I have been coveting this thing for at least two years
I love books! But I think the second idea is still genius because a lot of books can get really messed up and it's easier to use these things to hide stuff if you already have a bunch of other books. Sort of like camouflage!
We have our tv mounted up under a soffit and have the wires go along the top of the soffit so you don’t see any of them. The guy didn’t even know how he was gonna do it until he did it. It’s so clean and pretty!
I've done two things to hide "ugly" which might work for others....
My sewing machine is an older Singer preferable for its durable metal parts but therefore too heavy to move about for frequent use. I made a cover for it that would both hide it and keep it free of dust. The cover is basically a lightweight wooden box with no bottom panel. It sits upon my sewing cabinet, completely hiding the machine inside, and is easily set aside when I wish to sew. But it is not just any wooden box. I bought a victorian style balsa wood dollhouse kit in the necessary dimensions. I sanded, painted, and glued all the zillions of parts to build a house with windows, shutters, doors, a railed porch, shingled roof, omitted the interior walls and floors, and added a back panel so the house would have 4 walls. Sometimes I leave the sewing machine light turned on so it looks like someone is at home inside the dollhouse, a ghost in the machine. If that was not wacko enough for you, I had other method to my madness. As planned all along, I cut a mail slot in the roof of the dollhouse, added a temporary bottom panel, and displayed the house at my wedding reception. (I had spare shingles to make repair). My wedding guests filled the dollhouse with all their delightful greeting cards and gift envelopes.
My other hideaway is a wall cupboard in my teeny tiny bathroom. I bought a homemade plywood cabinet at a yard sale for a few dollars. It has the proportions of a typical medicine cabinet so when hung on a wall it does not project into the room far enough to cramp the space. It happened I already had an amply supply of tempered glass narrow enough to use for shelving. These I had salvaged from one of those older model louvered storm doors that someone had discarded. I took the louvres to the local hardware store to have them cut to length. I bought adjustable shelf brackets for the inside of the cabinet and heavy duty wall brackets that I modified so I could remove the cabinet from the wall as needed to clean and paint. The wall unit is about 2 feet wide x 3 feet high so it holds an amazing quanity of small toiletries, medicines, and cosmetics that women are prone to collect of a sort that would otherwise be jumbled into a drawer.
Goodwill is a great place to find pretty vintage books too!
That mantel drawer will get heated up from the fireplace, as will the TV. Also, the TV over the mantel creates neck strain. You need a console table for the tv and a mirror over the fireplace, there’s a reason we’ve done this for centuries.
Agree ! Also , make up your minds , people ! A TV over a fireplace ??? It's either / or , not both , to have an aesthetically pleasing room .
For shallow kitchen storage you don’t even need to add on to cabinetry. If you have wall space that can’t have a cabinet or appliance there because it’s at a doorway or walkway create a storage space between the studs. Depending on what you plan to use it for it can be open shelves or you can add a door. But the depth of a stud is enough to store spices, smaller sized canned goods, some cleaning products, etc.
Very helpful...especially your spice "closet." My husband and I really love to cook and we have all of our many spices in those same jars. That is such a great idea. Wish I knew of it BEFORE we remodeled our kitchen! ;) Always appreciate the humor that accompanies your videos! Makes it really fun to watch!
I am planning a hidden room in my house build! Through the study (bookshelf) into a small sun room, plant room. I've seen this done with a broom closet and it's so interesting.
I added the recessed area behind my TV.
On the top of the recessed area I used pegboard for ventilation instead of having it solid. The heat rises and the holes in the pegboard give it a place to go.
The storage behind the TV is a good idea, to improve the idea would be to integrate some small quiet fans to exhaust the heat. The TV's are definitely mounted a bit too high but overall these hacks are worth trying.
I've incorporated a hidden room into my house plans, because I decided last minute to add a spare bedroom off the end of my house, but the adjoining wall was already planned to have 1 metre deep 'nook' storage all the way along it. I didn't want to sacrifice my sewing nook for a door, & also didn't want the symmetry of that wall of nooks to be thrown off... so I decided to hide the door to the spare room in the back of my sewing nook & have my sewing machine cabinet swing out on the bottom half of the door panel, whilst the top half swings all the way back. This is actually better, because now I will be able to watch tv while I sew, instead of staring at the wall. And, that wall is one continuous line of moulded panels.
My husband and I plus our two young kids love in an 800 sqft condo. We used expand furniture for our Murphy bed in the living room (now our bed), my daughter has the folding bunk beds, got the office desk. I just want to focus on the Murphy sofa queen bed that I got. It has storage under the whole couch (about a105 inches in length). Most Murphy beds only have storage on the Chez lounge side. We could attach a closet to the bed. The foot rest is detachable. I can simply push it to the side to have more space for the kids. The more I use the beds the more impressed I am in their design.
I get that it’s pricey, but their designs helped stay where we are vs moving (which costs more).
Nick! This is your BEST video ever! the leaf inserts on the "coffee table" is Geeeeniuuuus!
I'm late to this video too... I love the expandable kitchens that fold away, Dizz Concept PIA pop up kitchens are my favourite, aside from the obvious benefits, not being able to accumulate tonnes of excess kitchen clutter makes me irrationally happy.
Love Kathryn from Do it on a Dime! Her book hack is brilliant ❤ I would also LOVE to see you do a collab with Cas from Clutterbug about organizational/storage solutions that fit with different design styles. I find the “clever” storage is often quite modern looking which doesn’t really fit with my mcm/rustic vibe. ❤
Love Cas!! Great idea
Nick has expressed that he’s not really into organizing. It’s his partner’s thing. Also those two women you mention are dollar store queens while Nick is more classy.
@@missmayflower hahaha you’d be surprised how many wealthy people shop at dollar stores. :)
My aunt and uncle have a hidden room in their house. It's more of just a large closet, but it's what would have been empty/wasted space under a staircase. They put up a bookshelf door to hide it, and their grandson uses it as a cool hideout of a playroom. I definitely like hidden closets more than full-on hidden *rooms* or hidden staircases or whatever, because like you say, if it's being used all day every day, then what's even the point of having it be hidden? Secret doors are a nice way to tuck away some of those less aesthetic spots like awkward closets under the stairs, but they're less fun when you need to go in and out of the secret door all the time.
For those of us who just don’t ever have enough bookshelves those door/shelf ideas for stairways or under stair storage are 👍🏻
Hidden rooms are neat if you have a multiple entrances to a room or corridor. Hiding one of the cabinet or room that is rarely used can improve the aesthetics by not having doors in every corner.
I think the hidden electrics behind the TV won't have a problem with heating up too much because the TV is out from the wall while they are watching it. That space holding all the boxes and wires is wide open during use. Cool ideas!!
I love your spicy sense of humor. One of the most fun videos I’ve seen recently.
If I could have the hidden room installed while the other family members were away, I could finally have the peace and quiet I crave. Only I would know it was there; the others would only care that I was missing when it was dinner time. Lol.
I am both a book lover and a book hater. Once read, they go to the library. My husband will hang on to them for some reason even he can't name. We have a beautiful ceramic crock on our coffee table that my daughter made; I put the remotes in it whenever I straighten up. The crock is right there on a table in the open. The TV gets watched, but the remotes never get put back in the crock. Maybe I should get one of those hidden remote boxes, but I don't have any books I can spare without my husband dying. Sigh.
An open nook for TV and related wires is great because none are INSIDE the wall. That’s against the building codes where I live. Inspector would not allow my DVD, antenna cords etc. to run behind the drywall. I had even created vent holes in the sides of the space with AC floor grills for ventilation. He still said no. All wires had to be in front of a wall’s finished surface. Thanks for your hack. Now I can fix this!
I have a hidden room, my bathroom has a bookcase for a door. And yes it is a bit gimmicky but I love it because it adds much needed interest to a boring little hallway. If I just had a door there it would be super dull, I would want to have some piece of furniture in that hall but there's no space, so having a bookcase door creates a nice moment in the hall while not blocking access to the bathroom.
In my dream home I intend to have a hidden walk in wardrobe. I have a beautiful Art Deco wardrobe that belonged to my great aunt but it's not really a practical size to use as a modern wardrobe, it's a bit narrow, hangers have to put in at an angle. I have it in storage because one day I will have a walk in wardrobe and I intend to cut the back panel off Aunty's wardrobe, remove the shelf and rail inside, and place it in front of the entrance to my walk in so I will walk through the antique wardrobe to get into the modern wardrobe. I'll be able to make use out of a treasured heirloom that I just wouldn't have use for otherwise and also get to have a bit of a magical Narnia moment every day.
the very old fashioned hack I found in this new to me house was the faux drawer at the sink was tilt out storage, great for dish gloves and the various vegetable brushes I have ....fit perfect....
For the behind TV niche you could put a little plug in fan at one end to keep cool air circulation and cooling
The router solution you mentioned is AWESOME... cause people should NOT put a router into anything too "closed".It will inevitably disrupt your overall wifi service and could potentially cause it to overheat. I suggest looking at routers that aren't hideous and using your own rather than the ones provided by the internet companies, but if you cannot do that ensure you vent the back and top of the any solution used to disguise a hideous router for proper wifi signal distribution as well as ventilation, and it should be centrally placed within the home. Tho again, I stress that people consider opting to buy their own router that compatible with their internet provided (I like Netgears Orbing or an Eero, neither of which are horrible to look at on a day to day basis, and they both provide the option for a "mesh" network which extends the signal through larger homes.
Hi Nick. Would you consider doing a video on designing for function and behavior vs just style? I struggle with ADHD and being messy but I need order to function so I’m torn between my natural self and my functioning self. Most decor advice I find is for style over function but after all we live in a house not a museum right ? Thank you so so much ❤
If you're not familiar with them, both How to ADHD and The Spiral Lab have videos on neurodivergent spaces and design.
It can be really difficult to keep a "nice looking" space when hiding things from view makes stuff mentally disappear because of how our brains work, and we can be so inconsistent/impulsive in the moment, but we also need to have order to avoid overstimulation.
It calls for a completely different kind of visual and functional space than most interior decorators would ever advise or recommend.
I have major ADHD and everything Hass to function and be organized. I’ve become creative with it living in small spaces by furniture that doubles as storage, making storage part of the decor for example baskets with lids That match the wicker on the shelf, the dollar tree! There’s tons of videos on how to organize with dollar tree stuff. It is an expensive. As for decor, keep it simple and Let it flow. There are always things to find for free, hand me downs or even store-bought items but that is not as important as functionality and a lot of these channels as you said aren’t as focused on functionality. With all the vessels, book says decor and needless things to purchase that don’t add anything to your life really. Oh another thing I swear by our bins all over the house and hooks. Hooks over the doors every single door so things can get tossed upon hook and/or. Thrown into the baskets that are readily available throughout. Of course it’s not a perfect system, it’s sometimes an unorganized mess but stuffs off the floor and I know where to go look for it.
For me, majorly minimizing my belongings in my entire house was a huge help with my ADHD. Fewer visual distractions, fewer items to organize, fewer decisions to make (what to wear), etc.
Yeah, I’m hanging out for Nick to do a designing for ADHD because it’s tough to get aesthetically pleasing interiors that are functional; and having personality in a space that doesn’t create overstimulation (unless that’s the purpose of the space). There is a huge market for this.
A video like this would find viewers who don’t have ADHD too (or who don’t realize and may never realize they do). I love how good Nick is about making space for people with different tastes and how his design style videos include a “this is not for people who” part. He could do it for function too, like “this is for people who feel like a house fire might be a blessing in disguise” and “this is not for someone who feels like their house is devoid of personality”.
I have a floor to ceiling spice rack built out from my fridge gable, it's my favorite kitchen thing as someone who loves cooking.
There's always garage sales where you can pick up a few books for 10 cents or less . cute idea.. I favor the Box myself. I have several wooden boxes that works real well to declutter small items yet handy ....🙂
I need storage in my living room. Currently looking at IKEA Besta and other designs. Thank you Nick for this video.
I love your herringbone sweater, one of my favorite "patterns", you're looking so dapper in this video 😊 The UA-cam glitch actually caused me to miss this video for 5 months, not cool UA-cam, but today I got 2 new Nick videos, so it kinda feels like Christmas and I'm not really mad anymore!!!!!!
Here's a thought: If you don't have a guest room, give guests YOUR bedroom and YOU sleep on the couch. I do. Mostly, I do it because I normally wake early and it's just more comfortable to be able to follow my normal routine in the morning. And, yes, of course, I change the linens before they arrive.
I find it completely impossible to convince guests to use my bed, and I've tried! Better for them to have their own space.
This is exactly what I do!
Sensible idea, done such sometimes, others people were too embaressed to sleep on master's bed. But for me the trouble is to fit everything into my one living room. I used to have a great foldable chair but I gave it to my friend for everyday use and it actually gave me more space which I desperately needed...buuut now I only have an old good orphaned mattress and sleeping bag for when guest stay over and that's a bit sad
As a guest I would hate this...
@@erina6319 Hmm. Why?