When I was a little kid, I was *fascinated* by the idea of secret rooms! I loved reading mystery novels, and the hidden rooms that often played a role in the plot sounded SO. COOL. So I got a huge kick out of this article in the WSJ about real-life hidden rooms around the country! In DC homes, this could be a fun way to hide a storage space, or make creative use of your basement. Take a look for yourself!
Randall Perry/Witt Construction
Everyone loves a secret.
Hidden rooms and passageways might seem like the stuff of a Victorian murder mystery, but these spaces are increasingly popular in homes, with owners installing them for reasons of design, security and just plain fun.
“No one knows it’s there,” says Jerry Stubbs of the secret room he built under the garage of his Spanish Fork, Utah, home. “I put valuables in there, and our food storage and guns.”
Mr. Stubbs, a general contractor, excavated the space, then bought a Creative Home Engineering bookcase with a secret door for access to the room.
Since launching in 2004, Gilbert, Ariz.-based Creative Home has sold about 500 secret doors, says founder Steve Humble. Sales have increased in each of the past three years, he says, with 2014 on pace to be its best year.
Security is a prime consideration for many customers, Mr. Humble notes, but hidden spaces aren’t all a matter of safeguarding against potential intruders.
Hidden wine cellars and children’s playrooms are homeowner favorites, adds John Witt, president of Witt Construction, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Secret rooms aren’t Witt’s focus, but with word-of-mouth driving demand, the company takes on several such projects a year, he says.
Cardok, based outside Geneva, builds garages that rise out of the ground on hydraulic lifts, allowing owners to tuck their cars neatly out of sight when they aren’t in use. “It saves space, and it’s a very discreet design,” says Izabela Waligora, a project manager at the company. “It doesn’t spoil your entrance or your garden.”
Here are some secret spaces.
Like in the Movies
This bookshelf can be rigged to open via any number of mechanisms: twisting a wine bottle, pulling a candlestick, pushing on a book. Creative Home Engineering
A secret door is cool, but the real fun is in how you open it, says Mr. Humble, of Creative Home Engineering. His bookshelf installation, for example, can be rigged to open via any number of mechanisms: twisting a wine bottle, pulling a candlestick, pushing on a book. “Any kind of secret switch you’ve seen in a movie, I guarantee we’ve done that for a client before,” he says.
The company has seen a growing demand for biometric access devices like fingerprint and iris scanners.
Price: $2,500 up to $50,000.
A Speakeasy of One’s Own
Cellars are topped with trap doors that can be finished to match the surrounding flooring. Spiral Cellars
The U.K.-based Spiral Cellars company sells underground wine cellars built around a spiral-staircase design. Offering storage for a many as 1,776 bottles, the cellars are topped with trap doors that can be finished to match the surrounding flooring.
“So you have a good functional wine cellar, and it’s also very discreet,” says Lucy Hargreaves, co-owner and director of the company.
Of course, she notes, not everyone is interested in discretion. Some customers are opting for glass trap doors that let them show off, rather than hide, their collections below.
And then there are those who want the best of both worlds, and add a little mystery, too.
“We have a client who really liked the glass trap door, but he doesn’t want to see it all the time, so he keeps a nice rug over it,” Ms. Hargreaves says.
Price: $25,000 to $100,000
Hide and Go Seek Just Got Real
The room is hidden behind a bookcase that is part of the wall of a second-floor loft area. Randall Perry/Witt Construction
This secret children’s playroom was installed in a Saratoga Lake, N.Y., home that was built by Witt Construction in 2011.
The room is hidden behind a bookcase that is part of the wall of a second-floor loft area. The middle shelves are actually a door that simply pushes open, without any visible knob or handle.
“You’d never know it was there unless someone told you,” Mr. Witt says.
He says that children’s play areas are the most common secret-room request his company receives.
The company recently has done wine cellars in a similar fashion, he adds. The door “looks just like a set of bookshelves in the stairs, and they open up right into the cellar.”
Price: Approximately $9,000
Underground Parking
Cardok’s underground parking spots go from garden to garage at the push of a button. Cardok
Cardok’s underground parking spots go from garden to garage at the push of a button, making them popular with homeowners on small lots looking to maximize their space, says Ms. Waligora.
The design also can help skirt local building restrictions, she adds, such as when local regulations prohibit building too close to a property line. “This is a very practical solution because there’s nothing above ground,” she says.
Customers also can have an access built to their garage from their home.
Price: Starts at $51,000
Urban Living By Alia 