How to Make Hidden Compartments in Bookshelves

Hidden compartments hide your items and themselves.

Tucking secret items behind or inside books on a bookshelf is nothing new, but if you really want to make the items private, hide them inside a hidden compartment. Hidden compartments in bookshelves give the appearance of a clean back wall behind your books, but for the person who knows the compartment is there, a simple push is all that is needed to open the hidden compartment and get access to the treasures inside.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Pencil
• Saw
• Stock wood, 3/8 inch thick
• Sandpaper
• Stain or paint
• Wood glue
• Plywood, ¾ inch thick

Instructions

1. Measure the height and width of a small back wall section of your bookshelf. Measure and cut your stock wood to this same size for the face of the compartment. Sand the wood on the front side and down the two corners which touch the back side to round them. Stain or paint the piece to match the back of the shelves. Allow the wood to dry for two to four hours.

2. Subtract 2 inches from the back wall’s width. Measure and cut another piece of stock wood to the original height by this width to make the back piece. Sand two adjacent corners of this piece to round them along the side you want to be the back of the compartment.

3. Measure and cut two small pieces of stock wood for sides to the back wall’s height by 1 inch thick. Set the back wood piece on a flat surface with the rounded corners facing down. Stand the side pieces on their edge and aligned at opposite sides of the back board to form the corners of the compartment.

4. Lift each piece and apply wood glue to the 3/8-inch width of the sides and press the side piece back down onto the back panel. Leave the glue to dry for up to one hour.

5. Subtract ¾ inch from the length of your back panel and cut a small piece of plywood to this length by 1 inch wide. Place the plywood on a long edge between the side pieces and against the back panel. Add glue along the three sides of the plywood which touch the sides and back. Let the glue dry for up to one hour.

6. Set the front panel down with the rounded edges facing up and the prepared front facing down. Flip the glued unit over and set it on the front piece. Check that there is an overhang along the front panel which extends out by 1 inch on each side. Glue the pieces where they connect and allow to dry for 1 hour.

7. Push the compartment into place against the back of the bookshelf with the front facing forward. Push against either side of the front panel to rock the other side forward when you want to get to the compartment.

Tips & Warnings

• Make additional hidden compartments to set inside the backs of desk drawers.

References

• Woodworking Tips: Adding a Hidden Compartment
• Wood: Craft, Culture, History; Harvey Green
• In the 18th Century Style; Fine Woodworking