Plans for Furniture that Hide Jewelry / Valuables???

[Jeff A. Smith]

My wife has a large amount of jewelry, as I'm sure all woodworker's spouses do, right? ;)

I would really like to know if anyone has seen any cool plans for woodworking projects that offer EASY ACCESS to hidden storage?

I'm not looking for a jewelry box with a "hidden compartment." What I would be more interested in is a bedside table that had "stealth drawers" or a bookcase with hidden drawers... you get the drift... not something that screams to a burglar, "Hey! The jewelry is in this box!!!"

Years ago... I saw some commercial bedside tables where the drawers didn't go all the way to the back of the carcass and the whole top slid forward to reveal a rear compartment... That's the kind of idea I'm looking for.

Anyone?

Thanks!
Jeff

[Michael McCoy]

The link isn't to a plan but Taunton Press has a good article that might give you some ideas.

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/SkillsAndTechniques/SkillsAndTechniquesArticle.aspx?id=26008

[Mike Wellner]

You are dreaming a huge pipe dream if you plan on something like National Treasure 2:p

[Jeff A. Smith]

You are dreaming a huge pipe dream if you plan on something like National Treasure 2:p

Ha! I can imagine it was quite elaborate. I didn't see that one, however. I am surprised there's not more demand for stuff like this, however. Especially those of us who can make custom furniture... that seems like an unexplored market.

[Damon Brown]

Here's an article from Woodcraft's website that may provide some inspiration.

http://www.woodcraft.com/articles.aspx?articleid=358

It's an excerpt from the book "The Complete Illustrated Guide To Furniture & Cabinet Construction" published by Taunton Press.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

If you want bugler protection forget about building it into drawers. They heave those across the room often breaking 'em in the process.

Thieves tend to be a tad rough on the property they are ransacking.

False wall panels and flooring is prolly best but ya gotta do a right fine job of it.

If on the other hand you just want to deter the snoops then false drawers and hollow legs will do fine.

[Dewey Torres]

Check these links out!

http://www.greatstuff.com/furniture.html

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip021100ws.html

Cool video click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnhvi2vTOu0&eurl=http://lumberjocks.com/topics/5445)

[Paul Williams]

When I was looking at chest of drawers to build I saw several comercial units that had a second drawer inside of the top drawer. It was about 1 inch deep and hung from the top of the chest. You opened the top drawer. Then reached in and pulled the second drawer out. I haven't made one yet, but it was real simple and if you placed it back far enough into the drawer it would be un-noticeable.

I have built drawers into the toe space on cabinets. My purpose was to gain additional space for cookie sheets and similar cookwear. They are difficult to see and with no hardware would be un-noticeable.

[Roman Hruska]

Years ago (probably 10+) there were several threads on secret compartments on usenet. You could probably find them with a Google Groups search (search for "secret compartments".) If I remember correctly there were some pretty good ideas among all of the usual chaff.

[Mods: If referencing usenet like this is not allowed, please accept my apologies and delete this message.]

Roman

[Steve Southwood]

Go to hiddensafes.com and look around there. They have some neat ideas that a person could make. I really like the airvent idea. Every house has one.

[Matthew Hills]

Here's one article that I bookmarked from woodcentral:

Table with Secret Locking Drawer (http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=furniture&file=articles_650.shtml)

Drawer is concealed with a hidden latch:
http://www.woodcentral.com/articles/images/650c.jpghttp://www.woodcentral.com/articles/images/650d.jpg

Matt

[Gene E Miller]

Greetings & Salutations,

I have a friend that has a very nice king size head board for their bedroom suite that has a unit on each side of the bed containing 3 shelves with double doors, a pull out tray and then three nice drawers below.

All of this is part of the head board which is a full 10' across but the unique part of it is a concealed compartment at the top of each side unit that has a swing up door but looks like the crown molding that goes all across the unit.

That small compartment is big enough to contain a lot of hidden space and he happens to keep a hand gun on each side along with some valuables that they want to keep hidden.

To look at this and even if a thief were ransacking the place I don't think he would think to lift up on the crown molding of a tall piece of furniture to find a hidden compartment.

Gene

[Dewey Torres]

Jeff,
I hope you come back and post what you decide to make:)

[Nancy Laird]

We have a set of bookshelves and the bottom shelves sit up about 3 inches off the floor, on a base. The bottom shelves can be removed for hiding space under them. When the shelves are stacked with books, no one knows that the shelved are removable. There's a lot of space under a 12x36" shelf.

[Darren Salyer]

Jeff,
I hope you come back and post what you decide to make:)


I've tried to think of something sarcastic yet funny, to say about posting pictures of a piece of furniture used to hide ones jewelry on the internet for all to view, but everything I typed didn't convey the lighthearted manner in which it was intended.
Darren

[Dewey Torres]

Good point. I didn't even think about that when I asked for pics:o

[Craig T. Smith]

Darren, If your burglar is checking out woodworking sites to see where your secret hiding spaces are He is probably to industious to be much of a theif. I think it's safe to post pics. Happy Woodworking, Craig

[Darren Salyer]

Darren, If your burglar is checking out woodworking sites to see where your secret hiding spaces are He is probably to industious to be much of a theif. I think it's safe to post pics. Happy Woodworking, Craig

As I said, i was trying to think of a joke about it but couldn't. I agree with you completely. Darren