People Are Sharing Interesting And Clever Secret Spaces They've Hidden In Their Houses, Here Are 50 Of The Best

Both of these online communities are full of enthusiasts who enjoy sharing images of their home secrets and sometimes even the process of constructing them. The moderators of r/HiddenRooms encourage users to "post pictures and discussions of hidden rooms, secret passages, discreet minibars, trap doors, and other cool secret spaces."

And more than 72.9K members do exactly that, showing how those places are accessed via an invisible door, which could be camouflaged as a bookshelf, a cupboard or a trapdoor in the floor.

While this subreddit focuses more on entire rooms that are hidden in plain sight, the online page r/SecretCompartments is dedicated to concealed parts in your furniture, decorations or even toys. Since its creation in 2016, it has grown into a community with 206K members who treat their privacy as a top priority and keep their personal belongings and memories safe from curious eyes.

It seems that secret spaces have a wide appeal since people are intrigued by the cunning that goes into creating such spots and things. We reached out to Jill Herro, owner of Secret Compartment Furniture, a company that focuses on creating handmade furniture that is not only beautiful on the outside, but also hides your possessions "in plain sight".

She was kind enough to talk a little bit more about secret compartments and the reasons why people decide to have them. The idea behind starting her own business came from a personal need since Herro wanted to have a nice piece of furniture to store her valuables in. However, when she started looking, all that she found "looked like some guy's garage project—hardly anything I would want in my home."

"Then, 6 months later, I got laid off from my pharmaceutical sales job and figured if I was looking for nice furniture for that reason, there must be others doing the same," she told Bored Panda. "Since I live one hour north of the largest Amish community in the world with over 450 furniture makers, I figured I would give furniture design a try!"

According to her, people want to have discreet hiding spaces in their furniture simply because it’s fun and it "instantly turns everyone into a 12-year-old". But on a more serious note, it just seemed logical to her that hiding your precious belongings in plain view is the way to go.

"Burglars know to grab the jewelry box, check the bedside drawer, check the dresser drawers, etc.," the furniture designer explained. Just imagine the confusion when your fine jewelry or money is not hidden there: "Their goal is to get in and out in less than 4 minutes. Hide those items in an unexpected place, and they will walk right past it."

"Every show I do I hear a story about someone being robbed, and 'they got the jewelry box, and I don't really care about most of it, but they got grandma's Tiffany necklace from the ‘30s, and it cannot be replaced...' Those stories break my heart. Put the costume jewelry in the jewelry box so they think they got something but put the good stuff in the coat rack!"

The solutions people come up with to "outsmart" others are also entertaining to see. "I think people enjoy looking at those things because it is creative and surprising. It is unexpected. It shows time and effort," Jill Herro explained. "I take pride in the fact that my designs look totally 'normal'. Some of the other stuff available out there looks 'unbalanced' or out of proportion."

However, the most difficult part for her was to get the business up and running. While the clients loved her work, it just couldn’t get any traction: "I got zero word-of-mouth referrals because nobody wants their friends to know what that beautiful piece of furniture does! I even have customers who refuse to tell their spouse or adult children what it does. I have had husbands purchase items as a gift for their wife, and not tell them about the secret compartments."

Scrolling through this post, you will see the amount of creativity and cleverness that goes into these projects. There are no limits on what you can do with just a couple of tools and an idea in your head. Making a secret room in your house or thinking of a discreet compartment in your furniture not only provides a safe space for you to stash your possessions and hide your memories, but also shows you that the magic of things is often hidden.