Bookace door to the home office.

[Sam2000]

Hi everyone,

We have a self-contained annexe attached to our house, and as part of house renovation, we've just opened a new doorway to the annexe (the future home office I will work remotely from) that we'd like to hide through a secret bookcase door that can hold books rather than a faux set of books. We love books, and this is a project close to our hearts!

I'm having trouble finding a carpenter in London who can do that and who will show me examples of similar jobs in the past. I'm hoping to get this sorted as soon as possible.

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks,
Sam X

Google is your friend, etc...

https://www.secretpassage.co.uk/

Exactly what we want! Thank you so much! 🥰

Are there any particular things to remember to ensure it's children-friendly?

I wouldn't have one with small children. Too much temptation & too much risk of damage to their fingers, especially with the extra weight.

Ours are teenagers (time flies 🫢). It should be safe. I guess we will need some locking mechanism.
Do you have any more carpenter recommendations capable of making such a thing? I prefer to have at least two quotes comparing apples to apples unless the recommendation came from someone we know and we had a chance to see the work. X

OP I have no advice for you at all. But I would imagine that a door with a bookcase, filled with books, would be extremely heavy. The weight would surely affect what hinges, if any, could be used. In the example that MasterBeth attached above you can see that there is only about half a dozen books on the shelves. If you're anything like me your shelves will be full!

This is something we are looking to do to hide the utility area from the open plan kitchen/diner/family room. We are considering using a sliding door mechanism though as the opening into the utility room is quite small

Of course, the weight of the bookcase. That's a good point. It will need to be heavy-duty, then. I'm glad I asked here before approaching anyone!

We want a unique feature in our house - wow factor and practicality.

This is such a Mumsnet post. Supposedly helpful but somehow both ignorant and arrogant at the same time.

Don't you think that high-end bespoke joinery company that actually builds and fits secret bookshelf doors might have considered that such a door might be extremely heavy? They might even have given thought to what hinges they should use.

And, before anyone asks, I know nothing more about this firm that what I can see on their website. But, Jeez, look at their website! They are specialists and experts in doing exactly this work.

Our doorway is currently next to a bank of bookcases so I'm hoping to incorporate a sliding bookcase to conceal the doorway so it looks like part of the library wall. If that makes sense.

Have you contacted any local joiners or carpenters? A joiner acquaintance of mine did something similar in his own home, but made a pantry shelf unit into a concealed doorway. He specialises in bespoke wooden windows so wouldn't be something you'd immediately go to him for. Unfortunately we aren't in the London area though

https://llcompany.co.uk/collections/invisidoor-hinge-kit

DIY?

Our friends have one, but it’s part of a big wall entirely covered in book shelving. I talked to them ages ago when we were considering having one built, and they say that you should think about whether the door is going to be used a lot, and that, if so, they would recommend less deep shelves, just for paperbacks, which would allow the ‘door’ to be narrower, so more space to walk through the doorway when open, and would also decrease weight. And that putting a ‘lip’ on the front of the shelves would be good, as the books creep forward whenever the door is closed with any kind of force.

I never thought that it could also be sliding. Thanks!

That's very helpful. We will stick to paperbacks only to reduce the weight and depth. I do not anticipate high traffic as an entrance to the kitchen. We will also need to consider the 'lip' on the front of the shelves.

The DIY option is not feasible in our situation (we need to learn about the wood and tools first).

We've tried a few local tradesmen. No one could give any examples of similar jobs done in the past. They actually asked us what hinges we wanted to use. To be clear, we have no clue about the hinges suitable for such a project. We were looking for someone to guide us through the process and recommend the best options for our circumstances, not the other way around.
I will try the links shared above. Please let me know if anyone has any more tips or recommendations for a secret bookcase door or knows someone covering central London.
Have a lovely weekend, everyone. X

If it's sliding, the wall would have to be extremely thick to have room for the width of the door with books to slide into it. Either the door would have to have a mechanism that makes it drop back so it can slide, or the wall on either side would have to stick out far enough for it to slide behind, if you see what I mean?