There are two approaches illustrated in this project wherein secret passageways can be created using spare bookcase and some basic hardware and electronic components available. An entrance to a room can be revealed by a built-in bookcase that can swivel. An image of the concept of this hidden bookcase doorway is shown below.

The image below demonstrates the first type of rotating door as it revolves around a central axis. This allows accessing through the small resulting gaps. For a limited space, this type is handy which does not require a big old bookcase in the room to be swinging. The finished product bookcase, made of Carbonite hidden door, is also shown in the image.

The look and operation of the door depends a lot with the size of the opening. An arch and an opening of about 59” can be seen in the photo below. The certain bookcase can be made as the door by building 3 sections that comprise of a 30” bookcase and 2 CD towers.

The next image shows the fairly spaced apart bookshelves. They are made to look like one piece with the help of the boards. To stabilize the shelves and provide a top pivot point for the center bookcase, a board was placed across the top with angle brackets.

Hiding the hinges is the key to a hidden door. The hinges can be simply placed on the back if the door will swing in. The Carbonite block should be seen when the door opens as it swings out. This can be made possible by putting the whole center bookshelf on the wheels. Thread pipe floor flanges with threaded pipe inserted in them were mounted. To allow the bookcase to swing in a fixed arc, a hole was drilled in the board mounted across the doorway, as seen in the image below.

To make the door look pretty, some trims were added, as shown in the image, but this will not hamper the movement of the doors. To help conceal the shelf and provide the handle to open the door, the trim was mounted to the center bookcase on one side and mounted it to the fixed bookcases on the other.

A Carbonite sculpt was placed on the back of the door to make it look like a marquee inside. The casting was mounted on a thin board and then used bondo and bondo resin jelly to smooth it in and produce a “Carbonite” look. A lot of imperfections and gaps were hidden by using black satin finish.