Hidden Room Under the Stairs

by gadget-man in Workshop > Home Improvement

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Hidden Room Under the Stairs

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Seems the problem is, there is never enough space. 
My mission is to find every speck of useful space in my house.
knowing that there was a large space under my stairs that wasn't being used was driving me insane.
But I didnt want to just put an ugly door or a fake air vent in the side of my stairs.
So I came up with the Idea of recessed shelves with one set of the shelves being a secret door.
Please be gentle this is my first instructable. I took a lot of pictures to help me get the idea across.
enjoy.

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First you need to find the empty space.
The larger portion under the stairs is taken up by my pantry.
Cut a hole in the wall preferably when your wife isnt home.
Be careful of any potential wires or plumbing that may be in the wall.
I couldnt wait to put things under there. There is a 6ft christmas tree, 4 plastic tubs, kids rocking chair, a wreath and various other small items. It sure beats going into the attic every Christmas.

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Make a 2x4 frame for a door and attach a piece the drywall you cut out to the back of it to make a door.

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Finish cutting out the rest of the drywall to the size that you want your shelves to be.
cut 2x4's to fit across the bottom to cover the hollow spots in the wall.

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frame out the top with 2x4's and add wood to any wall studs to make them wider so they can be covered with a 1x4.

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cut 1x4's to trim around the outside of the unit like in the pictures.

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spray the backside of the drywall that is exposed with spray texture to match the rest of your wall.
then paint trim and drywall.

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I had to add half inch strips of wood by the hinges to compensate for the thickness of the drywall for the piece of trim that will be added on top of it. I also added a gate latch to the back of the door at this time you can see how it works in the final video.

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cut the final two strips of 1x4 to cover wall stud and the stud with hinge. Then paint.
the trim that is over the door hinge is held in place with magnets.

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I then cut 1 inch strips of molding to go around the inside corners of the sections leaving gaps for the shelves to go into.
I glued all of these in place.

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I cut a pre-laminated 4x8 sheet of wood for the shelves then added white plastic trim to front of each shelf.

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OK so here are pictures and a video of the final product.
There were a few scratch my head moments along the way but all in all it wasn't so bad once I got up the nerve to cut that first hole.
again this was my first istructable so be nice and if you liked it please vote for me in the Weekend Projects Contest.
Thank you.