Homeowners key into new secret-door trend
Concealed doorways are popping up and popping open all over the place
WASHINGTON, D.C.— This city and secrets go together hand in glove. Or maybe it’s more like cloak and dagger. And now it’s one of the many communities energizing the nation’s growing demand for secret panels, bookcases, mirrors and artwork that swing open to reveal another room.
For resident Nicole Buell, her 540-square-foot condo had doors to the bathroom in her bedroom and the living area. Since the living area door left little room for pictures or bookcases, walling over the door was an option.
“But,” she said, “I didn’t want guests to have to go through the bedroom to get to the bathroom.”
The solution began with door hinges bought from Secret Doorways, in Ohio. With her father’s help, she built shelves and mounted them on the hinges for a novel door to the loo.
“It’s fun to surprise my guests when they visit,” she said.
Now, secret doors are going mainstream.
“It has become more of a trend than we expected,” said Jeff Watchko, the interior door buyer for Home Depot.
Three years ago, Home Depot began to offer, online, pre-hung bookcase-doors from Murphy Door in Ogden, Utah.
“The overall draw to the site was more than we expected,” Watchko said. “It’s very popular on the East Coast and anywhere there is a large metropolitan area.” The Murphy doors can come pre-hung and mounted in a frame in standard door sizes.
Watchko said the popularity of the secret doors — which range from $850 to $1,750 (U.S.)— has prompted Home Depot to go beyond their web offering and introduce displays.
Leigha Basini of Lorton, Va., bought a kit for her contractor to build. Kit doors save $200 on assembly and $125 on shipping, said Jeremy Barker, chief executive of Murphy Door.
“We were redoing our master bathroom and closet, and I don’t know where I saw hidden doors, but I was a big mystery reader as a child, and when I saw we could have a hidden door, I wanted one,” Basini said.
Basini’s contractor assembled and installed the door, with bathroom shelves opening to a walk-in closet.
“It brought me back to my childhood, wanting a secret room, and I loved it,” she said.
Victor Brown, a real estate agent and a home appraiser, said it’s unlikely that hidden doors will raise a property’s value. But he said mentioning a hidden door in ads might be effective.
“Indirectly, it might help you get a higher value because you are getting more people interested, which might drive the price up,” he said. For those who want something more elaborate, Creative Home Engineering, in Arizona, designs doors with options including a mirror that hides a safe room.
“I’m going to say 75 to 80 per cent have a security purpose in mind,” said company founder Steven Humble, who quotes mirror panel doors starting at $1,500.
“We were reorganizing the closet, then we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to have a secret door mirror?’” said Daren Rubenstein, director of engineering at the Jefferson luxury hotel in Washington.
Rubenstein hired Creative Home Engineering to do the job and says the year-old novelty installation has been a bit of a problem because the staff don’t always remember to alert guests to the door’s existence.
“A lot of times, the guest can’t find the closet,” Rubenstein said, which leads to a call to the front desk.
“When they find it, they love it.”