Lately I have been fascinated by DIY hidden doors (also called jib door). The ones that blend in with the rest of the room but secretly open to a hidden space. While I am not a master carpenter, I used the same idea to disguise the (utterly ugly) electrical subpanel in our basement. It’s a fun challenge that was hard to figure out at first but so rewarding at the end. In this blog post, I will share different options for making a secrete door, the steps we took to build ours, materials used, and all the tips and tricks, so you can build one yourself.
Let’s dive right in!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Why build a DIY hidden door
Here is the before of our basement. Even though the main electrical panel of our house is in the garage, we have a subpanel in the basement, right next to the utility room. We didn’t give much thought to it. Neither have we used it.
When it was time to finish the basement, we picked this back wall as the media center. Both because it’s dark on this side of the room and it’s almost 14 feet wide, perfect for a large screen/TV.
Then we realized we had a problem. The electrical subpanel stuck out like a sore thumb.
How do we make it look pretty, AND keep it accessible at the same time?
It was not a problem we ran into often in home renovations. We had to come up with some kind of creative solution and started to search online for the sleekest DIY hidden door.
DIY hidden door ideas
Here are the materials I used for this project. I wanted to use conceal hinges to create a seamless look. But due to the constraints of the opening, I had to switch to using magnets and invisible handle.
Every home is different. Your space may need a different set up than ours.
The good news is though, there are many secret door ideas out there. Some are trickier than others to build. But they all do a great job hiding the door.
This navy paneled door by Chris Loves Julia is probably my favorite. Chris used self-closing hinges, magnets, and DIYed a high quality door with 1 in thick primed project boards and aluminum tubing. It looks like an integral part of the paneled wall. Absolutely gorgeous!
This hidden door designed by Cathie Hong Interior uses wood slat panels and black hardware. I like how the wood slats creates contrast and is sleek and modern.
Another example of wainscot doors on Utah Style & Design. The door has white tongue-and-groove paneling details that reveals to a charming powder room.
Abby Road Home came up with this genius idea to hide toiletry behind a beautiful picture frame. It adds a piece of artwork on the wall, and doubles up as in-wall storage. Such a brilliant idea!
Other ideas worth checking out:
- Mirror on drawer slides
- Magnets
- Flush door in drywall
- Picture frame on hinges
- Hidden bookcase door or a murphy door
- Hidden door in paneled wall
- Faux cabinet doors
- Arched doorway to a hidden closet
As you can see, there are some genius ways for constructing a hidden door. After careful planning, you can create a secret entrance in a living space, that leads to a hidden room through a built-in bookshelf, or a modern hidden door, that disappears in the surrounding wall. Whichever way you choose is totally personal preferences. But this fun project will for sure wow your guests.
Step 1. Tape and mud drywall
The first step of making this DIY hidden door was to finish the exposed drywall.
Earlier during the framing process, our contractor framed out the electrical panel. There were 2x4s all around it that I can attach hinges to (or so I thought).
Taping and mudding drywall is my least favorite. But in order to protect the fragile drywall, I had to face my biggest fear.
I first cut the metal reinforced drywall tape, applied a thin layer of joint compound, pressed the drywall tape down, then applied another layer of joint compound on top, before feathering it out. I did my best to make it smooth. But I’d be the first to admit, it was a pretty mediocre job.
I did it on three sides—bottom, left and top, one at a time. So that there was enough time to smooth over the mud before it dried.
After 24 hours, I went back and did a second coat. Still pretty mediocre (or you can say amateur LOL).
I knew I would be covering the wall with shiplap panels, so I wasn’t too stressed about being perfect. If you want more expert tips, I highly recommend Vancouver Carpenter’s youtube videos. It’s satisfying watching him maneuver the trowel.
To reduce drywall dust, I tried Young House Love’s wet sanding trick. It worked great for removing the bumpy textures with very few dusts. I then finished it off by priming and painting the opening.
Step 2. Make the door
Next, I measured the opening and made a door.
I had large sheets of ¾” MDF left from previous projects. I cut mdf down to about the same size as the opening using my circular saw. Then I brought the board to the basement and marked the corners for the final cut.
Hot tip: use a PVC flexible coupling (only $5) as adapter to connect the circular saw and the shop vac. This helps suck out most of the dust during cutting, which you know, can be quite pervasive particularly with MDF.
I left a gap of about 1/8” on all 4 corners, so the door had enough clearance to open. Then I primed and painted the front face of the door.
Step 3. Decide what kind of hardware to use
This is the part that totally stumped me.
I set out to find invisible hinges that would work for our space. I wanted the door to be flush with the wall, so it would work as an inset cabinet door (vs. an overlay door). So I got the inset soft close conceal hinges. Once the hinges arrived, I used my Kerg conceal hinge jig to predrill the hinge cups, and screwed in the hinges.
Then I found out there was not enough space for the hinges! (insert facepalm emoji)
Here is the thing with DIY projects. There is always a whole lot of variables and lots of hurdles. If I had planned this better ahead of time, I would have asked our contractors to leave a 2-inch gap on the right side for installing hardware. Now that the ship has sailed, I needed a plan B.
If the opening you’ve working with has enough clearance, I’d still recommend using conceal hinges. It’s a lot cooler to swing open the door and have the soft close mechanism.
OK, back to our choice of hardware.
My husband suggested we reconsidered magnets. He proposed this option earlier. However, I was dead set on having the door completely hidden and turned it down.
Since it was our next best option, we gave it a try.
He added another 3/4” thick scrape wood on the back of the door (with wood glue) and screwed in three magnets. This way the door will be flush with the wall when it’s attached to the electrical panel.
The back of the door is not the prettiest, you can see the the magnets, the hinge cups (wasted), and the back of the invisible handle secured with some GIANT washers.
Although I didn’t get my wish to have a push open door, the magnet door was looking pretty good and worked out nicely. Sometimes you’ve gotta pivot and find creative solutions.
Step 4. Measure and cut wall paneling
The key to having a sleek hidden door is to make it part of a paneled wall. The wood panels help to conceal the opening of the door, making it less visible.
Lucky for us, our vertical shiplap ended just before the next groove. The gap on the right of the door happened to overlap with the nickel gap.
I notched out the first plank, then made my way to mark and cut the remaining shiplap panels.
Since the saw blade shaves off 1/8” of the plank, I only needed to trim off ever so slightly of each plank to provide enough clearance, while keeping the gaps as small as possible.
The opening wasn’t completely level or plumb. But I can adjust the shiplap boards to make them line up just right. Pay special attention to align the trim piece top of the door frame and bottom of the door.
Then I attached the shiplap panels with 3/4″ brad nails. It was looking really good. I could feel the excitement of solving this big challenge.
Step 5. Painting
I nailed in the quarter rounds and baseboard to finish off the shiplap accent wall. Then filled all the nail holes, caulk, and painted the entire wall. Inside and out.
It’s important to paint the inside of the opening as well. So no white paint is peeking through. It’d be a dead giveaway to see through the opening.
Step 6. Install hidden door handle
Since we used magnets to attach the door and the door is flush with the wall, we had to come up with a way to open it in emergency situations.
My husband found this cool hidden door handle on Amazon. It sits flat on the door. When pushed, the metal plate flips over to reveal the hidden pull. Similar to how a pocket door handle works.
Installation took some trial and error. But after 2 hours, he was able to attach it securely. (Essentially he marked and drilled holes on the paneled door, then cut the opening to fit the handle with a jig saw.)
And it was celebration time!
Hidden door reveal and cost breakdown
Look how cool this hidden door is. You don’t even notice it, when you first walk into the movie room. It blends in perfectly with the shiplap accent wall.
You can get this done in a few days and with a very reasonable budget. Here are all the materials I used:
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- Joint Compound $3.68
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- Leftover MDF board $0
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- Magnets $6
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- Primer and paint $0
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- Wood filler
Total less than $50, since we had scrap wood and paint on hand. For a few hours of work, it is a perfect way to hide something unsightly in-between wall studs.
Covering electrical panel considerations
Before you tackle this project, I want to mention a couple of considerations.
First, although most electrical panels are not pretty to look at, they serve important functions in our home. Our main electrical panel is in the garage, and completely exposed. The subpanel is less crucial, but we still made sure the hidden door can be opened easily, with minimal effort.
Second is the door or opening should be large enough to allow electricians to access the full panel. According to our contractor, that’s the four screws on the metal cover. Because of this, we were not able to add furring strips to the framing for the conceal hinges. This limited our options, but is an important factor to consider.
Lastly, it’s always a good idea to check local building codes. We didn’t find any restrictions, but we made sure to leave a small gap on all four sides for ventilation purpose, so the panel won’t overheat.
I hope you find this post helpful. Follow along to see how our recent renovation in the basement comes together! There will be more updates coming up.
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