Hi, I'm Nils with learn to DIY. And today we're going to look at seven genius hiding spots around
your house. Number seven is the classic hollowed out book. The idea here is pretty simple. You mark
a square inside the book and then use a knife to cut out several pages at a time. I started this,
but realized maybe I could use some power tools. So I use this oscillating
tool to cut through larger sections at a time, and it made quick work of it.
Shake out all the loose debris, and then you're going to use super glue to line the inside of
the cutout. Then once you let this sit for a little while, it's all set and you've got
yourself a nice little hiding spot. This makes a great hiding spot for emergency devices.
Two-way radios, jump drives, jewelry, cash, or whatever else you can fit in there.
Now, if you don't want to go through all of the work of cutting out a book safe yourself, you can
also just purchase them online. These ones are ready to go. And then you've got plenty of room
inside for storage. Links are in the description below. Number six is the fake plant. Many fake
plants are easy to pull apart and they actually have a nice little storage area right inside
where you can fit jewelry, cash, or other small items like that. These are Ikea plants and they
worked out particularly well. And when you put them back in place, no one can tell what's there.
Now for number five, sometimes you find yourself in possession of a love letter
that you wrote to Whitney Houston when you were a teenager and you really don't want anyone
to see that. So there's an easy tactic to hide things that are flat like this. Find a drawer,
whether it's in your dresser or in the kitchen or elsewhere, grab an envelope and then some tape.
And you can actually just tape that envelope to the back of the drawer where no one really ever
looks. And then it's out of sight and out of mind for hiding place. Number four, I'm just going to
use an empty paint can. A lot of times we find ourselves with extra paint cans from different
jobs over the years, look for a can that has little to no paint in it. And then once you pop
the lid, make sure to get everything completely cleaned out so that it's dry and clean in there.
And with that, you have a lot of space to put things like hard drives, backup DVDs, or CDs,
jump drives, cash jewelry, you name it. It's a pretty good sized space. Just make sure to seal
it up really well when you're done once you're ready to put it back with the other paint cans,
just make sure you have some way to remember which one it is.
Number three, on our hiding place list. We're going to start out with an empty medicine bottle
that has a screw on lid. And then we're going to go into the garden or yard and find a rock that
has a relatively flat side. On one side, I'm going to use some gorilla glue hot glue sticks here.
These are actually really strong and hold on for a good long time. I'm going to put a generous amount
on the lid, some more on the rock and then put those together and then just sealing up any little
gaps that might exist there to make sure it's on really tight from there. We can take a house key,
either a bicycle lock, key shed key, different things like that. Pop those in the bottle,
put the lid on, and then we just need to find a good hiding spot outside. I'm clearing out a
space here in my front yard where I can place the bottle. The goal is to make sure the top
is just aligned perfectly with the surface of the material surrounding it so that all
you can see is that little rock. Sometimes it's hidden so well. You can barely see it at all,
But there it is. Now, no one will likely ever see this,
but when you do need it, if you're stuck outside of your house, for example, you can just pull up
on that rock, empty out the bottle, and then you've got your spare keys ready for your use.
Number two on our list is the multiple book book safe. I'm going to start by grabbing some
measurements from this lockable unit here. And then I'm going to take two larger books from the
thrift store and... Listen to the sound it makes when you run it through the table, saw here...
Some interesting little popping noises, but it does do a nice job and gives you
a pretty clean cut that you can then just remove a huge section of the book all at
once. When you do this to both books, you're left with a perfect size void for the safe,
we'll apply some of that same hot gorilla glue to the binding of both books and then seal it
together. And then in no time, you've got a finished product that you can stick up on the
bookshelf and no one will ever be able to see that it's there a safe like this that is lockable is a
perfect place for putting weapons and things that you want kept away from children and strangers
as well as a good place for putting things that are valuable, like passports,
cash and other goods. And just like with all of our books, it slides onto the bookshelf
and no one can see that it's there. Now a second option for a multiple book
safe is we're going to actually cut out a large box section out of several books, but you're left
with this nice opening, which you can take the measurements of to create a plywood box. I'm
just using some half-inch plywood here, cutting out all six sides. Using a combination of the
table saw and the miter saw, and then I'm using a Brad nailer with one inch Brads to secure them
all together with a box completed. I can now use that hot gorilla glue again to place the spines
and the outsides of the book on the box. Like so many of these, this one hides in plain sight and
For our number one hiding place, I'm going to place a safe inside the wall behind one
of our pictures. You can see the multiple star Wars pictures here and this large one in the
center we'll hide the safe that we're about to install. I'll use a stud finder to locate
the studs on either side. Now this does require that you have drywall or sheet rock installation,
and then I'll use a drywall saw or a jab saw to cut out three sides of the opening.
Once I've got the three sides cut out, I'll score the left side of the paper of the dry wall.
And then I'll just give it a quick pop and that should come free from there. I just need to score
it all the way through, and then I can remove that piece from there. You're ready to grab
the safe and do a dry fit in the wall. The safe comes with six large wood screws, and this makes
a really sturdy fitting, as you can see here. So I installed a couple of hinges, very carefully
into the frame and then use drywall anchors to drive some screws into the wall and then attach
the frame with the hinges. I put some Velcro on the opposite side, and this allows it to stay
fastened and in place when I close it up. And with that, we have a lovely hiding place behind
this picture frame, which is an excellent spot for hiding things like heavy gold bars,
which you can use to barter for things like toilet paper during a pandemic.
Now, one word of advice. If you're going to use this safe, you might want to remember to
close it up behind you. [inaudible]
I had a lot of fun with that one. I hope you enjoyed it. Now, if you want to see
what happens when you 3d print a Bulletproof stormtrooper, check out the video right here.