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When I was a young child I spent a huge amount of
time looking for secret rooms, passages,
magical items etc. all over the house, with no
result.
Maybe young couples of today, if building
their own home, could add an extra room accessible
via a disguised hatch in one of the smaller bedrooms.
The
hatch possibly hidden in the back of the closset.
The extra room would have to be on the outer side of
the house with an outside entry door and windows.
It is up to the parents to 'disguise' the room on the outside
as best they can. thick bushes, creepers etc. there's plenty
of time.
Decorate the room with all sorts of things that kids would
find magical, your only limited by your imagination. Keeping
the 'secret' from them while they're growing up will take willpower,
but let them 'discover' it. Let them use the hatch for entry as
they're growing and eventualy they'll see through the hoax, Then
it becomes a games room.
Safety: Any passages leading to the room from the hatch
must be vented, and
wide enough to get through with room to spare.
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"Oh look, another one from War Drobe." A nice idea. :) |
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Fantastic! This is my favourite idea this month (oh, only the first today...well of last month too then). |
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Great for Neanderthal kids, too. |
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[F.J.] Absolutely. he he. |
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<Makes note to talk to builder> |
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Wondering, why are the external entrances required (windows I understand, but not the door)? |
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[L.T.] For the future , when it becomes a games room. |
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There was a program on British TV (I can't remember its name) in which kids were allowed to remodel their parents' house, putting in lots of excellent kid-friendly features. One of these involved converting an existing room into a secret chamber accessible only through hidden doors in the kids' bedroom walls. |
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[kropotkin] I don't live in England and never saw
the show, but from what your saying the kids were
involved in it from the start. This idea keeps them
'in the dark.' |
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Thanks [cromag] - perhaps a normal internal door could be built in also, covered initially by a bookcase or false wall. |
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A bizarre idea! Of course, the purpose of the room would be immediately misunderstood if it were discovered. Your neighbors would suspect that you’d built it to keep kidnapped children. And after one woman calls the police, you tell them through the screen door that, no, it’s just a secret room, that’s all. Yeah, right, they say. They return in minutes with a search warrant and tear the little room apart, looking for evidence. Finding clues (there are always clues), they then turn to your yard, digging it up, looking for the bodies they are now sure you’ve planted there. With suspicions mounting, mean spirited talk swirling around you, you decide you can’t stay there anymore, in that little town; yet, you can’t leave without creating even more suspicious. Eventually, you kill yourself. And all because of that damn secret room. |
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But a bun nonetheless, right [Idischler]? |
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But of course! That such a worthy idea could lead to such a disaster is just what the bakery's about. |
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There are all kind of problems if I put my 'serious' brain in my head .. |
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'Firefighters not knowing where to find the kids when the house is on fire' |
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'Not able to resell the property apart from to people with your sense of adventure, and a few young kids (or kids on the way)' |
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'You spend years having paid for an extra room, without actually being able to use it for anything whatsoever (as soon as your kids see you going in there the game's up).' |
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BUT -- this is the half-bakery .. and jees I'm not quite at 'Bah humbug' age yet so have a big, sticky bun! |
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more bakable would be secret attic room or basement room, also more practical as you are not loosing as much space, just axcess it via a secret passage. |
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My mom always tells me that we have one of these. She once *disappeared* into the room, and when questioned by me and my little brother, explained it. But she would not reveal the location. She said that (since our house is over 100 years old) that it was a hiding place for slaves. Would be cool if it were real. |
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I think the belief and search for such a room could be more stimulating to the imagination than actually finding it. |
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Having said that, it sounds like something I'd like to have. |
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Just waiting for the day I can build my own home to implement something like this. I was thinking of a hidden, roll top desk type, column which contains a dumb waiter to the sub-sub basement.
Of course by then it will be for the grand kids. |
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[britboy] A few safety issues to be ironed out for sure,
but the secret room might be a good selling point.
The best way to deal with nosey neighbours I found
[ldischler], is to build a bigger siege engine than
than the one they've got.[engineer1] Yep any room
that they can 'discover', cellar or attic, so long as they
can access it when the time comes. |
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My uncle had something very similar in his old house.
The attic access was through a hatch in a closet, and the ladder was behind the clothes in the closet.
My grandma told me it was a priest hole, as we'd been to visit speake hall (in mersyside, uk), and i'd developed a bit of a fascination. |
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Thanks for the memory! My family lived in 1/2 of a duplex until I was about 9, then bought the other half and broke through the joining wall. In one hall closet, my dad built a trap door leading to a ladder to the basement, which had been a shop. By digging out more earth (with the exception of a large boulder, which he covered with a large table) he made a playroom / additional shop space. I had all kinds of fun and secret places. |
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My sister and I would do magic tricks for friends by getting in the "closet", and disappearing through the trap door. |
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That actually sounds a little creepy scout... |
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Bun for you, my friend ... follow the rabbit hole to the rec. room! [+] |
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[ scout ] Did you ever find another avenue through which to explore that room ? That would drive me crazy, knowing about the time capsule left in there. I'd have to go in through the roof or something. |
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I always wished I had a room like this. I
think the closest to it was my basement. |
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As for looking for things that were
hidden and enchanting, I'm pretty sure
that's why I took up rock collecting. + |
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I remember as a child having such vivid dreams about a room accessible through my wardrobe/closet, that in the morning I hauled everything out looking for the secret door in the right hand wall. (I suppose the dream was inspired by the knowledge there was a trapdoor in the floor of the closet, hidden by carpet, that functioned as the way to get into the crawl space under the house).
<another aside> I wonder whether the childhood phase of searching for hidden rooms is a period common across all cultures - regardless of common myths or fairytales?<end aa> |
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What a delightful idea. There is a cheaper and easier alternative to building a new house, which isn't as good but might work. If your kid's room (or any room) has a cupboard or even a walk-in wardrobe, simply take the door off, place a large wardrobe over the opening (complete with secret hatch, of course), and Bob's yer uncle - a ready made magical hideaway. Even if the bairn knows about the cupboard, it could still easily be done (and decorated) in a day as a groovy surprise. |
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Hm. Makes me think of Mick Jacko's alleged secret room in Neverland. And of Dutroux.
Note: that's not my fishbone. |
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When I was about 6 my parents decided to make some major changes to the house, turning attic space above part of it into another bedroom, but in a major way involving replacing and raising a leaking roof. Anyway the initial investigation of the structure revealed a small passage way between my brother’s room and mine. From my brothers room there was just panelling in front, but on my side there was / is a 4 foot high door, covered in layers of wallpaper. |
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Also in the space we found a diary that was about 80 years old. Pretty much just some teenager’s ramblings, but fascinating anyway. |
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The door is still there but the other room has been expanded into the space. |
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Anyway; point is it was really good fun. Mainly because of the diary my brother and I spent some time making small time capsules to hide in the new structure of the house. Probably been eaten by mice by now but never mind... |
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[scout], if done carefully enough,
any wall can be removed without
harming the materials it's made of.
You need to get in there. I'm
dying of curiosity. When can I
come over and open it up for you? |
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Oh, and [+] for this one, by the
way. |
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Whoa! Looks like I've let the nostalgia genie out of the bottle.
80 year old diary! That's platinum [afrocelt]. |
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<aside>Although I never found that 'room' there were other adventures,
one involving an [allegedly haunted], old monastery in Wales,
where I was born and lived until 'The big move'.. but that's
another tale.<aside> |
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// The extra room would have to be on the outer side of the house with an outside entry door and windows // |
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My secret room was accessible from inside only. |
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I love the idea! My goal in life is to build a home with secret rooms and passageways! I have always wanted a bookshelf that turns to reveal a room, I never wanted that dusty, magical feel, I want a high tech control center type thing with a wall of screens from cameras all over the house and everything you can ever need folds out of the walls! |
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I helped a friend design a moving bookcase that revealed a low passage in to a previously inaccessible part of the attic. Kinda cool. It's doubly cool because it's in a room created by building a floor/ceiling in what he called the "bell tower" entry way of an otherwise single story home. That room is a library accesible from inside only by a ladder. |
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[cromagnon] I wanna hear more about the old monastery in Wales! Have you ever been to Valle Crucis? |
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I love this idea -- as a child my sister and I would go around knocking on walls that seemed too thick and pushing on stones in the basement trying to find the secret room. If I ever build a house I will most certainly do this. |
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BUN! I have always wanted secret rooms and secret passageway and rooms that are only accessible if you know the right way to get there. I'm addicted to mirror-mazes in funhouses too... |
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