Ostensibly, a perfectly normal bristle mat, but flip it over, and a cunningly discrete pouch can be utilised to store a spare key, affording the user access to his abode even after he's lost, or otherwise relieved himself of his own.
-- zen_tom, Mar 22 2007

I tried to get one of these guys to lie down in front of my door... http://www.thedoormats.com/
+ Bun for a good idea, too. [xandram, Mar 22 2007]

A not-so-random rock http://www.amazon.c...a-Key/dp/B0009Y1QQO
[coprocephalous, Mar 22 2007]

what i came up with _22public_20key_22_...security_20protocol
it's not much, I know [GutPunchLullabies, Mar 23 2007]

It should have "Perfectly Normal Doormat" written on it, too, to cause any visitors you may have a sense of mild disquiet.
-- calum, Mar 22 2007


//affording the user access to his abode even after he's lost// - but if he was lost how would he find his way home?
-- hippo, Mar 22 2007


//It should have "Perfectly Normal Doormat" written on it//...and of course, to divert the attentions of any passing burglary minded opportunists.

//how...?// A common method is to try and hail a cab, and hope they both know the way better than you do (which they invariably do, unless you want to go SOTR)
-- zen_tom, Mar 22 2007


May I suggest a range of products, including The Perfectly Normal Car Sun Shield and The Perfectly Normal Plant Pot?

For the product's success to be maintained you have to ensure that it never becomes widely known, in essence unsuccessful, otherwise people will assume you've got one of those new-fangled PN Doormats and rob you of every dime. [+]
-- theleopard, Mar 22 2007


//and rob you of every dime//

Including the doormat flipping magpie.
-- skinflaps, Mar 22 2007


What [theleopard] said is quite true. Someone gave me some garden snail scuplture which had a removable top and I wouldn't dare hide my key in there as it was way too obvious. (look under a random rock)
-- xandram, Mar 22 2007


So what about putting an alternative key under your labelled "Perfectly Normal Doormat, There's No Key Under Here"? The use of this alternative key sets off the alarm and calls the police
-- TheLightsAreOnBut, Mar 23 2007


very funny, Lights On!
-- Zimmy, Mar 23 2007


How about verything within about 10ft of your front door having a door key underneath it or concealed within it? Only you would know which was the key which opened your front door.
-- hippo, Mar 23 2007


HA HA HA HA, hippo that is great. You could also just hang a big sack of hundreds of keys from your doorknob, only one of which will open it (they are numbered).
-- GutPunchLullabies, Mar 23 2007


To have proper door security, you would need about a thousand keys...

And an extra-sturdy doorknob to hold up all that weight.
-- ye_river_xiv, Mar 23 2007


I think the "abundance of keys" (implementable as "Key Gravel Drive" perhaps) idea is great - that is, until you drop your keys, causing them to assimilate themselves into the amorphous keypile. You scrabble about frantically in your front porch and daylight starts to fail.
-- zen_tom, Mar 23 2007


I got it...
-- GutPunchLullabies, Mar 23 2007



random, halfbakery