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Thursday, May 24, 2007

bookcase sliding door hides secret passageway

ooh ... this is cool. nicole's bookcase sliding door that hides an entryway to the bathroom. love the disappearing doorway act.

"my husband and i are installing all sliding doors in our modern remodel. in the den area we have very little wall space for any display area, so we decided to make a bookcase into a sliding door for the 1/2 bath. of course we used ikea, bonde to be exact.

bookcase sliding door close open ...

bookcase sliding door opensesame!

how we did it:
  1. we took a standard bonde bookcase and added 4 castors to the bottom.
  2. then we added matching birch toe kick from the kitchen dept to hide the castors.
  3. next we added some plywood on the back for added stability and stained it a dark walnut to match the stained ikea mirror in the bathroom. we inset a flush pull handle.
  4. the last step was to attach the track to the wall and the hangers to the bookcase.
  5. accessorize bonde as desired.
definitely easier said then done."

click to see nicole's bookcase sliding door photoset and details.

11 comments:

  1. Very clever! Is the rail from Ikea as well, or somewhere else?

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  2. I'm interested in doing this, but I don't know where to find the track and hangers. Where'd you get them?

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  3. I've seen this before (I think apartmenttherapy?) I believe the track is from http://www.mcmaster.com/
    Maybe these?
    http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/framework.asp?ReqTyp=CATALOG&CtlgPgNbr=2825&RelatedCtlgPgs=2825,2826,2827,2828,2829,2830&WRQuickLinks=Door+Track+and+Hangers

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  4. This is great! I've seem similar kits for a lot more money. I'd be interested in finding out where you got the parts.

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  5. Wow, what a great idea! Surprised those 2 little bolts are the only thing keeping the bookshelf on the track tho - it's not too heavy?

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  6. I LOVE this... very "Anne Frank".

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  7. @katie: I'm not the poster, but I'd be willing to bet that the casters support the weight of the bookcase. The track simply acts as a guide for sliding it to the side.

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  8. .... and probably stopping the tall narrow case from toppling over. Great idea. I had a cupboard once which did a similar thing. It ran on sliding door tracks on the ceiling. I had a little bathtub at the end of the bed, but no room for the wardrobe (I live in an ultra tiny space), so the wardrobe would be above the bath when I was in bed, and when I needed the bath, I slid the wardrobe over the bed. Now the bed roles out from under the shelves to the middle of the floor, which is not required when I sleep.

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  9. Check out this secret bookcase door from a few hundred years ago:

    http://castlevacation.blogspot.com/2008/07/secret-door-in-bookcase.html

    very cool.

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  10. Castors is the secret formula on this magic. Without it, the bookshelf cannot smoothly slide to easily cover and uncover the door.

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