With the holidays suddenly, oh so suddenly upon us, becoming unhinged might seem imminent. As a bit of a control freak, I find that during times like these – that is … massive amounts of disruption to one’s normal schedule…if you take the opportunity to just put a few things in order, it can make a world of difference to your mental health.
left: FritzJergens Pivot Hinge. Right: Soss Hidden Hinge.
Me, I like things to be clean, in their proper place. I know my boss will get a kick out of this when she reads it, because my office is typically a disaster. I’ve got stacks of priority stacks, emergency stacks, stacks that must be attended to before I leave for my next evening outing. I’ve got baubles, bells, lights, and ribbons, quotes, and mementos, inspiration photos and post-its full of ideas. My office is chaotic. Marie Kondo would have a fit – Lisa is kind enough to mostly leave me to it – even if – it – isn’t exactly what she had in mind. It’s a process.
So too is one’s home. Part of that process for me, has always been the hiding away of things. They call it a facade for a reason – it’s hiding something, even if that something isn’t a stack of magazines or dirty dishes stowed in the oven until the unexpected guests take their leave. Everyone has something to hide, which is why I love secret doors and compartments. It adds to the air of mystery that surrounds a person. It hints at the layers, their depth, the intrigue. Just when they (all those people in your life) think they have you all figured out, they discover, that that book shelf of yours, is actually hiding a passageway to a secret room.
How you go about getting that hidden room, or door that looks like a wall, was initially, a tightly held secret. I knew that it could be done. I’ve seen the Oval Office, well not in person or anything, but on tv, and in movies, and the doors look like they are part of the room – no visible hinges. What a wonderful trick. For my Charlestown place I had to settle for a flush mount door with beveled molding, and visible hinges. Even though I hated conceding to a visible hinge , the door looked pretty good.
Today, hiding is made so much easier with pivot hinges. Concrete, tile, wood, whatever your material challenge, there is a hinge that can handle it. Soss can take on doors up to 1100 lbs, they’re pricey but that is a pretty big door. HD has options at a much more affordable price point, and there are many others in-between. Slap a little molding on an inexpensive flush mount door and paint it, and you have a work of hidden art. Add wall covering and you’ll really have them fooled.
Just think, if the holidays get really tough, you’ll have a place to stow away for a few blissful hours – drama free.
