BOOKCASE DOOR, HIDDEN PASSAGE

Updated: Mar 5, 2018

A collaboration with artist, ISABEL SAMARAS,

creating a secret passage door into her art studio! The plan was to cover her

existing door so we started with building a 3" deep shelf unit (with a 1/4" thick

plywood, recessed backer) that matched the outer dimensions of the door.

Next, we visited the El Cerrito Recycling Center where we were able to fish

through piles of discarded books before they were recycled or became landfill.

All vintage hardbound, particular attention paid to finding dark titles and colors.

Returning back to the shop, Isabel tried out different combinations of placement,

settling on what felt balanced with color, size and interesting eye level titles.

From there, we removed the books , keeping them in order and set up the table saw

for cutting to size/depth.

In reality, all books are not the same depth so the table saw was set to cut for three different size/depths, randomly placed. Cutting through the books was not as easy

as one might expect. Some of the pages cut easily and some actually jammed up,

stopping the blade, depending on the composition of the paper.

After cutting, the books were glued into place using white carpenter's glue, applied with a paint brush. Once the glue had dried, we brought the finished unit to her location and installed it over the face of the door. A few books located in strategic locations were left unglued to allow screws to be fastened through the back panel to hold the unit to the door.

The final touches were to install a magnet latch (door handle had been removed)

and kitty passage door installed at the bottom.