False Bottomed Drawer

This is one of the simplest secret compartments that you could ever make, and it is also one of the most effective. As you can see, there is plenty of space for all sorts of valuables.

To begin, you will need:

• A drawer of other location where you plan to install the compartment

• ¼ inch thick plywood

• A dremel with sanding attachments

• 4 objects of equal dimensions (think corks, plastic bottle caps, just as long as they are the same size). I recommend these, they can be cut to size too.

• Super Glue or screws/nails

• Drawer paper or lining

• Tape measure

First, you will need to measure the interior dimensions of your drawer. Make sure to measure from the inside, not the outside.

Then, cut your plywood to match. Obviously, it will not be perfect, but try to have it too large rather than too small; you can always remove wood, not add it.

From here, perform a fit test to see how much more wood needs to be removed. Use your dremel, and remove a very small portion of the wood with the sanding attachment, and check your fit again. Repeat these steps until your plywood fits smoothly into the drawer. You may want to attach a temporary duct tape handle to your false bottom because once it fits into the bottom of the drawer it may be difficult to remove.

Then, attach your 4 objects to the bottom corners of the original drawer to support the false bottom in order to give your secret compartment its depth. Please see this picture for more detail, this is hard to understand using only words.

To install the opening mechanism, you can either drill a small hole through the bottom of the original drawer to insert a small rod to raise the false bottom. Or, you can do what I did and superglue a small inconspicuous object to your false bottom to be used as a handle.

If you complete this project, post pictures!

Disclaimer: This post may use affiliate links to Amazon. If you choose to purchase anything from Amazon, you will not be charged anything extra, and you may receive a slight discount as a result. This is to compensate me for my time and effort in creating these guides.