When we started out to design our new River House, we asked the kids for their input. One of the requests was for a secret door somewhere. I believe this may have come from Maya. I am happy to report that we have found the perfect place and today I worked out the implementation details (which are anything but straightforward.) From the outside of my office, the entrance will appear as a built-in bookcase.

When you wish to gain entrance, the bookcase will pivot like a door all the way to the inside wall of the office where it will mate up with a matching bookcase on the inside.

In practice, the “door” will remain open almost all of the time. When we have guests or when I have teleconference meetings, it will be closed. I have not yet decided whether to motorize the opening and closing. I am leaning towards manual operation so I do not have to deal with an override to handle a power outage.