Hidden Space Wall

Hi there,

This is My first instructable. I will show you how I managed storage problems in our small apartment. We live in rented accommodation, so changes had to be undone in the future. I have done this Project back in time. Because of this I only can Show you the final product, but I will answere as good as I can every question.

English isn't my first language so:

Whoever finds spelling errors may keep them.

Step 1: Planing the Construction

At first you should think about the purpose of your hidden storage wall. We needed more room for clothes but also for the vacuum and ironing board etc.
I decided to build on one side boards and on the other side space for the bigger stuff.

After this thougts you have to measure some things.

1. How wide is your bed?
   You can choose another destination for the wall but I biulded it behind our bed.
2. How tall is your wall?
   This is extremly important because of stability.
3. How deep (low?) has the sorage to be?
   I wanted to use some boxes for socks and other stuff which I bougt at Ikea. So I had to Keep this in mind.

After you got all of the measurements you have to create Sketch so you can calculate how much material you have to buy. Here you can see My construction/Sketch.

Step 2: The Material

I wanted to do this Project as cheap as possible. I bougt everything at the Hardware store. Maybe you can recycle some stuff lying around at home.

The Material:

• cheap slats: They don't have to be planed, because you will not see it at the end. ~ 10€
• screws: They have to be Long enoug to connect everything stable. ~ 5€
• some Sheets of drywall: I ordered the cheapeast I could get. ~ 20€
• angles: they don't have to be very big. But have to connect some of the slats ~ 15€
• wallpaper: I had some lying around and painted it at the end. ~ 6€
• paste: to fix the wallpaper on the wall. ~ 5€
• shelfs: I bougt them at IKEA and cutted them in the right dimensions. ~ 3€

Optional:

• hanging rail: Because My gilfrind uses almost all of our wardrobe I decides to hang My stuff behind the wall.
• lamps: we found These reading lights which have the same look as the ceiling light.

Tools:

• jigsaw
• (electric) drill
• carpet knife

Step 3: The Building

First you have to cut everything in the right Dimension.

1. Fix the first slat at the ceiling.
2. Lay the second slat on the floor. I didn't use screws!
3. The next slats have to be fixed vertically. I used two angles for every slat. One at teh top and one at the ground. The slat have to fit exactly so everything is table.
4. fix one slat to the wall. 2-3 screws are enoug because it only fix the drywall to the wall.
5. Mount the sehlfs. I only used three angles per shelf.
6. Mount the drywalls. I used the same screws as for the slats. To cut the last drywall into the right Dimension, you have to cut it with a carpet knife. affter that you can break it.
7. glue the wallpaper on the new wall. I take a Little bit more of it at both side. so i could fold it around the edges.
8. At the next day you can paint it. I choosed the coulor of another wall of our bedroom.
9. If you want, you can install some reading lights. because the wall is very light, you have to do a trick. I screwed them from the front side withe very Long screws and placed some Wood on the backside. So they are very solid.
10. Clean everything up and get a reward of your wife/girlfriend.

Thanks for reading My first instructable.