The Art of Concealment – Hiding Valuables in Furniture

Since humanity first decided that gold and diamonds were valuable and worth hording, people have been developing ever craftier ways to store and conceal said valuables. From massive metal vaults to hollowed out books around the home, we’ve come up with a wide range of ways to stash things. It’s almost an art-form, really.

So on that note I’ve come to offer you a few suggestions for stashing your valuables both at home, and when you’re traveling around the world on your crazy adventures. Though many high-tech solutions exist, today I’m going to focus on a very inexpensive and low tech one: furniture.

Hiding Stuff in Furniture

Many people have written entire books on this subject, and expensive ones at that. They’ve full of diagrams and examples, and in my opinion not a single one is worth the price of admission. Why? Because they’re lengthy for the sake of being lengthy, and use that length to point out ideas that are exceedingly obvious.

So instead of wasting your time with examples for each and every piece of furniture and household item that a person could possibly conceal something in, I’m going to boil this down into a few major points. You can use the money you saved on the concealment books and buy yourself some new trinkets to hide away.

• Find an empty space in an object, and hide your valuables there. If it has a hole, hollow space, or crevice, you can hide something there. Entire books are unnecessarily devoted to this very simple point, and if you’ve got even an ounce of creative capacity in your brain, then you shouldn’t need the hand holding.
• If you don’t need access to said valuables very often, try hiding them under something heavy like a bookshelf or night stand with a wide base. Someone breaking into your home will most certainly rummage through the shelves and drawers, but the chances of them trying to lift out an entire bookcase or nightstand are probably pretty slim. Hint: They won’t find your sweet diamond necklace hidden underneath it.
• Light items like coins, documents, or media such as DVDs or thumb drives can be securely hidden on the underside of dresser cabinets or low cupboards by wrapping the items in plastic, and securing them using heavy duty tape. Do not secure items to the bottom of drawers, as thieves are sure to yank them out as they work to move through your home as quickly as possible.
• If a space doesn’t exist, make one. Sometimes dressers and cabinets have trim around the bottom which conceals a hollow hidden space. If you’re crafty and don’t mind potentially ruining a good piece of furniture, you can pry the trim off and replace the screws or nails with a set of hinges.
• If you’re purchasing furniture with the intent of stashing something in it, make sure to get something that’s a) strong and preferably heavy and b) bulky, not minimalist. Whether you decide to order furniture online, or scope out the local retailers, examine the pieces carefully for their concealment factor. Contemporary, minimalist furniture can be wonderful, but it’s not great for hiding things.

Yes, if your place of residence has furniture, then you’re probably in luck. If not, you can always order furniture online, or browse around your local thrift store for something to hack up and experiment with. Safes, vaults, and strong boxes are wonderful from a durability standpoint, but I guarantee you that they’re one of the first things a thief will try and look for. If the safe or strongbox is light enough to carry out, then you’re even more screwed as they’ll simply haul it away and bust in at their leisure. No, hiding your valuables in furniture may not be glamorous, but neither is paying through the nose to have them replaced.

If you have any suggestions or experiences of your own, I would love to hear them. You might be interested to know that most of these “techniques” I mentioned, I actually used while traveling and staying in hotels. I didn’t always feel like carrying my passport or valuables around, so started coming up with creative (or not so creative, really) ways of hiding them. Might be useful, no?

(Photos by Will Folson and Sam Dellong)