When I was a kid, I loved hiding my treasures in a book safe. They're fun and actually practical too. I'm showing you how to make a book safe to hide your cherished possessions.
I have a sweet spot for book safes! Is that weird? Above are some excellent examples of some cute ones that you can make your own or find on Etsy. Below, you'll find a tutorial on how to make a book safe.
A. A ring pillow book safe for the ring bearer. Source: Etsy.
B. A book box for the remote control. Wouldn't this be a great way to hide coffee table clutter?
C. A secret book safe for love letters.
D. Intricate book safes from Hollowed Secrets on Etsy.
E. Heart shaped book safes from Conduit Press Etsy shop.
F. Candy bar book safes from Hollowed Secrets on Etsy. I need one of these to hide my chocolate!
G. A Marilyn Monroe cut out book safe from Hollowed Secrets on Etsy.
H. A hollow book safe to store your charging phone. Source: Etsy.
I. Another sweet book safe, patriotic-style, from Hollowed Secrets on Etsy.
J. A jewelry box book safe. Source: Etsy.
So fun, right?!
How to make a book safe of your own:
Step One: Find a book. Deep and thick works best. Our library always has a shelf of books for sale: 3 hardbacks for $1. By the way, this might not be the best craft for intense book lovers, unless you don't feel heartless slicing them up!
Step Two: Wrap the front and back covers in plastic bags so that the front and back cover stay clean, then paint the three sides with glue. Several layers of craft glue should do fine.
Step Three: Clamp it shut for at least an hour.
Step Four: Hack away! I first started burning away the pages with our Dremmel, but after the 4th smoke alarm in 10 minutes, we figured we've leave the neighbors alone and just took a blade to it.
A box cutter works great, with an xacto knife for tight corners. Clean up the shreds and line the inside with more glue, a coat of paint, or even a layer of fabric!
Can you tell which book contains my treasures?
Can you guess what I'm hiding?!
Have fun making your own and stashing away your favorite things!
Are you planning to make a book safe of your own?
Shop book safes on our affiliate Amazon:
MJ Dee says
What a cool project. This will be on "to do" list for sure. Loved the one with the candy bars...very clever way of hiding it from the kids!! lol
Camille says
I know, right?! Or hiding them from your hubby! Or yourself!
Alona Y says
I am doing this!!! Maybe for a christmas present. (:
Camille says
Making a book safe to enclose a Christmas present is such a great idea!
denise says
I could never do that to a book
Carla says
Outdated textbooks on a topic you don't care about, that the used bookstore wouldn't take, but put in the "free books!" bin outside.
Its still sort of hard, but much less so.
beth c says
so fun! i need to do another one of these- i love the love letter idea and was just thinking yesterday that i needed a place to put all the cards my hubby & i have given to each other over the years.. perfect! i made one of these back when i was in high school and though i didn't have these fabulous instructions and the pages look funky & wavy, you can't tell a thing from the binding! thanks so much for the great project! 🙂
G K says
I've been wanting to make one of these for years. Thanks for the tips!
Caz Ashcroft says
I've started to make one hopefully it will turn out really well, looking forward to it being finished.