Add a little mystery to your home with a secret room

As a child, Elsie Larson was obsessed with old houses full of hidden rooms and staircases. So when the co-founder of A Beautiful Mess designed her last house, she transformed an antique armoire into a portal to a secret reading room for her two young daughters.

"For a decor enthusiast, I think it's worth the effort and money to do at least one thing in your home that is truly unique and memorable," says the Missouri DIY-er. "This wardrobe gave our 1990s McMansion a soul."

Rachel Martino, a content creator in Brooklyn, concealed a closet behind a mirror in the bathroom of her photo studio/event space. For her, the idea was about adding both fun and function. "I wanted to wall off the pony wall to create a storage closet, but I also really wanted a full-length mirror for guests to be able to see their outfit," she explains.

The solution worked so well that she ended up replicating the project in her home, installing a mirror mounted on a drawer rail to hide her washer and dryer.

Even in an area as practical as the laundry, the design trend calls to mind beloved children's books, such as the "The Chronicles of Narnia" series and "The Secret Garden." Sarah Park Dahlen, an author and scholar of children's literature at the University of Illinois, says that's probably not a coincidence: "I think we are fascinated by these secret spaces [from books] where the protagonists are given the autonomy to develop. ... We grown-ups have so much nostalgia for the books that meant a lot to us when we were younger."

Want to bring some of that nostalgia into your own home? Here's how to get started.

Find a space without a purpose

It was always a dream of Larson's to build a hidden room accessible through a wardrobe like in C.S. Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia," she says. It just took pinpointing the right unused space: "When we enclosed our two-story entryway, we were left with a small room that had no purpose and did not connect to any other rooms."

What might have otherwise been wasted square footage became the perfect secret library for her kids. Plus, showing it off to visitors was "our favorite party trick," she says.

Larson adds that homeowners shouldn't try to force such a design decision, but rather work with the space they have. "We ended up with an extra room that could have just been a closet, and we made it into something much cooler that suited our family."

Hunter Premo took a similar approach when she sectioned off an empty area in her house's bonus room to create a secret "club" for her sons. The first step to pulling this off in your own home, the Nashville content creator says, is finding a space that you don't mind partitioning with a wall at one end. "Some areas to look at are medium-sized closets that can be turned into a cozy little nook, beneath a set of stairs if you have a second story, and unused attic space."

Prioritize functionality

Even for a project this whimsical, Premo advises keeping functionality at the forefront of your planning. In the secret kids' club, she and her husband (with the help of interior designer Inga Casha) prioritized storage by adding built-in shelving and a desk. "What we lost in room size — about 24 inches of depth — we gained in functionality and a space that the kids love."

Toys, games, blankets and pillows "now have a home," she says. Plus, they're tucked out of sight in the club, which is camouflaged by a door that blends with the wall paneling of the rest of the bonus room.

Dahlen, the children's literature professor, also is the mother of a 9-year-old girl. While creating a secret hideaway for her daughter under the basement stairs, she says adding the right lighting was key. Dahlen and her husband carpeted the space — which was previously a storage area — to make it cozy, and installed multiple can lights so their daughter could escape there for hours to read books, not watch the iPad.

Find a contractor who's willing to get creative

If you don't trust yourself with power tools, Larson advises finding a contractor who's excited by the chance to work on something custom and special. Just be sure to bring your own ideas to the table.

"I would come prepared with as many photos and sketches as possible," says Larson, noting that sourcing an armoire that could be adapted into a wardrobe was one of the most difficult parts of her hidden library project. "I stayed very involved for the integration because the wardrobe was truly built into the wall — it had to be."

Martino also says collaborating with a professional is critical, as is finding the right piece to conceal your space. For the hidden storage room, "I was set on an arched mirror, which is a bit more complex than a traditional rectangle as you need the mirror to be really tall to fully cover the wall opening," she explains. "There are surprisingly few arched mirrors over 80 inches in height, but after lots of searching we did find one."

Create a space that can evolve

Premo's two children are under age 4, so she says the biggest challenge was creating a space that could grow with the boys. "Designing and building were pretty straightforward," she says, "but not overdoing it was the hard part."

The Premos added movable, kid-friendly details like bean bag chairs and lots of toys that can be swapped out for more age-appropriate items, such as a school desk and reading light as the boys get older.

Larson and her family have since moved to a new house, leaving behind their secret library. The new homeowners happen to love the space, too — they asked the Larsons to leave the room fully intact and stocked with books. But if a future resident ever feels differently, they can remove the built-in shelving and turn the spot into a regular old closet or playroom.