DIY Book Safe to Hide Your Coolest Valuables

Learn how to make a DIY book safe using an old book and Mod Podge! It’s the perfect place to hide your valuables on a bookshelf.

Skills Required: Beginner. You’re going to be using a craft knife to cut a book and then Mod Podging it. It helps to have previous experience with crafting, but this is a project anyone can do.

When I was little, I loved Nancy Drew mysteries. My mom had nearly the whole set, and I read them all.

This book safe is just the kind of thing that would have been in one of those mysteries! I firmly believe that solving a mystery needs to involve a book safe at one point or another, don’t you?

I personally would have loved one of these when I was younger. This is such a great craft for teens! Of course my valuables consisted of junk jewelry and about $.83 in change, but you have to start somewhere.

What was once a love of Nancy Drew has turned into a full blown adult obsession with true crime. I love mysteries. I love twists and turns. I love hidden stuff in bookcases. I think you see where I’m going with this.

Due to both my past and current obsessions with crime and mysteries, I’m all about hiding things in plain sight. It intrigues me now just as it would have when I was young. I’m going to show you how to make a book safe the easiest way possible.

Tips for Making a Book Safe

Before we get started I’ve got a few tips for you; I suggest you read these especially if you are a beginning crafter. Otherwise, please scroll down to get the how-to.

Choosing a Book

There are a few things you need to take into consideration when selecting a tome for your safe. The first thing is that it needs to be thick enough to support cutting into the pages and providing a recessed area to store your goodies.

My book was 1 1/2″ deep, but you can go as deep as you like (that’s what she said!). But seriously, you might want to consider first what you are going to be storing in the safe before you select your book.

There’s nothing more disappointing than doing a project and realizing it doesn’t work to fit your needs. Any depth of book is fine – the technique is the same regardless.

Second thing I wanted to address: I know some people get up in arms about cutting books. There are a lot of places to get old books that would otherwise be thrown away (check out Freecycle).

You can also visit the library and ask them about books they are planning on trashing/recycling. That way you are cutting up an item that would go into the garbage anyway.

Razor Blade or Craft Knife

I used a craft knife for this project, but you can also use a razor blade with a handle. The most important thing: make sure your blade is very sharp! You’re going to be doing a lot of cutting, so you’ll probably want a new blade to make life easier.

Mod Podge to Use

We used the Hard Coat formula for this DIY book safe but that’s only because it’s what we had available. Hard Coat has a Satin finish. You could use Gloss, Matte, or Satin too. Matte will likely most closely match the finish of the pages, but honestly it doesn’t matter.

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Are you ready to get started making your safe? Learn how below!

Gather These Supplies

• Old book
• Mod Podge Hard Coat
• Paintbrush
• Clamps or clothespins (optional)
• Painter’s tape
• Craft knife
• Ruler

Clamping the pages while cutting is not required, but if you can clamp them down (or even tape with painter’s tape, which is removable), you’ll keep the cuts more even.

Are you ready to give it a try?

Can you tell which ones are the real books and which one is the book safe? What if there are multiple book safes on this shelf? You just never know . . .

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If you enjoyed this DIY book safe, you’re going to love these other ideas with books and book pages. Check out these other crafts you can do at home:

• DIY Decorative Books Are A Cinch to Make
• Fabric Covered Books for Home Decor
• Make Books for Decor with Chalkboard Medium
• Book Page Wreath from a Vintage Find