We moved into a peculiar house. The downstairs area, a “daylight basement”, was completely unfinished — concrete floors, no ceiling, open to the dirt at the back of the house. So we set about making it livable.One of the areas of the unfinished area was quickly dubbed “The Cave” – a vast concrete bunker behind an odd-shaped hole two feet off the floor. It would have to be dealt with creatively and in a bespoke manner.
Since we were going to have to do something novel anyway, I came up with the idea of having a sliding door which doubled as bookshelves.
When closed, the James Bond door that completely closed off the weird opening looked just like a recessed bookcase. It wasn’t a thing of polished architectural beauty, but it was durable, and serviceable, and amazing.
‘The Cave” was eventually turned into another room and the door is now nearly always open. But when it is closed, it hides a secret treasure — the hidden room is now our library.
My cat guards secret room
I love my house.
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14 Other Hidden Rooms
Architecture & Design offers us a look at other secret rooms hidden behind bookcases, fireplaces, or a decorative piece of wall.
A beautiful arched entry with a secret bookcase door
Read the article
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7 Reasons Why Real Life Romances Are Nothing Like Disney Movies
Many girls dream of their Prince Charming, Missy Yost writes in Lifehack. “Unfortunately, he only exists in Disney movies and books. If you’re not careful, once grown you can fall victim of the fantasy character and sabotage a great relationship and your own happiness by chasing an imaginary prince.”
Image via Flickr by Loren Javler
If Prince Eric cannot love Ariel when she is a mermaid, then he is not worth the time or effort. Happy relationships are not built on lust and perfection.
Read the article
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The Color Thesaurus
Ingrid Sundberg writes on her blog that “having a variety of color names at my fingertips helps me to create specificity in my writing. I can paint a more evocative image in my reader’s mind if I describe a character’s hair as the color of rust or carrot-squash, rather than red.”
So she created this color thesaurus. Here is a snippet.
Read her blog
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THIS ‘n THAT
30 People who saw a statue as an opportunity, and took it.
See the others
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A forest of 150-foot tall ‘trees’ collect rainwater and generate solar power in Singapore.
Read the article
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Mental Floss gives us: Little-Known Punctuation Marks
See the whole chart
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Quote of the Day 
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Alma Alexander
My books
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