Do-it-yourself secretary with a folding table. A DIY secretary is a useful design for organizing your workplace. Ready-made furniture with hidden niches

In the form of a small cabinet with drawers and shelves for storing papers, documents, books, office supplies and a folding or sliding board that replaces. The secretary is very close in structure to . It should also be noted that the term “secretary” is applied to many types of furniture that have several similar functions.

History of the secretary

The first one was made in 1730, and at that time it was classified exclusively as “ladies’,” and had the appearance of a small cabinet for storing papers with a folding board intended for writing letters. Over time, secretaries increased in size and were equipped with a large number boxes and began to be used primarily for storing business and private letters, papers, etc. A large number of drawers made it possible to conveniently organize papers, and complex systems locking, all kinds of locks and secret compartments ensured decent reliability of the secretaries.

In the Nissim de Camondo Museum, located in Paris, today you can see the secretaire of King Louis XV, which was recognized as a miracle of furniture art. Famous furniture makers of those times, Jean Henri Riesener and Jean Francois Eben, worked on it for several years in a row. The massive body of the secretary made of tortoiseshell plates is covered plant patterns and scrolls made of hammered gilded bronze, silver and exotic woods. The secretary is equipped with a very complex and ingenious locking system, which cost the king almost a million francs.

It should be noted that secretaries could have not only large sizes, miniature secretaries were also produced. Thus, Napoleon was the owner of a small travel secretary, which when folded was quite small, but when unfolded it had large number retractable drawers, which made it roomy and convenient. According to the recollections of historians, the emperor, even in a traveling carriage, could work with him with almost the same comfort as in his own Parisian one.

Secretaries were often used by doctors, as they made it possible to store huge amount medical instruments, medicines, etc. The secretary was also an excellent place to store jewelry and family heirlooms.

It is also interesting that at one time it became so widespread that it led to the emergence of thieves who specialized specifically in obtaining the contents of secretaries. The services of such “specialists” were often used by noble persons in order to find out some secret information, which could then be used for selfish purposes.

In the old days, secretaries were made mainly from expensive breeds. Modern manufacturers used to make secretaries as natural wood (inexpensive option are secretaries made of pine), as well as chipboard, MDF and laminated chipboard, which are finished with veneer or film having a pattern “like natural wood” or some other pattern.

Secretary in a modern interior

The modern market can offer you models of secretaries for almost any existing one, which makes it possible to choose a secretaire for any situation in a house or apartment. A secretary is very convenient and practical for small apartments, as it helps to economically use such valuable living space. Most often, the secretary is placed in the library area, office or children's room.

In a children's room, a secretary, as a rule, serves as a workplace for a schoolchild: a lowering shelf is used as a shelf, and when lowered, it automatically opens access to books and notebooks. When choosing a secretary for a child's room, be sure to pay attention to the strength of the folding shelf fastenings, since the safety of your child directly depends on this. By the way, it is not recommended to overload the lowering shelf of the secretary with a large number of items, because in the end it is not intended for heavy loads at all, but is simply a place for work.

In addition, the secretary can be one of the constituent elements of the wall, in which case it is usually supplemented with a mezzanine on top. Secretaries can also be found in the office. For example, there are special filing and accounting secretaries.

In general, a secretary is an absolutely individual approach to organizing a work area. After all, it can store not only books, papers and documents, but also many various devices that you need to do one thing or another. In addition, the secretary can be made to order, having previously discussed the style and size you need - from small portable to huge roomy.

Secretary with a secret

So what is the secret of the secretary? Probably the whole point is that he knows how to keep secrets, and every person, as you know, has the right to his own, even a small secret. After all, any self-respecting secretary should have a secret compartment that is accessible only to its owner.

For a clear example, we can recall the secretary, which is located in Ufa, the Memorial House-Museum named after. S.T. Aksakova. This secretary has multi-colored wood painting, covered with gesso, and curved legs, which is very typical for. Presumably the secretary was made in the middle of the 18th century in France. Why is it unusual? this item furniture? Yes, because it has so many “secrets”, and some of them are so clever that they have not yet been solved. To this day, as noted, it is unknown what is hidden in some of the drawers of this secretary.

Transformable furniture has become popular in lately due to insufficient space in small apartments for useful things.

But such pieces of furniture were invented quite a long time ago. This applies to this interesting subject interior as a secretary. Despite the fact that previously living space was measured not by individual rooms, but by floors, houses and entire palaces, this multifunctional cabinet gained its popularity even then. Later, this furniture began to be replaced with heavy walls and began to be taken to dachas or simply got rid of it. Now secretaries are again at the peak of popularity, however, the variety of models allows them to be successfully fitted into almost any room. We will tell you below why it has gained such popularity and how to use a modern secretary in the interior.

Secrets of the secretary

It is believed that the first secretary was created in 1730, but the prototype of this piece of furniture appeared in XII-XIII centuries. Then it was exclusively ladies' furniture, where romantic young ladies wrote messages to their lovers, and women close to power decided the destinies of individuals and entire states. Later, men also appreciated the charm of such an unusual cabinet-table, and it was used by the highest strata of society, right up to kings and emperors. The furniture of some of them still amazes the imagination, delighting the eyes of connoisseurs in historical museums and galleries. Also, secretaries were often used by doctors, since in its numerous compartments it is convenient to store papers, medicines, and various medical devices.

It is worth noting that the secretary has always been a combination of a cabinet, desk and a safe, and it remains the same to this day, only appearance Thanks to the efforts of furniture designers and manufacturers, it can now be completely different. Sometimes a written secretary is compared to a bureau. However, there is one main difference between them: a secretary is a type of cabinet, i.e. storage places, and a bureau is a type of table, i.e. workplace. Thus, the main function of these multifunctional items the interior is different.

Interior use

Designers have always understood the beauty of such interior items, although they could not always use them. And if a modern secretary occupies a separate place in the interior and is an independent piece of furniture, then quite recently, in Soviet times, it was often built into furniture walls or sets. Thus, a separate section or module was allocated bookshelves, several drawers and the same folding tabletop, which make up the secretary. We can say that this was a version of the built-in secretary.

Advantage modern models is that they can be part of furniture group belonging to the same collection or skillfully matched to each other in color and style, and differ from all other pieces of furniture, being the main object or accent in the space.

The options for today's secretaries can be completely different: massive and miniature, stationary and mobile, ordinary rectangular and corner. Appearance - shape, fittings, color and other characteristics - can please people with completely different tastes.

It could be a classic desk secretary made of solid wood, an elegant console cabinet for the hallway, a multifunctional secretary for the bedroom that looks more like a chest of drawers, a modern computer desk-secretary, etc. There are specialized or, better to say, “professional” secretaries, for example, accounting, filing or library models.

The variety of models allows you to imagine a modern secretary in the interior of any room. In the office, this is an indispensable writing secretary, combining a durable tabletop with convenient storage for papers and small items. In the living room this is a storage area with the possibility of turning it into work area. In the nursery it's convenient place for creativity, where all things are in order, but at the same time always at hand. Also, in all these rooms you can install a computer desk-secretary if there is no separate place for it.

Many remote workers will like this, because such interior items are designed not only for laptops, but also for desktop computers. In any case, if necessary, for example, when receiving guests, you can workplace hide by lifting the table top or closing the door if the secretary is a table in a closet.

You can use a modern secretary in a bedroom interior either to create a work area that can be easily hidden during relaxation by lifting or sliding the tabletop, or for storage bedding, women's magazines and other small items, as well as writing plans for the next day or keeping a diary every night.

The kitchen can also include a transformable cabinet such as a secretary, but still few people organize a work area here in order to work with papers or at the computer. For the kitchen, it is better to choose desks or buffets similar to secretaries with retractable or folding tabletops.

A small writing secretary on high legs can be placed in the hallway or hall so that it is convenient to put the press on it, sign bills or leave some small things (keys, change for travel, a shoehorn) so that they do not get lost.

Models for different design styles

Antique secretaries look great in classic styles interior, especially retro style, and a modern secretary - in the interior of a minimalist design, high-tech style or other modern trends. An antique writing secretary is usually massive, “pot-bellied” and solid: made of solid expensive wood and decorated with carvings. Such aristocratic dark furniture colors will suit for Baroque, Rococo, Art Nouveau and other styles classic interiors. Use of antiques or artificial aging new furniture is also quite typical for these interior styles.

Refined furniture options with graceful shapes and original fittings are suitable for the Art Deco style. Typically, secretaries for them are more like narrow console tables with small drawers on top. Such tables are usually made in black and white, which is one of the characteristic features of Art Deco.

A modern computer desk-secretary is represented either by a light, airy model, or combines a spacious bookshelf with a retractable or opening tabletop.

Such secretaries with a minimum of finishing and simple fittings are suitable for minimalism, hi-tech, pop art styles, however, the materials and colors for each option should be different. Thus, the high-tech style is characterized by translucent matte facades, gray, laconic shape, chrome parts and technological options for transforming the table. Pop art “loves” the combination bright colors, slightly naive details, pictures or photographs on the facades. Basically, for some modern styles In the interior, you can decorate your computer desk-secretary yourself, using an inexpensive purchased model as a basis.

For ethnic styles you can choose your own shapes. So, French, English or scandinavian interior easy to create using furniture from certain manufacturers. Country style provides slightly naive desk cabinets with natural or artificial abrasions on the body. Small secretaries of laconic forms made of wood and rough finishing are suitable for eco-style.

Proper use of the secretary's features, rational storage of books, papers, writing instruments and other things necessary for work, as well as the interesting appearance of this piece of furniture will certainly be appreciated by any home owner. By the way, the secrets of some ancient secretaries have not yet been solved, maybe your furniture will become interesting to your descendants later?

The classic secretary is a chest of drawers with a door that folds down from top to bottom, behind which there are many secret drawers and compartments. At first, this furniture was considered ladies' furniture. The open door served as a table for writing love letters, and pearls and diamonds glimmered in the locked hiding places. However, the design turned out to be successful, and it was borrowed for more prosaic purposes: storing documents and writing instruments. Let's try to assemble a simple secretary with our own hands so that markers, disks and folders with papers can finally find their permanent place.

Let's make a very simple secretary

Preparing for work

Our secretary will have the simplest device, but in terms of convenience and functionality it will not be inferior to the factory one. To make it you will need the following materials:

• Ready table stands for folders made of plywood (sold in stationery stores) - 6 pcs.
• MDF blank for the top cover – 890x330x16 mm.
• MDF blank for the back cover – 890x325x16 mm.
• Wood glue.
• Screws.
• Sanding paper.
• Double sided tape.

The tools we will need are:

1. Jigsaw with blade for curved cutting.
2. Drill.
3. Screwdriver or screwdriver.

As we see in the picture, our module is mounted on an ordinary dining table with tabletop dimensions of 100x80 cm. The add-on for placing papers looks like a complex of interconnected horizontal and vertical stands, united by top and back covers made of MDF.

In conditions small apartment It would be nice to figure out how to make the secretary mobile. This condition is precisely included in our design. The trick is that our shelf module is removable, which means that if necessary, it can be quickly removed to any other place.

Marking and cutting MDF

First we cut out the top cover. To do this, we place the stand on the sheet with its side so that the back side of the future cover is flush with the horizontal shelf. The front side of the cover should protrude forward beyond the horizontal shelf by 1.5 cm. Mark the position of the first part of the shelf.

Mark the outline of the lid

We turn the stand over and mark the position of the second, mirror part of the shelf.

Cutting out the top cover

We cut out the top cover with a jigsaw, installing a file in it for a curved cut. The pendulum stroke must be turned off during operation. The dimensions of the cover should be:

• Length – 890 mm,
• Width at the junction of horizontal supports – 320 mm,
• The width at the ends is 170 mm.

We cut out the back wall in the form of a rectangle, according to the given dimensions - 890x325x16 mm.

Scheme of our secretary

We grind the finished lids and coat them 2-3 times furniture varnish or cover with self-adhesive film.

Each time dictates its own styles, including in furniture design. However, in addition to beauty, many interior items should also have additional functionality: have drawers, drawers and shelves. And in some cases - hiding places, small safes disguised as ordinary bedside tables, chests of drawers or other pieces of furniture, as well as built into bookcases and wardrobes.

Secretary with curved legs, decorated with carvings

Their presence always had a meaning: here it was possible to hide something that was not necessary for others to see. And, starting from the 18th century, in any rich house one could find a secretary, or in the Russian version, a desk where the owner kept especially valuable documents: bills, money, jewelry.

Inside the extant antique furniture very often various hiding places and secret boxes are discovered

Furniture with secrets - table and cabinet with additional drawers

In past centuries, in the homes of wealthy people, a mandatory part of the office was a table or a cabinet with secret drawers, which were used to store especially important documents, money, and jewelry, which made it possible to protect them from thieves. Later in France, a special table-cabinet was invented, called a secretary, because it was really possible to store various secret documents and small valuables in it.

The drawers were often equipped with secret locks and secret locking mechanisms

The popularity of secretaries and other furniture “delicacies” equipped with various secret spaces was not accidental. Their design has its advantages that ordinary tables and cabinets do not have, and features that are unique only to such products.

They are no less relevant today: valuable papers, expensive jewelry, important correspondence and documentation are stored in stylized safes and hiding places. Among the obvious advantages of such furniture are:

• storage of valuables without access to them by strangers;
• their arrangement in different furniture elements;
• the possibility of making secret storage facilities with your own hands.

Among the factors characteristic of furniture with a secret, the design features of such products are highlighted, making it possible to prepare places for storing a specific type of valuables. As a rule, if hiding places are specially equipped, they are equipped with secret locks, and today with an electronic security system.

Today, the furniture market offers products not only for personal use, but also for enterprises and organizations. In addition, it can be made to order according to individual drawings.

To open this table you need to place a special magnet in the right place, there are no more handles or levers

Hiding places in ordinary furniture

Hiding places are often installed under furniture - in the empty space between the legs

Antique furniture is a storehouse of secrets and mysteries. Old cabinetmakers turned furniture design elements into real works of art. Today's craftsmen make modern furniture in the old style, helping to create special interior and supplement it with hidden elements.

Hiding places in antique furniture

Purchasing special tables, cabinets and bedside tables with hiding places is quite expensive. But this does not mean that especially important documents and jewelry will remain on the shelf in the closet.

Option for a hiding place in the house on a bookshelf

Ready-made furniture with hidden niches

Wall mirrors and paintings special design can also be an excellent hiding place

Available today various types ordinary furniture equipped with secret spaces. Secret places can be located in any part of it, and they can be equipped either by the owners themselves, or by ordering their production by craftsmen, secret places can be located:

A secret drawer or safe disguised as an outlet

Do-it-yourself or custom-made caches

Custom-made desk stash

There is not always a need to buy expensive exclusive furniture equipped with secret places. Can be used budget option by ordering required element furniture interior design to specialists according to their own drawings. Is it possible home handyman try to create and arrange it with your own hands.

These can be equipped secret places under or inside countertops, in the doors of cabinets and bedside tables, as well as shelves and drawers on which locks can be installed.

Of interest are small “turnkey” niches equipped in the depths of the desk drawers with a secret.

An interesting option for hiding in a chest of drawers

Hollow furniture legs and uprights

A simple hiding place in furniture - in the hollow legs of a chair

A hiding place arranged in these pieces of furniture is considered a classic. Making it is quite simple: you need inside furniture element Drill a hole of the selected size. It is assumed that only one person will know about such a “secret” - the one who made it.

It is clear that the place for storing valuables equipped here does not imply a large number of them, which must be remembered to be disguised in a convenient way.

Advice. You need to make holes very carefully and not overdo it with their diameter, so as not to weaken the structure and lead to its breakage.

Stash inside the chair seat

Hides in boxes

The double bottom drawer is a true classic that still works today

Traditionally, hiding places are located in drawers of a desk or chest of drawers, where a “second bottom” can be made. For its equipment, take the same material from which the furniture itself is made, of the same size, secure it:

• Velcro;
• magnetic strips in a plastic frame;
• other convenient ways.

Small hiding place idea - a box within a box

You can put flat objects there:

• documents;
• cash;
• photos;
• securities.

Hidden “treasures” must also be secured on the “second day”.

Drawers with secrets for regular cabinets

Hides in closets

Secret drawers, securely hidden in the most ordinary-looking bookshelves

Cabinets provide a wide field of activity for equipping secret places from thieves. Their large internal and external space allows you to hide a large number of items of various configurations.

Hiding places built into a regular closet

Pull-out panel in the closet, hidden from prying eyes

Attention! Before hiding a thing, you need to decide who may know about the existence of the cache and have access to it, so that if it is discovered by household members, you will not end up in a stupid position.

Video: how to make - The simplest cache