I’ve always been intrigued with furniture that had hidden gun storage. It started when my buddy moved into a new place and wanted to leave guns around the house. He bought premade furniture from tactical walls that included a small lamp, a wall mirror, and hung up art. The three pieces blended pretty well and no one would be the wiser.
Another friend decided to build his own hidden wall using an RFID lock from Amazon. This got my thoughts churning on how to build my own. Since I was only renting, it had to be something practical and not cause any permanent changes to the house.
Within the last year after my breakup, I had been living with a friend and renting a room from him. He left his nightstand and a few things behind in the room that I was taking over. For nearly a year, I did not have a nightstand and used his instead. This was to be my next project. A piece of furniture with hidden gun storage to call my own.
I started the project by cutting down pieces of 1″ square tube and welding it together. I’m still fairly new to the welding hobby so I’m not too good around thin material. No worries, that’s what an angle grinder and Bondo is for.
After completing the steel frame in a weekend, I sat on the project for nearly two months. It took me a few weeks to decide what type of wood I wanted for this project. I shopped Rockler for exotic woods but it would blow this project’s budget sky-high. Inspired by the recent influx of exposed plywood projects that I’ve been enamored by, I decided to pick up a single sheet of 3/4″ plywood that was sufficient for the entire project.
No 3D models or drawings here. Just basic measurements that I had written down and caveman style fitting of pieces together. “Rustic.”
I bought drawer slides that were capable of 100 lbs of weight for both the hidden drawer and the main drawer. Sufficient for whatever crap I want to throw in there.
A weekend of breaking down wood and piecing everything together resulted in the following tactical nightstand.
Overall, the project cost around $150. Sure, I would have saved a lot of time and money just going out and buying a nightstand but where’s the fun in that? Or rather, where’s the hidden storage?
I’m happy with the way it turned out. The next minor thing I’ll add are some magnets to keep the drawer from sliding out. I may or may not add a locking mechanism down the line to secure my hidden compartment. The beauty of DIY; do it on your own time.
Check out my other projects here.