You have great ideas, an awesome space, and toys and furniture on order. But you also have kids, nosy in-laws, and vanilla friends who like to visit. How do you keep your dungeon a secret, and protect your loved ones’ sensibilities? There are a lot of options available, from simple to complex to creative.
The simplest answer is to lock the dungeon door. This is exactly what our first featured dungeon owners used to do. The room was off-limits and locked while her child was a minor. This works best if there are no budding locksmiths in the house, but it can also make the secret that much more tantalizing. Nothing is so desirable as something you cannot have.
So, the next suggestion is camouflage. Drop cloths can turn bondage tables into regular work tables or small furniture into shapeless piles. If your furniture folds down at all, it is much easier to stack it in a corner out of the way and cover with a cloth. Racks and hooks can be used to hang plants or decorations. A decorative hope chest or steam trunk makes an excellent toy chest. Some designers make convertible furniture that turns into useful vanilla pieces when not being used for play. Spanking benches can become chairs, large cages can become wire storage units, and crosses can becomes plant stands. Or go the other way, use regular furniture for play, so no conversion is required. What better place to hide things than in plain sight?
Sometimes camouflage just isn’t enough and you need to hide things. If you have a high unfinished ceiling, sometimes furniture like a cross can fold up into it. Big fluffy blankets can hide the bondage points on a bed. Lumber piles are a good place to hide disassembled furniture. You can even hide ceiling rings with a fake smoke detector (so long as you also have a real one, too). Armoires are a good way to store, and sometimes even display your toys, just close and lock the doors to keep them hidden. If you don’t mind a little extra lifting and you really need to hide furniture, moving things out of the house to a shed, barn, or garage when company comes to call is another option. For the really creative carpenter, false walls and hidden doors are another option to hide the dungeon itself, and add a bit of mystery to the space.
People try not to see things they don’t want to, so with just a little extra planning, you can keep your dungeon, and your lifestyle, away from prying eyes.
