apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

OOH, this would come in handy!

I would definitely worry about my husband throwing the cans away... he seems to love to throw things out. The outlet, though, is genius.

Love how they get all that stuff into the outlet.. doesn't look like it would close easily and then if it jammed, opening it would cause you to issue a few bad words!

Very cool! Though I would stay away from having the Iced Tea one. Both times (!!) my house was broken into, they not only grabbed things of value but rooted through the fridge for a nice cold one. It would be just my luck that some thirsty thief would grab that can of iced tea and discover my grandma's pearl necklace.

ooh, these ones are soo much fun! i love the socket. thanks for new ideas.. i think i may have to purchase one..or more. :)

It seems like with the cans you could just open them from the bottom with a can opener and drain their contents. Then when you leave, you can stuff a baggie of whatever you're trying to hide in the can, and set it in the back of the pantry. The solution would cost about 88 cents.

Reminds me... when I was little, a friend of mine gave me an old book into which she had cut a square opening in the inner pages in which to put secret stuff. (Now I will go run and hide from the ever-present anti-book-defacement squad.) I wonder if there are ways to DIY some of the other safes on this page. The pillow wouldn't be terribly difficult to do.

Now if I only had some valuables to hide...

oh my goodness... from the picture on the front page i thought that pillow was a fake burrito! how awesome would it be to hide your valuables inside a burrito. :)

I'm sure burglars read AT too.

The times I was robbed, they were in a hurry, and probably would not have rooted through the bathroom cupboard checking to see if that was real bon ami. (Although they easily found the video camera hid in the bottom of the closet.) I'm always looking for genius ideas to hide the laptop. Any suggestions?

I installed one of those socket-safes in an apartment once, only to realize that I'd installed it vertically, yet all of the other sockets in my apartment were installed horizontally. Probably would have been a neon light to any would-be thief...

hrh: "I'm sure burglars read AT too." Yes, they do. The professionals keep up on all this stuff. The secret wall socket, the fake head of lettuce in the fridge, the hollow "rock" - all done to death.

At the very least avoid using items that might pique a thief's interest: beverages and food (you'd be surprised how many people break in and then have a party, or stay overnight), spray paint (they'll get artistic ideas); tool boxes (commonly stolen). As a general rule women tend to hide things in the bedroom or kitchen so try to deviate.

The best ideas: good-sized safe i.e. to heavy to lift, bolted into the frame of the house; safety deposit box.

TAMPAX AND MAXI PAD BOXES ARE PERFECT- NOBODY WANTS TO GO THROUGH THOSE.

Cool, cool, cool.

We found a ridiculously deep floor safe under the carpet in the house we just bought - and I'm thinking of installing a lift-up faux wood floor to cover it up that will match the rest of the house. I don't think any of these "clever" hiding ideas work. Get a safe and bolt it to something if you can't bury it in concrete.

Tampon box!

BambiJo you rock.

when i'm just going out for the day, i store my laptop vertically with my cookbooks in the kitchen. you'd never even know it was there. sure, crooks may toss the books around searching for stuff behind them and then i'd be screwed but it's better than nothing.

if you have tall books in your bookcase, maybe store your laptop behind them on the shelf. position it upright on its side along the back of the shelf and put the taller books in front of it.

It's a lot less conspicuous than a jewelry box. That's for sure.