While I was cutting wood for my DIY floating canvas frames, I decided to cut some additional pieces to create a secret art cabinet for my youngest daughter. She loves her journal with a lock, her little safe with a combination, and really anything that can be locked. I already had a sturdy vintage frame, a digital image in mind, and she had a great place on her wall for some new artwork. The rest is history and now she has a really fun hidey spot for her treasures.

My biggest tip for this project is to select an empty frame that has a common-sized inset for the artwork. For instance, the frame I used has a 16″x20″ inset which is a standard printing size. This made it so easy to just order my vintage image in the correct size so that no trimming was necessary. I downloaded the free vintage image of a swan from The Graphics Fairy.com. Then I had it printed at Walmart on poster board. The poster board is sturdy and significant, but I wanted it to be thicker to fit better in the frame’s inset. So, I added a piece of foam core board, from the Dollar Tree, to create a sturdy thickness that fit just right into the frame.

The size of your frame will determine how much wood to buy. I used 1″x3″ pine boards that I already had, but you can used whatever width of board suits your needs. If you’re creating an art cabinet in your bathroom, maybe the boards need to be wide enough to hold bottles or extra toilet paper. I added one shelf, but if you know what you’re going to store inside the cabinet, this can help you determine how many shelves you’ll need.

For this blog post, I’m not going to list out the instructions, but I will make a list of what I used for my wall art hidden cabinet. For the step-by-step tutorial, you can check out my YouTube video which will show you each step of the way. To create this hidden cabinet, you don’t need to use these exact items, you can customize some to fit your needs.

Thank you so much for checking out this post. This was a fun and quick project and it’s created a fun piece of decor for my daughter’s bedroom. This design can be used for a variety of purposes and it’s totally customizable. Hope this idea inspires you!