Let’s face it, we all want to feel like John Wick walking into our personal equivalent of the HK “Gray Room.” Unfortunately, most of us are limited to the budget and space of Hutch Mansell walking into a Temu warehouse janitor’s closet. This is how it was for me when I moved into my new house a few years ago, proceeding to spend the next three years racking my brain on how I could still build my dream gun room….er, gun closet.

The biggest obstacle for me was space. I was fortunate enough to gain a dedicated office in my move but it is right off the living room and I would rather not scream “I’m a gun nut!” to every casual visitor to my home. A basement wasn’t an option. As many tornado-dodgers might already be aware, basements are very rare in most of Oklahoma.

I briefly considered the garage but, unless I wanted to install a $5,000+ split HVAC unit, do a bunch of insulating, and pay a fortune in additional utilities, it was out. Also, while it didn’t have to be Fort Knox, I’d prefer not to allow would-be thieves to be able to back their getaway car up to what they plan to steal.

Now, it would be nice if my kids would hurry up and move out so I could turn one of their bedrooms into a combo Cigar Lounge-Gun room, but that’s not an option yet. They have lots of excuses like “I’m only in grade school” or “I’m not even in grade school yet.”

Bunch of slackers.

Gun Closet Ideas: a Narnia Wardrobe for Operators and LARPerators

I thought perhaps once again my ambitions would reach only as far as a Tactical Wall mirror with hidden storage like I had at the old house. They are nice for sure, but I wanted more.

What I did have was, what felt like to me, an embarrassingly large walk-in closet that I wasn’t using even close to my half. It can only be accessed through the master bedroom, then through the master bathroom, and it has a real door. Previously, I had pulled out a section of hangers and shelves to get my safe in there (again rather than the non-climate-controlled, easy-to-steal garage space).

Looking around, I realized with a few modifications to the remaining shelves and hanger bars, I would have ample room for my clothes and some space to LARP. So began my research into gun closet ideas. There is some pretty creative hidden room stuff out there but not a ton for closets themselves.

Like any good movie secret operation, I went to the blueprints while playing montage music. Looking at where we are on the blueprints:

Gun Room Before

This is what it looked like at move-in, with storage running the length of where I wanted to put my wall. (Photo from a model home similar to mine; I don’t actually have my personal “before pics.” )

Gun Room After

So I figured out “Where” to put it and I figured out “How” it would fit. Now for the fun stuff, buying the “What” was going in!

Really, this was focused on two main things: a gun display wall and a workbench.

I wanted two main things for this spot no matter how much space I actually had.

1. A place to display a few of the guns purely to look cool and make me smile.
2. Some storage and a place to pack for range trips and classes without having to wander all over the house “shopping” for what I needed.

I tried to go with a Husky workbench but they were out of stock. Fortunately for my impatient ass Harbor Freight had an exact clone for less money ready for pickup. At 46 inches it is an exact match to the width of my planned wall panels. I left the wheels off to keep it lower so I could display more guns since my panel hanging height was limited by a shelf. It also means fewer little parts, stray rounds, etc. can roll under there and get lost. I also left the handle off the side since space was tight and I wouldn’t be pulling this anywhere.

You know, Just this week I saw Husky came out with a sweet OD Green version with murdered-out trim and I’m now I’m jelly.

For the wall panels, and really the focal point of the whole gun closet, I had to go with some trusty Gallowtech panels. I like them for several reasons. One, the attachment height adjustability, two the variety of mounting attachments, and three the sizing. While they offer a 36-inch and 41-inch wide single-piece models, I have found for my longest long-guns it gets a bit tight. I opted for four 23-inch panels to get a full 46-inch width and an almost 4-foot height (with the bottom 2-3 inches covered by the workbench.

Again, this width matches the workbench almost exactly, which for someone like me is immensely satisfying visually.

I like to treat the space like a rotating art exhibit. I switch things up every few months to keep the look fresh.

Fun fact: there are mounts and files to 3D print all sorts of gun mounts suitable for GallowTech and similar platforms on Etsy, most at a reasonable price.

Lastly, a little bit of security. For $60 on Amazon and no modifications needed, this door knob fits the bill nicely. Plus, who doesn’t want to enter their gun lair by using a biometric fingerprint scanner?

Lastly, enjoying it. I LOVE how everything I need to load up for a trip to the range is within arm’s reach and I have somewhere other than the floor to set it.

In addition to tools, my magazines are all sorted along with my holsters (which are not) plus some spare parts I commonly find I’m looking for as I swap setups back and forth.

I keep my training ammo loose in its own plastic ammo can, one for each caliber. When the can looks low, it’s time to order more instead of dipping into the strategic reserves.

Just opposite the display wall and workbench is some more storage. Part clothing closet and part cool guy gear storage.

All total, I probably have about $1,000 in this project, and for the time being, given my constraints, it really scratches the itch. Look, I’m just a regular guy and I know this is just a closet but, I had a lot of fun doing this. It makes me happy every day when I go in my gun closet, even if it’s just for a pair of khakis and not an AK-74.

I believe in most things we are only limited by our imagination. Marcus Aurelius had it right when he said: “The impediment to action advances action, what stands in the way becomes the way.” Sometimes the barriers before us drive the best solutions.

I hope I inspired at least one of you out there who had given up on making a dream like this (or really any dream) a reality to get back after it!

Questions for the crowd: What do you use to organize your safe? Have you set up an admin or organizational method that’ll complement or even improve what I’ve got going here? Some discussion in the comments has the potential to help all of us!

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DO Gun Closet