HILUXURY – Hawaii Luxury Magazine

The Key to an Ironclad Closet

THERE SEEMS TO BE NO SHORTAGE OF OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THINGS ALL ABOUT YOU: There are signature drinks and fragrances; you can customize your car, your phone and even the pooch. Now, you can even customize the most utilitarian of items: your home safe.

It makes perfect sense that a homeowner would want to have a hand in designing the one thing that will protect all that you hold precious.

“Most of our homes are in the multimillion-dollar range, so all of our homes not only require safes, but the infrastructure to be able to accommodate it,” says Tim Gutierrez of Pyramid Premier Properties. Many savvy homeowners request safes that are fireproof as well as provide a certain grade of protection that includes a jewelers rating, battery back-up and alarm features.

While hardware concerns are what contractors, architects and safe manufacturers deal with, most customers are more concerned with how this pragmatic item will fit in their lives.

“I had one customer whose wife was not happy with a vault door he had chosen,” says Lynel Berryhill, vice president of Brown Safe. “So, to make her happy, he had us match the door’s color to her red BMW.”

Fresh from a safe installation at a property on Kaua’i's north shore, Berryhill points out that their level of customization is only out-done by their dedication to keep evolving with the security needs of the market. “It’s like a cat-and-mouse game. We keep developing new things to beat burglars.”

In addition to that red BMW vault door, she’s designed other car-centric safes including one for a Lamborghini owner, and another for a Ferrari lover who had all the colors matched to his beloved auto. For the ladies, design elements swing toward color schemes, such as the white exterior, fuchsia interior safe one lady requested.

The locales for such safes are clever as well. “I had one client that wanted the safe in the closet, but hidden by a trap door that was a mirror so that most people wouldn’t figure out what was there,” explains Gutierrez. “You dress in the closet, and behind the dressing mirror was a large safe concealed behind a special push latch.”

As for what’s being protected, “nothing surprises me anymore,” says Berryhill. In addition to the customary jewelry and watches, there have been vaults built for Louis Vuitton bags, guitars, art, weapons, pens and cigars.

For those already happily ensconced in their abode, retrofitting your home to accommodate a safe is possible as well. Choose the cabinetry that fits your décor, the configuration of each drawer-even the color of the velvet that lines them. There are watch safes that can be outfitted with a drawer or shelf filled with watch turners.

“In older houses, a homeowner would generally choose to place the safe in a closet or dressing room,” Berryhill explains. “We even place our Gem Series safes in vacation homes, so that people can store their precious items-jewelry, art- while they’re away.”

Security doesn’t stop with protecting “things.” Berryhill says that Brown Safe has constructed many a ‘safe room.’ “Although, ever since that movie with Jodie Foster, it’s now called a ‘Panic Room,’” she laughs. The company has also consulted on movies and TV shows, oftentimes to no avail. “They still make it look like you can break into a safe in five minutes, like in The Italian Job. That just makes it more exciting, I guess.” Well, it’s nice to know that, at least in the real world, you can have something beautiful and brawny to keep the Charlie Croakers out there from wreaking their havoc.