A Harry Potter Bedroom
It’s hard to believe that the
fourth Harry Potter movie is
in theaters now. I can’t hear
the name Harry Potter and not
think about a love affair that still
rages at my home. It all
started with a book. My
daughter, Angela, learned English
by reading Harry Potter in Russian
side by side with a Harry Potter
book written in English. My dear
friend, Masha, in Moscow told
me Harry Potter was the only book
in the bookstore Angela had not read as she helped us to find books Angela would like for the long plane ride to her new home in America.
At the time, Angela was eleven and had been living in an orphanage for the past four years in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She didn’t know anything about Harry Potter as it had only just been released in Russia in December 2001. She has loved Harry Potter from the first page and now four years later and fifteen years old, her interest in Harry Potter has not diminished.
Because she was going into high school this year, we wanted to re-do her room to mark the milestone. That’s when I decided to use a Harry Potter theme. Harry’s bedroom is in the Hogwart’s castle, replete with four-poster bed, canopy, and tapestries hanging on stone walls. This sophisticated, old-world style was something I wanted to duplicate for Angela.
Castle update
As I thought about the space, it was important to me that the room have a balance of dark and light. Harry’s bedroom is decidedly dark, but I wanted to make sure that the room didn’t become oppressive, so I balanced dark fabrics with light walls, dark wood tones with light curtain treatments.
The transformation of her bedroom began by painting the walls in a stone block pattern. This was time consuming more than it was difficult. Once the stone walls were complete, we set about creating a four-poster canopy bed. We stained crown moulding and one by two wood strips a rich walnut color while Angela sanded a golden oak computer desk that we would later stain to the same rich walnut. Afterwards, we mounted the one by two boards to the ceiling using wall anchors. Then, we nailed the four inch crown moulding to the strips. This gave us a place to hang the panels for the bed.
Sew easy
The sewing for this project
was remarkably simple.
One of the elements I like
best is a tapestry I made.
This was created by hemming
one yard of tapestry fabric
that I bought at a local fabric
store. Hung by a pocket that
I sewed into the fabric, and
then draped with a cord and
tassels, the tapestry looks
fantastic and authentic.
For the bed, I sewed simple
fabric panels to create a
four-poster effect. The
windows got an equally simple
treatment. The curtains were
two quick pouf valances for
toppers that I sewed using
coordinating fabric from the
bed panels. Side panels were made by hanging one sheer
drapery scarf underneath the topper to create two sheer
curtain panels on either side of each window.
Final touches
The bed comforter is a rich claret color with coordinating throw pillows. Bed risers were placed under the feet of the bed frame to make it higher and more dramatic. The headboard was also mounted and affixed to the wall a bit higher than usual. A faux stone wall hanging was placed on the wall and mosaic glass candle holders and castle-inspired accessories were placed. The ceiling fan was removed and replaced with a wrought-iron and crystal chandelier.
To keep the room focused on transporting Angela to a castle, all her electronics (computer/stereo) were moved to the wall that the door is on so they weren’t seen when entering the room. A pair of burnished brass lamps placed on either side of the bed add just that little touch of shiny in the room. Lastly, a bulletin board was created by padding and recovering a store bought bulletin board.
Voila! A room is born
Angela wasn’t allowed to see the final product until she came home from school that Monday. It gave us time to install the chandelier and make the finishing touches. The room took us three days to complete. When she got home, she was delighted with the transformation and squealed at all the finishing touches. Today her room is a cocoon and a retreat -- and it shows her exactly how loved she is.
© 2007 Kathryn Weber, all rights reserved
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Kathryn Weber is the publisher of the Everydayclean.com Cleaning Calender, that calender that puts you in control of your home by ending the power struggle. For more information log on to http://tinyurl.com/d9rh5.
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©2001-2007 Kathryn Weber
All rights reserved.
