My Faerie Tale Wardrobe

I first read the Narnia chronicles in the early 1980s, and have read them every winter since. I have peeked in hundreds of wardrobes, and daydreamed about having tea with Reepicheep for decades. I have always said that if I was ever lucky enough to own a wardrobe, I would paint the interior to look like Narnia. 

About a year ago I picked up a secondhand IKEA children's wardrobe. It's small, but deep enough for standard adult hangers. It holds my clothes, my outerwear, my shoes and purses, my makeup and jewelry... absolutely everything I wear fits in here, and I love how easy it is to get to my things when a drawer would be too much for my arthritic fingers to maneuver. It was more functional than "fun," but it suited my needs perfectly. But that pea-soup green? Oh my, YUCK!

 Knowing that I planned to remove the back anyway it was easy to decide to paint the exterior, but a simple coat of paint would never do for the doors to Narnia. I wanted something special. After months of contemplating, Pinterest surfing, window-shopping online stores, and waiting for sale prices I finally had everything I needed to transform my "blah" little wardrobe into a fulfilled childhood fantasy. I would paint the outside to be a meadow before the distant Misty Mountains of Middle Earth from my other favorite childhood books;  also in tatters from being read every autumn since my girlhood days.  

I began by emptying the wardrobe and removing the back, the hanging bar, the shelves, and all shelf-supports. By the end of the first day I had a single coat of paint on the wardrobe frame.

It took "FOREVER" to finish the painting with all five colors, but after a week I had finally finished adding ombre cubbyhole and shoe shelves, and 7 layers of the Misty Mountains of Middle Earth to the doors. FINALLY it was time to add my stickers. 

On the doors, I added a set of flower wall stickers found on Amazon to simulate the meadows of Middle Earth. I love how they turned out, and how peaceful the closet now looked. 

The flower stickers came with a few extras, which I put on the right-hand side since that side of the wardrobe doubles as my headboard. It's a small touch, but it looks oh so sweet.

When I removed the back for painting, it evaporated. I discovered later that the original finishing-nails had been replaced by 1" ring-shank nails, but had planned from the beginning on replacing it with panelboard for strength and durability. Once the doors and shelves were reattached, I picked up a panel of Eucaboard from Home Depot, then cut a door-mural found on Etsy down to size, and added still more paint to finish the back.

It took me two weeks from start to finish since I worked on this as a side-project. But the finished wardrobe is absolutely everything I could have possibly imagined. The soft purples, the mountains, the flowers, the forest... absolutely everything was exactly like I'd pictured it. 

Now that everything is put back, my tiny corner is officially my cozy little happy place. From my tiny comfy slipper chair with the birch tree ambient light and my little art nouveau wall planter full of wildflowers, to the soft delicate colors, baskets, and spinning organizer for my jewelry and makeup... everything here is perfect for my needs, and looks like I stepped into my two favorite faerie tales. 

It was absolutely worth 37 years of waiting for this dream to come true.