When our wardrobe tour went viral on TikTok no one was more surprised than me. The secret reading nook is not a secret anymore!
Many of you will pick up that it’s a play off of the wardrobe from C.S. Lewis’s The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe. But there are nods to a lot of other fun favorite stories in this space too.
I like to think of this as a sister wardrobe, another entrance into the magical land of Narnia, from the land of Spare Oom.
The BEST part of this space are the magical memories the kids have created in here. I just wanted to create a space where my children could discover how wonderful reading is. There are so many nights where all five of us have crammed into this small room for story time. Those are the best memories.
The hallway we put the wardrobe entrance in front of is very narrow. Too small for anything large like chairs or couches. So we focused on making the walls interesting, and plopped some comfy floor cushions and pillows on the ground.
The lion head on top of the wardrobe entrance is a shout out to Aslan… He is not a tame lion.
I made him with clay to capture the exact facial expression I imagined.
Upon entering the wardrobe, when you look up, you will see a sparkle of constellations. They actually glow!
May I mention that all the candles in the space are LED’s. You wouldn’t believe the amount of concerned comments I received on this topic. Haha.
Going back outside the wardrobe, you will see our Dawn Treader painting. The ship is 3D, creeping out of the waves on the painting.
This view always makes me so happy.
I think it would be silly to say this space is only for the kids. I love using it too!
It’s the perfect hideaway.
Since it’s so narrow, we have opted to keep most of the books in the kids room, but we bring some of our favorites into the room for story time. Many of the books you see in here are mine from growing up. And you can bet the kids use this for more than just reading. June has a collection of hatchimals, and the boys are always bringing their lego collections in here.
The lanterns bring such a cozy glow to the room-especially at night! I’ll have to do a nighttime tour one of these days.
The lantern painting on the back of the wardrobe wasn’t originally intended to serve as a door. Before we moved to this house, I just wanted to create a normal wardrobe, with a pretty painting in the back. But when I saw this hallway, I had the idea to create a walk through nook. go HERE for more details on the beginning of this space.
I don’t think people realize that pretty much everything in this space was a DIY project. We built it all from scratch.
It just shows you what a little dreaming, paint, and some power tools can do. Oh, and hundreds of hundred of hours.
The book wall behind the lantern painting door was another fun part to create.
I used a staple gun, and a bunch of old books to create this look.
The dragon is another DIY. I made her with clay. I love how it turned out.
These books above the window aren’t actually books at all. They are blocks of wood I painted to display some of the classics.
I can’t share this space without showing you the paintings.
Each child got their own custom painting of them having a magical adventure.
Mom and Dad even got their own paintings.
My sister @thewishingwoods and I did all the artwork ourselves.
Thanks for coming along on this tour of our wardrobe. You can go HERE to see a video tour.
What a magical space to read far off adventures and cultivate your imagination.
Such a clever use of space. You and your sisters artwork really make the space come alive. Well done!