Creating my own Harry Potter themed room that works for both children and adults was a lot of fun, and the results are in. Our room took about two months to put together, and I shopped a mix of estate auctions, antique stores, charity auctions, Ebay, and regular stores like Pottery Barn Teen and At Home.
My Design Approach
I wanted to replicate the same feeling of old-time magic you get from the movie sets and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando. While there is a lot of branded Harry Potter merchandise for sale at retailers, most of my decor choices were original vintage and antique finds that came with authenticity and a low price tag.
I sourced most items from the local antique stores and auctions, and I highly recommend it because it’s lots of fun.
Products sharing the same aesthetic: Owl figurine, globe, horn, trunk.
Architecture of the Room
When we bought our house, it had a finished basement with a bar and rec room. It set empty for a few years because we did not have any furniture or decoration ideas. That was until our trip to Orlando.
Sipping butterbeer at the Hog’s Head, I realized that the Harry Potter theme will work wonders for our basement, which had the distinctive English pub style: dark wood paneling, textured sheetrock, and wood-imitation floors.
Thus was born the Hogwarts-themed lounge project.
Furniture
Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms were the main inspirations for the lounge. This is the room where students can hang out and do homework. It needed a comfy sitting area, a desk, and a place to display educational materials and prized possessions.
Products sharing the same aesthetic: desk, chair, candelabra, magnifying glass, quill, goblet.
Since our basement lacks a fireplace, a big desk with a hutch shelf serves as a focal point. I got the desk for a song at an estate auction because very few people can arrange the loading and transport of a heavy item overnight. My own and my best friend’s husbands get my eternal gratitude for moving the desk.
The hutch has a place to display all the odd accessories found in wizards’ homes: old books, early 1900s film projector ($20 at an antique mall), mantle clock ($8 at an estate auction), framed postcards bought at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, vintage magnifying glasses ($20 at shopgoodwill.com), candelabra spray-painted black, and a glass globe (Ebay).
The seating is comfy but mismatched just like you see in the Gryffindor common room. Most of the pieces came from a local estate online auction and were under $50 apiece.
Products sharing the same aesthetic: Owl figurine, globe, horn, trunk.
Two old trunks were cleaned and spray painted black to create a display area.
Accessories
To stay consistent with the Harry Potter and Hogwarts theme, the accessories need to reflect technologies, materials, and types of items used in 1800-early 1900. Glass, metal (brass, bronze, tin), wood, ceramics, horn, feathers/quills, all of these were featured prominently in the movies.
Many of the movie accessories showcase magnifying glass, glass bottles, containers and covers, weather/earth models, brass figurines, metal tools, and instruments.
Accessories that refer to the natural world, like plants and animals were also common.
I go into detail and show examples of great decorative accessories in this article.
Products sharing the same aesthetic: desk, quill, glass orb, projector, glass jar.
Wall Art
I chose two types of art in the lounge: old natural history prints and paintings. The prints were inspired by the Defense Against the Dark Art classroom in Hogwarts Castle, as re-created in the Wizarding World in Orlando (where I spent good 30 minutes sitting on the floor waiting for the ride to re-open – and you bet I loved every minute of it), and the paintings were a direct reference to the halls and common rooms of Hogwarts.
This article gives you ideas on how you can create your own DIY natural history posters worthy of your Harry Potter room.
Obviously, the wizarding prints would not show beautiful flowers and birds of paradise, rather, they would boast the plants and the animals that have magical powers or produce poisons. Fortunately, you can buy original antique prints of snakes, spiders, and worms inexpensively on Ebay.
To make reproductions of classical artwork similar to that of Hogwarts, all you need is a vintage gilded frame and an old masters’ art print, which you can order using downloads from copyright-free archives, like the National Gallery of Art. I found that the cheapest place to order large-format prints was Walmart.
Light Fixtures
Hogwarts light fixtures deserve their own discussion because the designers of the movie set used oil and kerosene lamps which are rare today. While I see many flowery “gone with the wind” lamps on the antiques market, the more simple designs with A-shaped brass or round glass shades are few and far between.
Since I have not seen replicas of these lamps at retail stores, your best bet is still with local antique malls and estate sales.
Floors
The floor in both Gryffindor and Slytherin common rooms was covered by large worn-out oriental rugs. Fortunately, you don’t need to get a degree in buying and cleaning antique rugs because very decent imitations are available inexpensively.
I skipped getting a rug for my room because of its basement location, however, here is an example of something you can order from Wayfair that would look gorgeous in a Harry Potter inspired space:
Creating your own spin on the famed Hogwarts interior is a fun project for both grown-ups and kids. Come armed with a good eye for odd antiques, cleaning supplies, and creativity, and you will have your own Harry Potter themed room in no time.
If you liked my idea, check out my ideas inspired by the Gryffindor and the Slytherin common rooms. I photographed vignettes to illustrate how the decor might look in your own room.