This Star Wars location is most suitable for decorating bedrooms and dens. Newly added material as of last update highlighted in red.
INTRODUCTION:
The Skywalker family lives in the city of Mos Espa on Tatooine. Their hovel is located in the slave quarters but don't let the negative connotation fool you, the Skywalker hovel is a simple yet comfortable dwelling and this is showcased in young Anakin's bedroom. It has all the makings for comfortable sleeping quarters, ample storage, and a convenient worksation where you too can build your own protocol droid! To help mom, of course. ;)
STEP 1: THE STRUCTURE
As you can see in all of the photos, Anakin's bedroom does not have straight geometric lines, but is sort of lumpy and rounded. Lumpiness can be achieved with the technique you choose to cover the walls, the roundness however may be achieved with carpentry. For example to round your ceiling from its ordinary square like 90 degree angle shape, you can attach wooden frames that are curved to the top and then fit wallboard and use that white stuff (spackle?) to smooth it out and blend it into the already existing wall. See Figure 4. I have seen a ceiling transformed like this on Trading Spaces, particularly the one where Doug changes a couple's bedroom into a train car.
For the shelves and cubby holes you may build out the wall, cut holes into the walls, or simply attach shelves to the wall. There is nothing wrong with just hanging shelves as opposed to reconstructing your walls by building them out or knocking holes in them. But if you want authenticity, try cutting the holes out, but be sure you know what you are doing, like don't hit any electric wires.
Anakin's bed is located in a alcove. You can construct an alcove at one end of your room by perhaps bookending the bed space with storage space camoflaged by the sandy like surface you will be applying to the walls. See Figure 5. My diagram has square edges becasue of limitations with paintbrush which I used to make it, but you should round the edges of this structure, too.
Do all reconstructing before you paint!
STEP 2: THE PAINTING
For the base coat, I would go with something like color 1 or 2 in the color palette in Figure 2. That will be your first coat of paint that will cover all the walls and ceiling. You should use a roller to paint. I suggest painting the ceiling first.
After that is on and dry, you may choose to put on a second coat. This is your choice based on your own visual judgment.
STEP 3: THE TEXTURE
Your base coat is on, now you need to add some texture. As you can see, the walls of Anakin's bedroom are rough and sandy. You could do many things to replicate this look. One would be to sponge on a darker shade to get that mottled sandy texture. Another technique would be to use actual stucco or plaster unevenly applied with a trowel thingie. Another way would be to mix sand in with the paint you use to put on the first coats of paint for that gritty Tatooine feel. If that is still not enough definition for you, mix sand in with a darker shade and sponge or rag that shade on over the base coat. There is also available, textured sandy like wallpaper. That may be difficult to apply to curved walls if you decide to reconstruct the structure of your room. Whatever technique you decide, be sure to test it first.
STEP 4: THE FLOOR
The floor appears to be made of concrete, or whatever the actual walls are made out of, a sand like stone. As with the walls, you could do several things here as well. You could apply stone or stone like tiles, vinyl sheeting that is reminiscent of sand like stone, this way there are no square seams visible. Or you could paint your floor as you did the walls but this would only work if you had a concrete floor I think because you should not paint over pretty hardwood floors. I think the best thing to do is carpet. Thin sandy colored carpet is just the thing.
After you have that down, take note of the area rugs. The primary one is a dark red and orange swirled type pattern as seen in Figure 1 and 8. I do not know if this is sold anywhere, I have not seen it at IKEA on recent excursions. It is very possible to make this rug yourself using a canvas tarp and some paint. The paint colors you will need are black and what you see as numbers 9 and 13 in the color palette in Figure 2. You can draw the pattern on the canvas before you paint and just fill it in and then outline it all in thin black lines. I think that will look super.
STEP 5: LIGHTING
There are many different lighting fixtures in Anakin's bedroom. In Figures 1, 3, and 8, you see a rectangular fixture over the bed. This is basicalyl a fluorescent light that you can see just about anywhere you go. However, you cannot not just attach the light to the ceiling because you can clearly see there is a lipped edge all around it. You can build this with wood and secure it to the ceiling and then attach the light.
There is also a circular light as seen in Figures 1 and 3. Note that this also has a rounded lip around it. These flat circular lights can be purchased just about anywhere, IKEA has them for cheap as seen in Figure 9.
There is yet another light over Anakins workbench. It is a half circle. I canno ttell ifit a window or electriclight ut if you have a window in your room you could make a curtain with this half circle cut out of it and then hang it over the window for the same effect. Or you could use wood to cover it.
In Figures 3 and 6 you see a fixture that is a square metal box with white, red, and green lights that look very much like an eye. You can make this with some metal sheeting or even aluminum foil. For the glass part, you could even use stained glass which is available as specialty stores and is fairly easy to cut into whatever shape you want. Also clear plastic sheeting, or stained glass paint can be used. Be sure to use a low watt bulb so nothing melts or catches fire.
STEP 7: THE FURNITURE
The workbench can be made with wood or molded plastic. Also search around home type stores and catalogs for it. It can also be custom made. It is not that large so it should not be too expensive. I believe I see 7 separate sections. There is a grid like mat on top of each one. I do not beleive they are built in but are simply mats.
The bed is built much like the work becnh with curved features.
I don't have any pictures of them in the actual room but if you watch the movie, you can clearly see that Anakin has the Reno tubs from Ikea stacked against a wall. They are still available at IKEA although they have been changed slightly from their Phantom Menace version. These are what Anakin uses as storage in place of say a bureau or closet. Actually you can see a hint of them in Figure 1.
STEP 8: ACCESSORIES
Alot of the little gadgets you can make out of spare parts, or just randomly pick out things from bins at Home Depot and then put them together with wire or screws and then hang them or leave them on your workbench.
IKEA used to sell the pillow that Anakin has, see Figures 1 and 10. I actually bought a throw with this design, but they do not sell this pattern anymore. You may be able to find it on e-bay or maybe someday at a goodwill or something. You can make this pillow yourself using black material and ivory paint. Just sew the pilow together and then paint the little arrows on it with fabric paint and you have a very authentic pillow for your bedroom.
In Figure 9, there are little black ant like things hanging. You can make these by buying those plastic cooties and painting them black, putting them together, and then hanging them from a hook over your workbench.
That about does it but I will add more as it comes to me. Thanks for visiting, hope this was educational! :)
*Note: If you ever make this room or any other Star Wars room, feel free to send in a picture for me to post along wiht tips on how you did it! |
