Creating themed rooms & scenes

General houses or scenes, with no particular theme, just an era, are great to do, but sometime it is great fun to go all out with a theme. Whether it is for an entire house, or just one room, these ideas will help take the theme to the extreme. (hey, that rhymed!).

When you choose your theme, try and choose a set colour scheme you will work in. Say you have chosen a theme of Halloween, even if you have only got a few things in the room that have halloween imagery on them, such as Jack-O-Lantern plates, or skeleton wall hangings, having a lot of black and orange within the room will create the mood, and set off what distinctly themed pieces you have.

Once you have your colours you can then make things to add to the room. You'll be surprised what a few coloured cushions can do, or using coloured candles, or even just getting coloured plates.

Search out as many little bits and pieces as you can with your theme as well. Accessories will be what pulls your room together. Find plates that have suitable images, teatowels etc. The little extras that have a relevant picture will add an extra touch to the overall effect.

When choosing furniture, you don't nescessarily have to go out and buy custom pieces. A few such pieces will look lovely, but it isn't nescessary. You can get similar effects by mostly using mass produced items.

If you don't already, learn to customise. Start with something simple like a kitchen chair and paint it. The go on to add paint effects, recover fabric pieces, etc. A simple bed with fabric on the head board can look amazing in your room once the stock fabric areas have been recovered with a themed fabric that matches your room.

The cot shown here was a bog standard mass produced piece, which came with the typical pale blue, pink and yellow checky baby print. The matress was recovered, and new bedclothes added. That alone lifted the piece. I then took off the original cheap cotton & lace canopy cover, and made my own with a stars & stripes fabric, pulling the cot in seamlessly with the rest of the room.

You can also add extra bits of beading and trims to turn the ordinary into the extrodinary. You can paint over the original painted decorations, and add your own, using colours and images that suit your theme.

The same can be done for mass-made accessories. A hamper for a picnic scene or themed kitchen can be lifted by adding a lining made in suitably coloured check or small print cotton. Plates and flasks can be added in your colours. Simple additions can turn something ordinary into something much more special.

Search out things you can make yourself. Look out for suitable needlepoint rugs. If your theme is animal skins, or African, you can add a tiger or zebra skin rug. My Stars and Stripes house benfited from the addition of an Eagle rug.

Take projects you have found, and alter them. If the colours of a needlepoint rug aren't right, carefully choose colours that are. If you have instructions for perfume bottles, but want to make an apothecary, or a witch's kitchen, then choose different beads to create the desired effect.

The accessories you put in a room will really make it something, so make and adapt as much as possible. Even search out pieces that aren't meant to be miniatures. Tiny drums from christmas decorations in your nursery theme colours for example, will be a great addition to the toybox.

Hit the printies sites! For a christmas room, find as many cards, bauble boxes, bags, wrapping papers and other bits as you can. If you make too many of anything, have them hidden away in cupbords of the room, with a door open to show just a peep.

Basically, go as overboard as you possibly can. The more detail as far as putting in items that suit your theme, the more effective it will look!

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