This year, for the holidays, we decided to build a Christmas village. I intended to add only a lighted lamp post, but as usual there was more to the story.

As we searched a couple of hobby stores, I also saw some dollhouse furniture. Then it hit me… I needed to build a wardrobe, with a scene in it from “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis.

As you can see, the scene shows a child holding onto a lamp post, with a castle in the distance and a snowy backdrop. The child, Lucy, has actually found that the wardrobe not only holds coats, but is also a portal to another world… ‘Narnia.’

So I did buy the lamp post, but also wound up buying a doll house wardrobe too, which was much larger than I wanted, thus the project began.

The wardrobe had four doors and was too tall. I decided to cut it in half, remove the shelves, and once cut, reinstall two of the doors, and glue on the top piece. Once the glue cured, I cut an opening in the back of the wardrobe. The wardrobe now measured 4″W x 4″H x 2″L. Surprisingly, for balsa wood, it turned out pretty well.

I needed a stage to go behind the wardrobe. I fashioned about a 3″ long stage from a piece of scrap wood, and curved the back end, where the scene would be attached. I added a clothes hanger pole, and temporarily attached a black and white image of the scene to get an idea of what the front view would look like.

At this point, I knew that only ‘back lighting’ was needed to illuminate the scene image. I no longer needed interior stage lighting, which I was happy about.

I added sides to the stage, and cut out an opening in the back to attach the scene. Once that was completed, I painted the inside with spray on Christmas tree snow.

While building this project, I began to think how interesting it would be to design and build special effects for theater or film companies. Ah, “Perchance to Dream,” which of course I did. I envisioned myself as a ‘Props Master’ working for Lucas Films. Wow, now that’s a dream – I mean, why dream small!

Of course, I needed some clothes to hang in the wardrobe. I found a picture of doll clothes on the web, and cut to size. I formed coat hangers, hooks really, and hung up the clothes. I also attached the final ‘color’ scene image, and added footprints in the snow.

I decided that adding the wardrobe to the village, the wardrobe itself needed a name. Every village needs a theater, thus the ‘Wardrobe Theater.’ I found a picture on the web of a marquee, and made the topper for the wardrobe.

I was very happy with the end result. I had a lot of fun designing and building this project. It turned out to be a wonderful addition to our Christmas village!

This is…”Where The Wardrobe Lives.”

Happy Holidays to All!