Husband and I brainstormed how we wanted the space to work, and what we wanted to include. We had already created components for Knockturn Alley in previous years, so we worked out how to utilize these pieces in their new home. As the space is used for a game, we looked for a balance of storefront windows to observe as well as a shop to explore and rummage through. The Halloween game is part of the fun!

Flourish & Blotts Storefront

Once we created an idea of components, I began building a few quick Sketchup models of components to get approximate sizes and materials lists determined. The first piece I worked out was the Flourish & Blotts window display. This wall is a divider between the storefront and shop interior, so both the front and back were to be considered. Since we are NOT building structural walls in this space for a Halloween party, the wall partitions are simply 4′ x 8′ x 2″ insulation foam panels. We designed 2×6 wood feet supports to hold them upright for a quick and easy separation of space. A cap overlays the top of the panels to help keep them aligned together and display signage.

I did not want a flat wall of shop fronts. Part of the fun of Diagon Alley is the three dimensional and dynamic shops. The Flourish and Blotts storefront would be the most challenging, as it is in the middle of the room, without wall support, and would need to be mobile and easy to disassemble. While the insulation panels provide the flat wall panels, a three dimensional element needed to be included.

Last year, I scored a cheap base cabinet. I bought it with the idea of using it as the basis of a mobile window display. The idea was to mount it onto casters and use it as a base to build upon – utilizing both the front AND back of it as a shop front window AND an interior shop display.

The shop interior is a ‘catchall’ magical shop, where we will display all magical props – books, robes, potions, etc. One feature I wanted to include on the shop interior was an Ollivander’s wand display. Ollivander’s, with its cattywampus shelves and dusty wand boxes, is the epitome of wizard shopping. The back of this cabinet was designed to be this display.

The window display begins to take shape! The shop window juts out into the space, drawing focus to the display within. Since this is a bookshop, bookshelves are added….

Once the main components were assembled, painting began. The exterior of the shop has deep hunter green accents. The area below the window is currently primed, but will be painted at a later time when the adjacent foam wall panels are painted. The original walls are soiled and aged, so I will give the wall panels a base coat of neutral and then apply layers of darker paint to dirty it up. Since this will appear to be a continual wall, all of these components will be painted together to give it a more continuous look.

The interior shop “Ollivanders” wand display is painted a dark charcoal.

Adding Details: Ollivanders Interior Shop Side

Once the paint was dry, it was time to start adding details.

Using scraps of wood from building the shed, we cut 2×4 ends in random sizes. These were spray painted red, blue, and yellow and then mounted in a cattywampus manner to backer boards cut to fit in the side openings of the wand display.

Wand labels found HERE were adhered to the painted wood pieces. After all adhesive was dried, a light layer of dark spray paint was misted over the ends to give them a dusty, aged look. The completed boards were then screwed into the side and top openings of the wand display. Even though these elements are only a 2″-3″ deep, they are perceived to be full depth wand boxes in shelves…. like magic!

I took my foam Ollivander’s Wand sign that was made for an earlier party, cut down the size, and added a frame using leftover molding and gold spray paint. This was mounted in the center as the display signage. A wand display will be added to showcase a few wands, it is on the ‘to do’ list!

Adding Details: Flourish & Blotts Exterior Shop Side

Onto the exterior widow display side! The front interior window is hinged to allow us to access the display and change as needed.

Once again, I played with the perception of depth to make the window appear deeper than it is in reality. Using scraps of insulation foam that were too small for additional signage or props, I printed off magical book covers and wrapped the foam in a cover. The covers are cut short, as the depth of the ‘books’ are really only 2″-3″ deep. The books were stacked on top of the shelves as well, to give the ‘bursting at the seams’ feel of the wizard shops. Since these are just paper-wrapped-foam scraps, this also keeps down the weight of this mobile unit.

The window display really needs to include feature elements to make it pop. There are two windows flanking the doorway on the original shop. One window features the Gilderoy Lockhart ‘Magical Me’ book advertisement, the other features a cage of ‘Monster Book of Monsters.’

As we are constrained by space, we have a single window display. We decided to make both of these features in our window. We already have a ‘Monster Book’ that I made as a prop for a previous party, so we set out to construct the cage next.

Once again, using scraps of wood (from constructing the windows), we assembled the cage. The cage bottom utilized a scrap of MDF board that was left over from another project. The original cage was made of metal with studded caps on the intersections of the straps, so I grabbed some plastic craft jewels I had in my stash and glued these onto the wood pieces to give it detailing. The whole cage and base was then spray painted metallic black.

Another great detail of the ‘Monster Book of Monsters’ display was the pile of shredded pages that was underneath it. These books are clearly caged for a reason, they are eating other books! Little Tomato joined in on the fun and helped me shred a book for the cage carnage. We used an old, stained, outdated German/English dictionary for this purpose and hand-shredded the pages to create uneven and un-uniform scrunched up strips. This was spread over the bottom of the display, where the messy eater was caged.

The final project for this window display is the Gilderoy Lockhart book advertisement. This is a framed poster of Gilderoy. As wizard photography is not static, but moves…. we have plans for this. It is a project in our list that will be added to this post once completed!

{To be continued…}