How to Make a Harry Potter Themed Chest

My good friend asked me to help her create some extra seating in her apartment. She also wanted some type of container to hold all her costumes that we have created over the years. Our solution was to create a chest that was strong enough to sit on. Midway through the project, I suggested that it be given some type of nerdy emblem that could be discretely hidden. We decided on Harry Potter! Here are the instructions on how we built it. Shall we get started?

Materials

- 3/4 inch Plywood

- hinges

- screws

- Drill

- Sand paper

- Handles

- paint

- Chain

- Dremel

- Metal Corner braces

-Bumpers/ Cabinet stoppers

-Cushion/ Fabric (optional)

1. Maybe your chest will be a different size than ours, but included is the rough sketch of what we were accomplishing. (pic 1)

2. Essentially we made a box with a removable lid. So you have a lid, two complementary sides, another pair of two complementary sides, and a bottom. We designed the chest so that the bottom would sit inside the box itself. Therefore, it need to be 3/4 smaller on each side to compensate for the thickness of the wood. (pic 2)

1. We went down to the local home depot and asked someone to cut the wood to our specific dimensions (pic 1)

2. We then started by attaching the sides together (pic 2).

3. Then, we added the bottom of the chest on (pic 3)

4. Next, close off all the sides (pic 4). During this time, we added all of of the corner brackets on.

5. Next, we added the hinges onto the door. First, we attached the door hinge onto the top of the bench and then installed it to the inside. (pic 5)

6. BUT, we then realized that something had happened with the wood and that it was slightly bowing in the middle. (pic 6).

7. We didn't want that little lip to be there so we decided to add a bar down the middle of the chest. (Pic 6) We figured this would also give the chest more stability when it was sat on.

8. From there, we added a chain on either side of the door so that the lid would now swing all the way open. (pic 7).

9. Next, we marked where the handle would go on either side of the chest and drilled some hole in it.

10. That should be it for the main assembly of the chest (pic 8)

1. We weren't super concerned about it (nor did we have the equipment), but you could take sander to this and sand off any loose slivers of wood. We just took some regular sandpaper and gave it a few sanding prior to beginning the painting.

2. My friend wanted the chest to match the color scheme of her apartment so she went with a white and teal combo.

3. Once completely painted, we added on the handles.

1. We decided on going with the crest for the houses of Hogwarts from Harry Potter. Find your reference picture and print it out to the full size you need it to be. (pic 1)

2. Cut out the picture and use it as a stencil. I drew the shape on the underneath of the lid using the paper stencil. (pic 2)

3. Here is where i totally made a mistake. I WISH i had thought to paint on the door prior to attaching it. I had actually sit inside the box and paint the thing. I didn't want to disassemble the lid, as it took the both of us to install it properly in terms of lining up the hinges. This was definitely a pain in the lower back, and especially the butt. Well, my mistake is your lesson. (pic 3)

4. I personally started out by creating a background with an airbrush and a blob stencil. However, im sure you can just improvise something for the background, if you even want one.

5. Next, Using the paper as a stencil, I chopped it into sections and drew it more lines. Just take your time. I started out by painting the design in gold an then adding the black on top. (pic 4 +5)

6. For the animals - Here is any example of how i drew in my stencils. With the snake portion, i took the paper picture and cut out most of the white space. then positioned it to where it was supposed to be and penciled in the outline. Then i cut the remainder of the stencil out and ta-da, you have your snake (pics 6-9)

7. One that is done, i did the same thing method in step 6 for all the lettering. I also put in those rubber cabinet stoppers so the lid was not sitting directly on the wood. I thought this may give it just a bit more help with keeping the paint intact.

1. So now that the paint is done, i sprayed the emblem with a clear matte finish just to give it an extra layer of protection.

2. If you felt so inclined, you could put some pillows or a nice fabric on top of the chest. (pic 4)

Now you can sit in style while holding all your precious items inside the belly of this chest.

Thanks for checking out this tutorial and feel free to find more of my geeky projects through my Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr!