When many countries imposed lockdown restrictions around the world due to the pandemic, a lot of people began to hone their artistic side. During this period of time, one grandmother used her creativity and transformed a tiny room used to store shoes into a magical Disney-themed abode for her granddaughter.
Detailing the process of the endeavor that eventually turned into a labor of love, the 51-year-old said that her 4-year-old granddaughter, Ellie-Mae, loved Disney princesses. Thus, the mother of two brought all the arts and supplies needed to transform the little girl’s bed for 200 pounds (US$262) and spent an additional 250 pounds (US$327) for flooring, paint, and beautiful wallpaper that would transport Ellie into a mystical world.
As Dawn started to work on the magical oasis, she solicited the help of her stepfather, Trevor, and her son Rhys to cut out the shape of a handmade Cinderella pumpkin carriage that she created to transform the bed of the young child. The mother of two then spent up to 10 hours a day painting the cutouts made from medium-density fiberboards (MDF) and created “fake windows” so that the little girl could get a glimpse of the fairytale kingdom.
Alluding to the handmade carriage, Dawn said, “I wanted to make it look like she was getting into the pumpkin carriage when she goes to bed.”
Apart from the carriage, Dawn decorated the room with photo frames of different Disney princesses, as Ellie loves all of them. “I had a load of old photo frames that I repainted and then sprayed the silhouette of various Disney princesses onto them before making up their dresses with buttons,” Dawn said.
Additionally, the loving grandmother even placed trinkets of Ellie’s favorite characters from the Disney movies.
Dawn, who read a bedtime Disney story every week to her only granddaughter, shared that Ellie would always ask her about Cinderella and kept nagging for months to buy her a pair of Cinderella’s famous shoes, which she eventually did buy her. However, the ingenious woman decided to add elements of Cinderella to the room too.
Thus when it came to the bed canopy, Dawn went a step further and used her creativity at its best by utilizing an old tutu to make it look like the dress the fairy godmother transforms Cinderella into before she goes to the ball. To accentuate the look of the room further, Dawn placed a Cinderella floor mat too.
In early June this year, after spending nine weeks apart from Ellie and Rhys due to social distancing measures put in place, the elated grandmother was able to reveal the personalized room to her granddaughter.
Unsurprisingly, Ellie loved each and every creation that her grandmother crafted, and her reaction made all the hard work that Dawn put in worth it.
“She was absolutely over the moon with it, everywhere she went and everything she picked up she just said ‘wow,’” Dawn said. “It was emotional and so lovely seeing her after all this time.”
However, this is not the first time Dawn has created something unique; the visionary grandmother has in the past transformed her bathroom into a tropical oasis with plants and fake waterfalls.
With the recent DIY initiative, Dawn, who is very close to her granddaughter, looks forward to having more sleepovers with Ellie in her newly transformed room.
