Growing up as the only child, Laura Medicus often spent most of her childhood believing in magic. She loves the ideas of the hidden worlds like Narnia and Hogwarts but she finds it difficult to relish in her childhood fantasy as she became an adult and a mother-of-one. So, when her 11-year-old daughter also believes in the world of magic, mystery, and fantasy, she thought of turning her daughter’s imagination into reality and the results were beyond magical!
Laura Medicus believes that it is essential for children to relish their childhood through creative play and thoughts. To her, “looking at the world differently” is important to stimulate creativity in children. “I think that children are able to instantly access that part of their mind where they can flip reality upside down and really walk into a thought and a world that is not accessible to most adults who are, by necessity, living in the ‘real world.’”
As an interior designer, Laura decided to use her expertise in creating a secret world for her only daughter. “I told Sylvia my idea about the secret closet room and she got so excited about it that I knew there was no turning back. Then I had to explain it to my husband (quite a few times) so he could help build it!” “Sylvia is a person who loves Harry Potter, Merlin and Sherlock Holmes (among others), and magic, mystery, and fantasy really speak to her.
Having a private area just for her makes her very happy.” Laura was inspired by Narnia, a fantasy film in which four English siblings find themselves in a magical kingdom after traveling through a wardrobe, for her mini project. Laura used the master bedroom’s closet for the secret room and a vintage armoire as its secret entrance. “We took an existing closet from our bedroom, walled it off, and opened it up in Sylvia’s room (she had no closet before).”
“I put an armoire in front of the door opening just for fun.” I removed a section of the armoire’s back, and she can now enter through the furniture to access her fun secret hide-out/closet!” The armoire was later anchored to the wall to ensure that Sylvia could climb into it and reach her secret room. Furthermore, Sylvia, who lacked a closet in her bedroom, could use the space to store her clothes and accessories.
Her friends admired her brilliant transformation as well. “They say they want one, and it’s just like ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!'” she adds. Laura explained, “I think she’ll enjoy it like this for a few years, and then we’ll move the armoire and set it up as a ‘normal’ closet.” For the time being, it’s pretty fantastic and very affordable. Nothing in this place was a splurge.”
“My philosophy was to make it work for now, but not at the expense of having to undo a lot of it when she outgrew it.” “The goal of this project was to find small moments of delight in everyday life.” Nothing has to be normal or expected.”