Any fantasy lover will enjoy castles, but the problem with a castle is that it was designed in the era before electricity. That means realistically living in a castle would have been cold, drafty, and a lot of work! Here are ways to make your current home–whether it’s an apartment, house, dorm room, or bedroom–feel like a castle. Take as many of these ideas as you want and make it fit your budget. You’ll need to do some shopping–craft store, thrift store, garage sales, etc.

Step 1–Four-Poster Bed

What you need:

• Tulle (Lots of it!)
• Tacks
• Ribbon (one roll)

Steps:

Preparation

1. Decide on length: You have several options here. You can have floor-length curtains or curtains that stop at the mattress. Choose which, and then measure accordingly.
2. Make a mock up: Using a long string, hang it from the ceiling at the foot of the bed. Drape it how you want your curtains to drape–to the floor or edge of the mattress–then drape it toward the head of the bed allowing it to curve. Tack it at the head and cut the string where you want your curtain length. Adjust until you get what you want. Then take the string down. (see the image below. Red is where you want your string.)

1. Measure: Using a measuring tape, measure how long the string is. Double that and write it down. 
2. Convert: Most likely, your measurement is in inches. When you purchase tulle, it’ll be in yards. Divide your measurement by 36 to get yards. 
3. Purchase supplies: You’ll need tulle, ribbon, and tacks. The ribbon can be as thick as you wish, or even of two different widths. The ribbons that are used to “tie” the curtains can be thin, but you might want thicker for the corners at the ceiling.

Creating the effect

1. Hang the tulle: First you’ll want to cut your tulle in half–one for each side of your bed. Lay the two halves on the bed. Take one of them and find the middle (you might need help with this). Temporarily, tack it to the ceiling in the middle of the bed at one side. Go to the foot of the bed, and drape the tulle from the middle to the foot to your desired length. Tack that corner. Repeat at the head, and then take out the temporary tack at the center. Repeat with the other side of the bed.
2. Ribbons: You now have the basics of a four-poster bed fit for Siobhan. To complete it, you’ll want to add your ribbon. You can hide your tacks using bows at the corners at the ceiling, and then wrap ribbon around the tulle to make it look like you have tied back your curtains to the wood posters. 
3. Posts (optional): if you really want to get into it, you can purchase 2″x2″ posts or even doweling and attach it to the four corners. If you choose this option, you’ll want to finish the dowels. Then you can tie your tulle to the dowel with the ribbon.

Step 2–Dressing Table

Items needed:

• Desk
• Chair
• Mirror
• Brush/makeup and other accessories
• Scarf or material (optional)

Step-by-Step How to:

• You’ll need a desk–any kind will work, but an old wooden one is best. You can also use a short table if you wanted to. Place the desk against a wall in your dressing room, bathroom, or bedroom.
• Set the mirror against the wall on the desk. You may have to attach the mirror to the wall.
• (Optional) Your scarf or favorite cloth can go over the desk or table to decorate it.
• Lastly, get your brush and makeup out and organize it. You can leave the brush on top and if you’re using a desk, put the makeup in the drawers. If you want to get really fancy, find old-style perfume bottles and set them out.

Tapestries

What castle doesn’t have the walls covered in tapestries? These are harder to find, but thrift stores and estate sales will be your friend. Find ones that fit with your current style or go all out and order from online ones that fit with your family heritage.

Candles

Of course, there wasn’t electricity back when castles were in vogue. So, finding candles, oil lamps, and candle holders are a must. You can even find some electrical lights that look the part. There are flame lightbulbs even! If you’re picking out specific to castle theme, you’ll want to stick with pewter, gold, or silver. Place them in prominent places around your home, and then if you really want to make it feel authentic, use them instead of electricity!

Wardrobe

Castles didn’t have closets, they used wardrobes. You can still find these at thrift stores and garage sales. Find one that matches your room and use it for your clothes. If you have space, you can turn your current closet into a wardrobe by taking out your current closet door, nailing the outer sections of the wardrobe frame to the outer edges of your closet doorway, and then using the wardrobe door for your closet.

Fire and hearth

Castles were heated with wood fires. Most homes nowadays don’t have fireplaces, but you can purchase realistic-looking heaters that are fires. I have the Tubro heater for my little den and love it. It’s quiet and keeps my room warm. It’s not the most realistic fire, but I’m okay with that.

You can make a hearth to put your fireplace heater into. A simple cardboard painted to look like rocks would work, or you can purchase the rock siding and put it on a wooden frame.

Walls

Castles were made out of rocks, so the interior walls were rock as well. I know you can’t recreate your walls and make them rock, but you can make it look that way.

Your first option is to paint rocks onto your walls. This will require permission to paint the walls, as well as some artistic skill with acrylic paints.

If that’s not feasible, you could try what we did at Vacation Bible School the one year and sponge paint brown ‘rocks’ onto craft paper and make ‘wallpaper’. Depending on the size of the room, you’ll need multiple rolls of craft paper. You can also do this around your door to make it look like a wooden planked door or even an arched door.

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As you can see, there are many ways to make your home look like a castle. You can go all out or take it easy and do it with dollar items. Either way, I’d love to see what you do. Tag me on social media with your posts, and feel free to share this post with your friends.