Thanks to the magic of 3d printing and the brilliant work of imaginative designers and geeks, recreating a scene from your favourite movies has never been easier. The wealth of film posters, props, items and movie ephemera available on auction sites allows you to recreate anything from the Temple of Doom to Top Gun and The Matrix to Lord of the Rings. Here are five ideas for adding a little Hollywood to your home.
The Great Gatsby
No film encompasses the Roaring Twenties in such style as Baz Luhrman’s epic, with lavish fittings and finishing and apparel to match. Sending your home back in time nearly a century won’t be for everyone, even the most ardent Leonardo fan, so perhaps investing in one or two specific Deco pieces such as a chair, bookcase or cabinet is an elegant place to start.
Horror movies
For the darker souls: a skin-coloured one-piece chair dripping with entrails, a bed resembling a torture rack, and/or knives that appear embedded in the wall doubling as coat hooks will each naturally command attention in the room. The key is to style their surroundings so that they appear horrific but not out of place; a blood-splattered wall or dark, cavern-like lighting may do the trick. If you don’t want to show visitors this dark window into your mind consider housing these grisly items in your bedroom, or even better a garage or cellar.
Marvel
No, we’re not advocating converting your home into Tony Stark’s high-rise flat/scientific laboratory or Peter Parker’s student bedroom, but there are ways to show your love for all things comic hero. We’ve seen masks and fists attached to walls with surrounding ‘cracks’, making it seem as if they’re bursting through, walls painted as giant murals of cities being levelled, giant posters of comic strip panels, and then this guy in Singapore.
Star Wars
With the well-received return of one of the most famous film franchises of all time, it’s no surprise that geeks are filling their rooms with merchandise to bring Endor, Tatooine, Hoth and other far far away galaxies home. An R2D2 desktop vacuum cleaner, a 3d Death Star deco light, a Darth Vader fridge, a Millennium Falcon toilet seat and a stormtrooper wooden chair could all be yours, but a particular favourite is the awesome coffee table showing Han Solo trapped in carbonite beneath its glass panel.
Film ‘ideas’
A more general way of giving your home a mysterious, almost unrealistic edge, is to include aspects that you’d probably find within a movie. Ideas include a secret passage (really just a large poster that perfectly fits over a door), a spiral staircase, an aquarium bed or many of the other items listed here that you really only ever see in the movies. Failing all those, strip out a room to include a bank or two of seats (which can be cleverly achieved using pallets), get blinds for the windows, and install a giant screen to create your own movie theatre. Popcorn dispensers, personalised cushions – like those from PhotoBox – retro tripod lights, and ornaments shaped like cinema reels complete the look.
