Beyond Blue Sky: The Disneyland House

“Bring Home the Magic.” One of Disney's many marketing slogans. It's usually used in conjunction with their home video productions, but people also take the expression a little more literally and decorate their houses with their favorite Disney characters and motifs. And sometimes with their favorite Disney theme park motifs, which Disney finally cottoned onto a few years ago, so now you can get official Disneyland attraction housewares. If you had about a grand to spare and a more advanced case of Disneyland-mania than even I have, you could go to Le Bat en Rouge and outfit your entire dining room with Haunted Mansion plates, placemats, drinking glass coasters, and even candlesticks.*

But what if more were possible?

What if you had basically unlimited funds and no sense of restraint whatsoever?

What if you could make your entire house into a mini-Disneyland of sorts? If you could, in fact, Make the Magic Your Home?

My sister and I had more-or-less this conversation the other day, fantasizing all kinds of what-if, and we came up with a rough plan for a Disneyland House, if only such a thing could be achieved. And then...I couldn't stop thinking about it. More and more details suggested themselves to my mind. And since it would be out of character for me to keep my thoughts to myself, I'm happy to share them with you here.

Read on, dear...readers, yes...and dream with me.

The House Itself

In an unassuming suburban neighborhood in Southern California, there is a normal-seeming two-story dwelling on a quarter-acre lot. The exterior decoration is a little more rustic than most, with split-log fencing around the front yard and lots of earth tones on the house itself. Just behind the fencing are beds planted with Floribunda roses. Closer to the house, the yard is well shaded with pines and California live oaks, lined with redwood chips and a few patches of drought-resistant ground plants, and could stand to be raked. A flagstone path leads to a front porch made of varnished (not painted) wood. And then there's the water feature...

Front Yard: Critter Country

In one corner of the yard is the most unique recirculating fountain, about five feet tall and sculpted in the shape of a muddy hill with a dead tree at the very peak, underneath which the water spills out to course down a chute. The slopes of the “hill” contain numerous small planters growing a variety of mossy plants, while blackberry brambles coil around the bottom. (If the owners aren't careful, those will take over the yard!)

The fountain is the most interesting feature in the front yard, but there is plenty else to look at while you amble up the path. Tucked at the bases of the trees are concrete figures of woodland creatures—bears and raccoons and turtles—in a cute country style that's just a little off from completely lifelike. There's a garden shed made to look like a miniature log cabin, and a bench constructed from split logs. There are birdhouses in the trees.

Buzzing can be heard from around the side of the house, where a taller fence prevents people from going. There's an active beehive over there—the owners keep bees. Another “beehive” is mounted on the side of the house next to the front door, but a quick look reveals that it's just the mailbox.

The welcome mat looks something like this:

The doorbell plays this sound.

Foyer: Main Gate

The character of the house changes completely as you enter. The floor of the foyer is done in faux-brick tile, while the walls are painted a neutral cream. The walls are hardly visible, however, underneath all the attraction posters. Between the two side walls, there's room for six of them at standard poster size (not the full size of the ones at the park), but the owners keep several more in storage and swap them out about once a month, just to keep things interesting.

A silhouette of the Main Street Train Station is painted on the wall above the door lintel.

Kitchen and Dining Area: Main Street, USA

The kitchen is the most “businesslike” room in the average residence, and so it and the attached dining area are themed to the most businesslike part of Disneyland: Main Street. The appliances are fully modern, of course, but the décor has an old-fashioned country sensibility, with staple ingredients stored in canisters on wall-mounted wooden shelves and a brick section of wall upon which cast-iron skillets and copper biscuit tins are hung. Cupboards and drawers with wrought-iron handles hold Art Nouveau style dishes and silverware. There's a walk-in pantry, a small shelf of cookbooks, and a window box in which an assortment of culinary herbs are grown.

The dining room is a genteel place, with damask wallpaper and hardwood flooring. The dining table and chairs are of Edwardian design, matching a cabinet in which the fine china and crystal are kept. The owners are casual types and don't actually eat here unless they have guests, so it's easy to keep the furnishings pristine.

Living Room/Rec Room: Tomorrowland

This theme was chosen for this room on account of all the electronics, which would look pretty weird in almost any other Disneyland theme. The Tomorrowland vibe is backed up by the ultramodern furnishings, which include steel-and-glass shelving units and minimalist sofas from IKEA. The flooring is tile, dominated by various shades of blue and gray with the occasional splash of yellow or orange, the individual pieces shaped and arranged in a way that suggests nothing so much as planets and sweeping orbital lines, or perhaps circuitry. The overhead lighting also resembles planetary orbs, especially when the optional projectors are turned on to create a lively field of stars and nebulae across the ceiling. With all that going on, wall decoration might seem to be overkill, but the owners have found room to display their framed Disney stock certificates, simply because they are framed with miniature attraction posters for the Autopia and Adventure Thru Inner Space.

Besides the home theater, music, and computer options (the wi-fi is stronger here than anywhere else in the house) you would expect from any contemporary rec room, a sunken area on one side of the room is used as a mini-gym. Most noteworthy is the stationary bike, which has been accessorized so that it resembles a TRON lightcycle.

The owners do most of their entertaining in here. Folding tables, usually stored against the walls, can be set up at a moment's notice to accommodate board games and other group activities.

One of the house's two bathrooms is adjacent to this room.

Downstairs Bathroom: Submarine Voyage

Nautical theming for bathrooms is fairly common due to the water connection, and at first glance, this three-quarter bath looks like one of those—blue walls with stencils of fish and bubbles, soap dishes shaped like seashells, sand-colored linoleum, etc. However, the bright yellow shower curtain dotted with transparent “portholes” is pretty unusual, and the towels covered in a design of nautical alphabet flags is even quirkier.

The real clincher, however, is inside the shower stall, where the famous sea serpent from the finale of the old Submarine Voyage can be seen coiling across the wall tiles. The owners have to touch him up every so often.

Downstairs Bedroom/Craft Room/Children's Playroom: “it's a small world”

The lone downstairs bedroom is on the sunny side of the house and is used mainly as a sewing/craft room. The walls have been painstakingly painted with a geometric amalgam mimicking the style, if not the exact design, of the “it's a small world” façade. The colors are white and pale gray with accents and pinwheel shapes in metallic gold. This design stretches about two-thirds of the way up the walls, with the rest of the space filled in with sky blue. The carpet is also blue, with a shallow pile (to prevent small dropped items from becoming lost) and a pattern like stylized waves of water. Two broad white tables are placed against opposite walls so that the owners can work simultaneously without getting in each other's way.

The craft supplies are kept in a large cabinet designed to replicate the appearance of the Clock Tower as much as possible, even to the point of having different compartments accessed by different sets of doors. The door's inward-facing sides are painted with images of the tower's familiar jesters, toy soldiers, and parading dolls. Extra storage room can be found in a small closet (about which more in a moment) and an open shelving unit. Besides overflow crafting supplies, the shelving unit holds a few “it's a small world” souvenirs and toys.

The closet is used to store a pair of collapsible futons and bedding to fit them. The owners don't have any children of their own, but they do occasionally have young relatives sleep over, and they can't very well put them in the “official” guest bedroom, as you'll see. Since this room was intended by the architect to be a child's room, and since there is ample floor space even with the crafting cabinets and tables, they get put in here.

As a final note, the exterior wall of this room contains a door leading out to the play patio (below).

Play Patio: Mickey's Toontown

The play patio is a small outdoor area with a wooden deck and railings and a canvas canopy, so that little tykes can play outside without getting too dirty or scattering their toys all over the yard. This is probably the least themed area of the property, taking on a Toontown motif more-or-less by default due to the use of bright colors and a weather-resistant Mickey Mouse branded toybox.

Upstairs Bedroom #1: Fantasy Faire

One of the owners is a massive fan of the movie Tangled. The Fantasy Faire theming for her bedroom allows her to display her impressive collection of toys, figurines, and other merchandise in an appropriate setting.

The walls are painted white and cream with dark brown accents, mimicking the half-timber construction evoked by the facades in the Faire. Likewise, the windows have broad wooden frames, also painted dark brown. Heavy purple and cornflower blue drapes shade the room from direct sunlight. The floor is done in rough-textured tile that imitates the appearance of variegated brickwork, but softened with a series of round rugs in various bright colors. The furniture is made of dark wood embellished by plenty of ornamental fretwork. The bed is a canopied four-poster, with sheets and a bedspread patterned after medieval embroidered cloth: flowering vine motifs in harvest gold on a wine-red background. Fairy lights wrap around the posts and trail through the canopy.

Rapunzel is definitely the star of the show here, but this occupant of this room loves imaginative Princess art in general and much of the available wall space is taken up by framed prints-esses.**

Upstairs Bedroom #2: Fantasmic!

The other owner is more dispersed in her interests (okay, fine, it's me), but if she has a favorite Disney character, it's Sorcerer Mickey, making Fantasmic! the natural choice for theming her room. Being a show rather than a themed area or environment, Fantasmic! is not terribly easy to evoke with furnishings, so this room comes across a bit more...fandom-y...than most other parts of the house. There are lots of characters in evidence, and you have to be pretty in-the-know to understand the specific Disneyland connection.***

So then. Since the show is all about good vs. evil (and IMAGINATIIIOOOOONNNN!), this room uses a strong contrast between light and dark. The walls are standard white, while the carpet is dark green (like the Rivers of America, do you see), and most of the furniture is either white or black—minimalist IKEA stuff again, to provide flat surfaces for painting. Characters and other images from the show are painted on dresser drawers and the side supports of bookshelves in an airbrushed style that calls to mind misty projections on water screens. The headboard of the bed features the iconic image of Sorcerer Mickey facing off with dragon-form Maleficent.

The window frames are dark green, to match the carpet, and the curtains are made of this fabric:

Similar fabrics are used for the bedding.

Upstairs Bathroom: Pirates of the Caribbean

This is a full bath, much larger and more opulently appointed than the downstairs one. The overwhelming impression is of being in the ride's famous caverns—the floor is lined with sand-colored tiles, some with real sea shells embedded in them, and the walls are painted a mottled dark blue-green. The tub is the same color, larger and deeper than standard, and elevated above the floor in a faux-rockscape setting. The taps are brass, cast in the shape of skull-and-crossbones, and the shower curtain is striped like a sail. The owners have added plastic baskets filled with fake gold coins and jewels to the rocks for decoration. (The baskets are there to keep the treasure from slipping into the tub, and to make cleaning easier. Chests would have been ideal, but they couldn't find any plastic ones that they liked and they didn't want to have wood in a damp environment like a bathroom.)

The mirror over the sink has a wide frame covered in seashells and more fake jewels and pearls. The cabinets are made of laminate disguised as wood—again, to avoid having real wood in this room—with knobs shaped like sea urchin shells. The overhead lighting takes the form of a chandelier made from a ship's wheel, complete with fabric “flames” that wave when it is turned on. Piratey knick-knacks punctuate the countertop, and the towels and bathmats are plush and dark red.

Upstairs Bedroom #3 (Guest Bedroom): Haunted Mansion

This, then, is the reason the owners are prepared to partially convert their craft room back into a child's bedroom at need...you can't expect children to sleep with ghosts. Truth be told, this room isn't very spooky—at least, not with the special effects turned off. Instead of the gauche spooky-eyes wallpaper, it uses the foyer's tiger-lily design, and the furniture is tasteful and Victorian. Lighting is provided by wall-mounted lamps imitating antique oil lamps, and the bedding draws inspiration from the attraction's Cast Member costumes, with a green-and-black striped comforter, dark green dust ruffle, and white lace pillowcases. The flooring is hardwood, overlaid with Victorian area rugs.

Other aspects are a bit more obvious. The owners of the house have a few Haunted Mansion items in their collection of Disneyland swag, and these are on display atop the bureau, along with things like a toy crystal ball and a silver candelabra. But the real show occurs if you turn out the lights and aim a blacklight (there's one stored in the bureau) at the walls and ceiling—UV-reactive paint, invisible under normal light, shows the shapes of ghosts and otherworldly phenomena. Fun times!

Back Patio: Frontierland

Immediately outside the house's back door (leading off the rec room) is a patio covered with a wooden deck. The décor out here is Southwestern styled, including a barbecue pit made of concrete mixed to resemble orange sandstone. There are a lot of potted plants out here—mostly cacti and succulents in Mexican glazed pots. Mexican-style décor is easy to find in Southern California, so the owners went with that angle instead of trying for a more general Western frontier look.

Backyard: Adventureland

The rest of the backyard, on the other hand, is Adventureland—partly so that the owners can let it run a bit wild (they hate yardwork), and partly for the aesthetics and the shade. Near the center of the space is a genuine Enchanted Tiki...Gazebo, constructed mostly of bamboo and rattan, with a canvas roof bearing a print of giant tropical leaves, and raffia fringe attached around the edge for good measure. The gazebo contains deck chairs, artificial birds on hanging perches, and a central fountain that is also a mini-fridge. (They only turn it on for backyard parties.)

The rest of the backyard is a semi-untamed jungle. Tropical and semi-tropical plants grow very well in Southern California, and the yard contains a few Washington palms, philodendrons, a magnolia tree, and numerous hibiscus and bird-of-paradise plants, as well as plenty of filler foliage. It's barely-organized chaos. A crescent-shaped pond against the very back of the yard gives the impression that a loop of jungle river passes through the property. There's a frog living in it, and a concrete elephant statue sits on the “island” that it encloses.

Garage: Unthemed?

There's not much to be done with this space; it's just where they keep the car, the beach stuff, the camping gear. Is there even a Disneyland theme that could be made out of that? ;)

In Conclusion

It sure would be nice to be rich, wouldn't it?

* They need to stop.

** I liked this pun too much not to use it. Sorry-not-sorry for any inconvenience.

*** Pretty ironic for my room, isn't it?