Well, here we go. Those of you on Twitter will probably have heard mention of the project to decorate my son’s room including his request – the TARDIS Wardrobe. So here is the long awaited blog post about it with all the pictures and some details on how it was done. There are some bits I’d like to change, nothing new there, but on the whole I think it looks great.

So we started with a standard wardrobe repleat with Marvel superhero stickers which had to be peeled off.

The stickers prooved to be one of those nightmare things you don’t think about when you start a project. Sure, they’ll just peel off easily won’t they. They’re for kids, afterall.

No. They are minions of the devil which cling to surfaces like limpets. Some more so than others. After some serious peeling I was left with a couple of group pictures, parts of Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, Dr. Doom and the completely intact Elektra.

Eventually with a severe amount of scraping, peeling, soaking in water, and cursing only Elektra remained.

And oh my God did she remain. Eventually I removed her. She deserves a reward for being the most insistent and lasting of Marvel Superheroes (in stickers anyway. Because this is the scar her removal left behind.

Moving on…

I also did the main door to the room. Which also involved removing stickers. These were Doctor Who stickers, had seen what had happened to the Marvel stickers and behaved themselves.

Once the doors were all clear, I cleaned them down. I’d had a bit of a hunt to find a suitible blue which would work on wood but eventually B&Q provided and I bought an “everwhere” paint called Sarong. Or TARDIS as we have now renamed it. I also bought some craft paint in black and white to mix with the blue in order to get the shadows needed for the panels.

The brushes were just normal wall brushes except for one fine one to use for the details.

I also needed a pencil, masking tape, a tape measure and a piece of wood which became invaluable.

I divided the doors into panels, measuring first 2 inches from the top, then a panel of 14 inches, then 4 inches, the pattern which was repeated to the bottom to give a square for the windows and three panels. Measuring in from the edges 3.5 inches made each of these panels 14 inches squared.

The top panel was divided into six smaller panels (for the windows) which were masked off to leave white.

I did the same thing with the main door, but just made one panel which meant the edges deeper.

I painted the first coat, including the top panel on the wall above the wardrobe to make the roof and left it to dry overnight.

A second coat was needed the next day.

Once the paint had begun to dry I removed the masking tape as the paint was starting to pull off with it, damaging the line of the windows.

After this I left it to dry overnight again.

Next morning I painted another coat on the black and left it to dry while I worked on the rest of the details.

I mixed a portion of the black and white with the blue in small yogurt pots until I had the shades I needed for the shadow details which would give the 3D effect to the panels.  I meaured the dimensions for the panels again and then drew the squares on the blue lightly.

This was where the block of wood came in. The top left hand corners were painted in the darker colour, using the block of wood for the line, and lower corners were painted in the lighter colour. I did the same thing on the windows. I also painted the roof and lamp onto the wall.

The lettering was a bit of a challenge. I’d have preferred it if I had some stencils, but I didn’t so I had to make do as best I could.

At this stage it was almost finished but needed one last touch – the sign on the door.

Once the paint had dried, I made a copy of the sign in Word and printed it off, trimmed the edges and stuck it on the door.

The long term plan is to get a copy laminated and attach it to the door.

So here are the final pictures – the finished TARDIS wardrobe (or Tardrobe as it is rapidly becoming known as) and that’s how I did it.

Ta-dah! One very very happy 9 year old boy.