Harry Potter Christmas Recap: Final House Tour & Video!

It's been nearly 3 weeks since our Potter Christmas party, so I figured I should finally show you guys the GOOD pictures. Plus last time I missed all kinds of fun details I want you to see!

This will be a recap, so please forgive any repeats. I want to get all the party stuff in one place, and I'll be linking to relevant tutorials along the way. So if you see something you want more details on, just click the link!

Let's start in the front room again:

With bonus Lily. If you've never seen our Potter tree before (in it's own cauldron base, aw yeah) you can see lots more detail shots here. I'm hoping to change it up next year, though; after 3 years, I'm ready for something new! (Though it'll still be Potter-themed, of course.)

The view from the front door:

I really like this big open space first thing. Makes our little house seem huge! (Or, well, bigger.)

That's my refinished Wizard Chess set on the ottoman. John built the tray from scratch, so it fits exactly.

 

To the left, on our bedroom door, hangs this festive warning:

 This was necessary thanks to my Scavenger Hunt, which included all the other rooms of the house.

Past the bedroom door, to the buffet:

 I added wands, chocolate frogs, owls, and that fun color-changing potion bottle to our regular yearly decorations.

And back over by the red couches:

... a tiny Monster Book of Monsters and a witchy rat (clearly a friendly animagus) under glass:

If you head down that short hallway you'll find our House Elf sock wreath on the closet door:

And in the Room of Requirement, my soapy Myrtle Tree, which you've seen before:

Plus this setup on the cabinet across from it, which you haven't:

Next year I hope to have something a little more magical in the birdcage. What do you think, baby phoenix? [rubs hands gleefully]

Back out in the dining room, we used our apothecary niche for the smoking Pensieve Punch:

The giant owl was an $8 find at an antique fair ages ago, and I'm still planning to refinish it someday.

Here's something I forgot to mention last time: look closely at our dining room light:

It's hard to focus past the lights, but... see it?

It's a frozen Cornish Pixie! Hee!

This is just the plastic toy from the parks suspended with clear line, though I did age him to look more realistic. I meant to replace the wings with something better, too, but ran out of time. Next year!

Another overview shot, since I forgot to take one of just the dining room:

 

And here's a smaller version of the party table spread, which we recreated two weeks ago:

 Those are the Treacle Tarts on the left, next to the meat & savory pumpkin pasties in the middle, and Cauldron Cakes on the right (served in a plastic Halloween cauldron, aw yeah). I've already posted the recipe for the tarts, and I hope to have the pasties and cake ones up later. Still catching up!

On the antique radio behind the table I added a pair of Omnioculars, also from Universal:

John built the custom stand, and we kept the color-changing lens switched on by tying down the trigger with a hair band. 

 Now we're back around to our Diagon Alley archway, which - oh yes - is still up:

We'll take it down after the New Year. Maybe.

 This is where the floating candle magic happens, which was oh-so-hard to capture with our phones.

Check it out:

That's about 80 candles. With just these lit, they almost give the illusion of being underwater. Neat, right?

Here's the room with all the accent lights on:

And a closer look at the sofa table:

Steampunk and wizardly accoutrements have a delightful amount of overlap - so hopefully my steampunk decor looks enough like a wizard's office to pull it off.

To the side we set up a small table and chairs:

With the Triwizard Cup from ThinkGeek stacked on some Hogwarts textbooks.

I don't show this side of the room much, since usually my treadmill desk is back here:

The top of the bookshelf has all kinds of display goodies, including my Mandrake Baby Bouquet and collection of steampunk Mickey Ear ornaments.

Here's my HoneyDukes table again:

 

 Since we gave most of the Chocolate Frog ornaments away at the party, I've replaced the stack on the pedestal with this gorgeous plush owl a reader sent me all the way from Germany.

 And since I took this picture I've put a little Santa hat on the owl. Which is ADORABLE.

Going further into the room:

The garland below the TV has a crystal ball in it we found at HomeGoods:

 It catches all the lights and looks amazing.

I also used the ball in the Scavenger Hunt. The clue was, "It won't tell your future, but you should look into it." Those who knew to actually look into the ball found the answer, written underneath and magnified by the glass.

On the shelf above it:

 

Not too different from usual: I just swap out Songbird for a reindeer Prongs, then add garland. DONE.

The wreaths on the windows to either side are the same steampunk designs from last year, except I added a floating snitch in the middles:

 

 And down below those, in our light-up circle shelves:

Mostly my same displays, with a few added sprigs and sparkles:

 I like how the clock face is reflecting the tree lights here. And those are my custom "leather" Potter slipcovers, which someday - SOMEDAY - I'm going to show you guys how to make.

The back tree. You can kind of see how we made the candles around it "float" down, like they're landing on/in the branches.

Another vignette beneath our big airship. That's a cast iron owl under the dome.

Looking back toward the archway:

Those are the "stained glass" double doors that lead onto our deck - another area that was impossible to photograph the night of the party. Here's a later shot taken with the tripod:

SO MAGICAL.

Those are twinkle lights all over the ground, and flaming torches ringing the deck. John built the long wooden benches just for the party, and we had a table set up with Smores ingredients behind the camera, by the house. I can't begin to tell you how much I love this space at night. I want it to get cold enough to roast marshmallows again, and then I want all of you to come hang out with me back here. Ahhh.

Next year I'd like to ramp up the Forbidden Forest vibe a bit more, and I dream of adding lights or lanterns to our big tree.

If you missed it, you can check out my first party recap post to see all the great costumes our friends wore. They're the ones who really made the party amazing.

OK, one last look into the candle room, first with just the tree on:

...and now with the Edisons and shelves also lit:

Soon we'll begin the painful process of dismantling and packing it all up again 'til next year. But don't you worry, I'm already plotting more magical touches for next time. :)

And finally, after much debate, I think I *will* include one of the walk-through videos John took the night I did most of these photos. It's not perfect, but making it so would have driven us nuts! Anyway, hope you guys still get a kick out of it: