The Castle Project Chapter 8: Elinor's, Merida's and the Lads' Rooms

Brave is my very favorite Disney movie.  I LOVE it.  I cry every single time I watch it and I love it more with every viewing.  The redhaired heroine and the wonderful Scottish scenery certainly has something to do with my affection, but the story is really at the heart of it.  That said, it was the ancient Scottish and Celtic aspects of the film that were the inspiration for the furnishings in the rooms I made for Merida, her mother, Elinor, and her brothers, Harris, Hubert and Hamish.  I found lots of great images from Disney and fan sites.  And a fun search in Google images, using various combinations of words and "Celtic" yielded a bounty of good things for the rooms.

For Elinor's room, The trappings of a queen were necessary.  So was the tapestry that played such a key part in the wonderful story, as well as the tapestry she and Merida began after their adventure was over.  And the love shared by Elinor and Fergus is also part of what made the movie so appealing, so I had to have a "portrait" of them.  I wish we had a King Fergus doll, but he hasn't been in any of the sets we've seen.

 Elinor's room is on the bottom floor of this wing of the castle, and a lot of weight is on it.  The ceiling was starting to sag. so a "carved" support column was added.

Elinor is extra tall so her bed is extra long.  

Even though their story takes place in the middle ages, Elinor was elegant, so a rich ceiling and beautiful things, like a harp, seemed very appropriate for her.   Her bed's headboard and footboard were taken from images of a medieval
bed.







Merida has the room next door to Elinor.  It's much larger.  I'm sure I had a good reason for that, but I don't know what it was.  It's less richly appointed than Elinor's room but only slightly so.  The tapestry came from a fan site, I believe, but it tells the story beautifully.  Merida's bed and chest came from a play set that actually had a tiny two room tower--hardly a proper castle. The "carved" beams are actually Chinese animal stamps so don't examine them too closely.

When I put all the boxes for this wing together, I really didn't think about how they might be used, as much as I should have.  As a result, I had a tall narrow room that wasn't going to make a lot of sense for anyone.  Also, my original plan of using Boston Baked Beans candy boxes for everyone's beds was thwarted by so many of the dolls being taller than my original model.  I was getting a bit frustrated with myself.  Then it struck me--the wee lads, Merida's three brothers, would be perfect for the awkward room.  I added some painted wooden skewers and triple-decker bunk beds were born!
The lads didn't really need much in the way of finery--in the end, all the castle would be be their playground.  They would just need a place lay their flaming noggins to rest.  Still, I had to give a nod to the story from whence they came.  So I searched for Celtic and Scottish bear art.  The piece at the top only had two bears originally, so I used SnagIt to alter the image to my liking.  I don't think the bears in that piece are really Celtic in style, they look more Grateful Dead in nature, but the rest fits, especially once the third bear was added, so I went with it.  The lads' room was complete.