The World Of Harry Potter Comes To Life For Halloween In A Home In Lincoln Park Inspired By The Books

 Hogwarts has landed in Chicago thanks to a home dressed up for Halloween in Lincoln Park.

The home that is situated on Dickens Avenue between Bissell and Fremont streets underwent a complete transformation with Harry Potter-inspired decorations. Some of the decorations include owls hanging from trees, a wall featuring an image of the great hall at Hogwarts' with a variety of candles hanging over the sidewalk, and an animatronic-dragon that watches you as you walk by. There is even a "free Dobby" sign that comes with socks.

The Harry Potter decorations spill out of the home onto the gate, adjacent sidewalk, and trees.

Kate Sample, a writer is responsible for the Harry Potter home, which she installed on the 1 October with assistance from Cavalier and Company, a local design and event studio.

Kate, who has resided in Lincoln Park for the last 2 years, usually decorated her home for Halloween in a traditional manner. She states that she was interested in doing something completely different to bring a bit of cheer to the neighborhood due to the heaviness and stress of the pandemic.

Sample says that she is not judging anyone, but she personally felt strange decorating her home with gravestones and similar attire when real deaths are currently going on.

Sample goes onto to say that her project started in June when she realized that the holidays were going to be very different this year and that normal life is not going to return in the near future.

After her trip to Edinburgh last year, she felt inspired in the same way that J.K. Rowling the author of Harry Potter felt when she started writing the series. Sample, a fan of Potter herself, started scouring the Intenet for artists that make these themed items.

After close to 6 months of purchases from across the globe and preparation, Sample's home has managed to bring about levity and joy to adults and children during these times of uncertainty. The home has also brought about nostalgia for people that followed the series. She states that many parents expressed gratitude and appreciation for the joy the home had bought to their kids. There are a few people that visit the home daily, and some have even added their own Potter-inspired trinkets.

Kate states that she even cried as her creation has managed to surpass what she was expecting or hoping for. Her main hope was that the home would get people to smile. She also says that she wanted everyone to be mindful that even though the times we are going through right now are scary and uncertain, there are always things we can do to make the situation a bit better.

One of the quotes from Albus Dumbledore, the famous wizard from the Harry Potter series, is what inspired Lincoln Park's Kate Sample. She made sure to include this quote on a sign in her Halloween decorations.

On the gate, to the house, she attached the sign with this quote from Dumbledore that states "Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light". Sample has said that this is a favorite phrase of hers that offers a strong and positive message that has managed to make people smile.

Chris Junkerman and Joshua Jones, the co-owners of the Cavalier and Company, took 2 days to install the decorations, and they admit that the reaction from the community was truly gratifying. Families and children cheered the team on while they were working on the project, and some of the children even joined in to help. One of the children stated that they wanted to dress up as Harry Potter for Halloween after he saw the house.

Jones says that seeing the joy and excitement on the face of children was so rewarding. He also said that the smaller children really melted his heart.  

Both designers are usually busy with parties and events, but with so many gatherings canceled or limited this year, these designers have started focusing on interior design for private homes, along with innovative projects just like the Potter house. While they are in the process of preparing for a very "different" type of season for the holidays, Junkerman has said that bringing Kate Sample's ideas to life has been an exciting journey to get a community involved, a way to try something completely new and spread much-needed joy.

Junkerman also said that they made it their community give-back project. He says that 2020 has provided them with loads of opportunities to grow their business and a way to refocus and restructure.

Sample has said that she chose Cavalier since the owners instantly understood her vision and the Potter references. Jones stated that the design team already worked on a Potter-inspired birthday bash in March, so they already had this experience to work with. They also added just the right lighting to provide the installation with a Halloween spirit and whimsical feel.

Fake spiders, just the ones that led Ron Weasley and Harry Potter to Aragog, can be seen crawling up an intricate web at this Lincoln Park home.

Sample says that people pay attention when they see the lights, and that to her feels extremely magical. She also goes onto say that Chris and Joshua were true godsends, and managed to execute the project perfectly

To complete the theme, Sample has plans to give out Potter-inspired candy, including Bertie Bott's "Every Flavor" jelly beans, and chocolate frogs, since Mayor the mayor of this region has approved social-distance trick-or-treating.

Sample says that sometimes her street is overlooked on Halloween with very few trick-or-treaters. She is looking forward to having children and adults visit her home this year. Halloween is her favorite holiday that she says is like her Christmas.

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