Copeland Christmas Garage Display
Besides John's family's displays, we've never seen another display that takes over the entire garage. We've heard one unverified story of a Brooklyn, NY display that is similar. If you know of one, tell us. We'd love to see it!
The other elves and I have decided to give you this behind-the-scenes view of just what it takes to transform a dirty garage into Santa's Workshop.
Videos of the garage in action ('06 video '07 video)
Lesson 2: Elevated Train Tracks
Lesson 1: Starry Starry Night
photo: 2006 Copeland Christmas Display
* Sheers are curtains (drapes) made of a very sheer fabric. ** Plastic sheeting can be found in the paint section.
First, determine where you want your backdrop. See the diagram below. We wanted to be able to access the display from the back. We also wanted to be able to to walk out the laundry room door, behind the backdrop, then out the side garage door.
photo: 2006 Copeland Christmas garage diagram
Second, staple the sheeting to the ceiling. When you are done putting up the sheeting, it should look like a giant black curtain hanging from your ceiling. See below. TIPS: Use lots of staples. If one side of the sheeting is shinier than the other, you want the dull side facing toward the audience. This will reduce glare when lights twinkle and camera flashes fire.
Third, begin placing cup hooks immediately in front of the sheeting. Just screw them right into the ceiling. Space them about every 12 inches. These cup hooks will hold the net lights. Check out this blog post from the 2007 display for an up-close photo.
Fourth, hang up the net lights. We make the white net lights twinkle (with a twinkle bulb replacement that has a red tip). Hang up the white nets right over the blue net lights. TIP: We've found that making the white lights twinkle while the blues are static gives almost a 3D effect. The blue lights just seem to fade off in the distance while the white ones pop in front and flicker.
Fifth, hang up your sheers. We tried out two colors: black and navy. We determined we liked black the best. We then stapled the sheers to the ceiling immediately in front of the cup hooks. TIPS: Throw the sheers in the dryer for 30 mins to get the creases/wrinkles out before you hang them up. Make sure there is an inch of overlap between adjacent sheers; use safety pins to pin the edges of adjacent sheers together.
photo:
2006 display
Lastly, be careful. Don't do something careless like plug in 50 strands of lights on one power strip. We're not responsible for any harm you may cause to yourself or others. Happy lighting!
Lesson 2: Elevated Train Tracks
photo: 2007 Copeland Christmas Garage Display
First, determine the shape of your
track . Our track is a rounded rectangle. Now, piece together
the track and make a pattern of the track from cardboard. Our pattern
was 5 inches wide...3 inches for the track width, and 1 inch on either
side.
Second, cut out the elevated track.
We used two pieces of wood for the long straight part of the track,
then cut out the left and right rounded edges from a sheet of MDF. The
thickness of both the wood and MDF was 3/8". Since our Lionel train
track is 3 inches wide, we purchased the 5 inch wood planks. We painted
all the pieces with white primer. Next, we used inexpensive brackets
to connect the wood pieces.
click thumbnail
Third, make the poles that will
hold up the new wooden track. Since we bought the pre-cut 24"
PVC pipes, all we had to do was wrap them with red duct tape so they
looked like north poles. Next, we placed the pipes into the half cinder
blocks and squirted Good Stuff Expandable foam into the bases. We screwed
L-brackets into the top of each pipe so that the new white track base
could be attached.
photo: 2007 Copeland Christmas Garage Display
Fourth, cover up the messy part. I take some hints from Disney...you don't ever want to see plugs, wires, pipes...none of the mechanical parts...it takes away from the fantasy. So, we hung icicle liights from the bottom of the track, then stapled green garland under the track to cover up the brackets, staples, etc.
Updated 1-26-08
Lesson 3: Child Barrier
It's crucial to have some type of barrier between Santa's Workshop and the driveway. Our barrier costs less than $10 and we re-use it year after year. Use these basic principles to make your own customized child barrier.
photo: 2007 Garage Display
First, determine where you want your barrier. We wanted the barrier inside the garage this year. Last year, it was outside the garage and was vivible during the day when the garage door was closed.
Second, paint the wood and cinder blocks . Choose any color you'd like.
Third, cut the wood so it fits nicely inside the holes of the cinder blocks.
Lastly, insert the wood, wrap it with garland, and fill holes with snow.
