Jurassic Bedroom is done!! (almost!)

With the exception of the curtains and a Mr. DNA quilt that my wife is working on, the Jurassic Bedroom is COMPLETE!  Those little details will come along soon, but I went ahead and created a video tour:

And here are some pictures of the final bedroom:

June 5th, 2018 Update

Today, I bought my family our tickets for opening night (Thursday advance screening, actually) of "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom."  It's only a couple weeks away!

I'm also getting VERY close to completing the Jurassic Bedroom.  Here's a photo update:

I used a projector to plan out where to put some of the more detailed art and sketched it by tracing from the projection.

Closeup of the InGen helicopter.

Wide view of the TV wall with the tour-vehicle-themed dresser.

The maintenance shed park systems switches...and a raptor hiding nearby.

Control room door

Closeup of the lake, which is on the bedroom wall.

May 23, 2018 Jurassic Bedroom Progress

Just a quick update with more room progress.

The mountains/plains behind the bed (visitors center exterior headboard will be in the center).

Detail work on the wall by the window.

Taped-off areas for the TV wall, which represents the Visitors Center lobby.

Mostly-finished TV wall with banner.  (Also, corkboard installed on right side on a control-room styled wall).

Some Jurassic knick-knacks on the bookcase.

Visitors Center door--soon a raptor will be peeking through the trapezoidal window.

Maintenance shed wall panel in-progress--will soon be adding buttons and high voltage warnings.

May 11, 2018 Update

Here's a quick photo update of all the exciting progress being made on the room!  CLICK on the photos for larger versions.

The mountains and clouds where the T-rex paddock fence will go.

The bedroom doorway/Jurassic Park gate.

Close-up of door detail.

Jurassic Park

Here's me wearing my t-shirt (one of the prizes for winning the "Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary Relive" Contest sponsored by Tongal and Universal Pictures/Jurassic World).

Bathroom door in-progress.  

The bathroom door.

Bedroom door interior entryway, styled after the JP Visitors Center interior doorway.  The fossil design below the JP poster is inspired by the bones Grant's team excavated at the Montana dig site.

April 7, 2018 Project Update

A quick photo update to catch up on the work being done for the Jurassic Bedroom:

Most of the clouds have been painted on the walls and ceiling, although some shading still needs to be done.

The tropical-looking fan was the first thing installed, back when we moved into the townhouse 2 years ago.

Storm clouds in the T-Rex fence section of the room.

I think the reason my wife OK'ed this bedroom remodel was so she could buy a scroll saw.

JP Gate (bedroom doorway) arch cut and ready to paint.

Bathroom sign cut and painted.

In-progress shot of the gate side-rails.

We ripped off the moulding around the door frame to add the gate.

First layer of paint on the lettering

Rough assembly of the doorway/gate.

Jurassic Park 25th "Relive" Contest Winner!

Several months ago, I entered the Jurassic Park 25th Anniversary Video Contest, sponsored by Tongal.  The contest was divided into 2 sub-categories: "Relive," where you could talk about your first time seeing the film, how it influenced your life, etc.; and the "Recreate" category, where you could re-enact famous scenes from the movie. 

I created a video for the "Relive" category, and animated a character called Mr. Ticket Stub (similar to Mr. DNA from the original JP film).

I found out this week that I WON the Grand Prize for the "Relive" category!

1993: A Dino-sized Summer

This is where it all began. June 10, 1993, I saw the sneak preview screening of Jurassic Park, a movie I'd been anticipating for so long. I'd been looking forward to it since it was first announced that Steven Spielberg was making the movie. I'd read the book, obsessively looked at any and all articles in Starlog, Entertainment Weekly, etc. I'd watched the trailers as many times as I could (recorded on VHS off the TV, since this was pretty much pre-internet, at least as far as movie trailers were concerned).

I'd loved movies before, and seen some movies multiple times in the theater, such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Beauty and the Beast, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  But this one was different.  It arrived at the right time in my life.  I'd graduated high school a few weeks before and my parents (who had been divorced for over a decade) got remarried and we moved from AZ to UT.  My life was a life in need of some escapism, and Jurassic Park fit the bill nicely.

In the year since its release, I saw the film over 25 times in the theater, with an additional couple of viewings of the 20th anniversary 3-D re-release, as well as dozens of times viewing it on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray.

Here are most of the ticket stubs (the ones that haven't completely faded away).

The original viewing experience was unforgettable.  A sold-out screening in DTS-THX sound, seeing things onscreen I could've barely imagined.  On the drive home that night, I had been so overcome by the experience that I imagined dinosaurs peeking out from behind every building and tree we drove past.

Fast-forward 25 years.  As we enter 2018, Jurassic Park will be celebrating 25 years, and the newest sequel, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, will be hitting theaters.  My wife and I have wanted to transform our bedroom into a themed room for several years (ala The Anniversary Inn ), and a Jurassic Bedroom seems like the perfect fit.