A grandmother has converted her attic into an incredible Hogwarts-themed common room after amassing a collection of more than 4,000 Harry Potter items.
Self-confessed ‘Potter addict’, Janice Burnett, 53, has converted her bungalow attic into a spellbinding shrine to JK Rowling’s wizarding world.
The grandmother said she became enchanted with Harry Potter 11 years ago when she watched one of the films at a friend’s house.
Since then, she has amassed a huge collection devoted to Gryffindor, the mythical school house which Harry, Ron and Hermione are sorted into in the bestselling books.
Janice, who helps run fan pages Harry Potter UK and Fantastic Beasts, said she had bought up everything she could initially but had since refined her collection.
She said: “When you’re a collector, you do get addicted to things.
“At the start, as soon as I saw something with Harry Potter on it, I had to buy it.
“But you have to be careful in the end because you’re overcome with a kind of rubbish collection.
“So I’ve had to cut down on all the stuff I don’t need, but I do want to collect the expensive things.”
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The mother of two, from Warrington, Cheshire, said she was originally drawn to Harry Potter after binge-watching the films with a friend.
She said: “My interest started when I visited a friend. She had Harry Potter on the TV, and I thought: ‘I quite like this film.’
“I then went back round and for eight weeks, each Saturday, we used to get some popcorn and we used to watch Harry Potter.
“I was just enthralled with this film, and then I just started collecting from there.”
Janice, who is a full-time carer, said while it was initially tricky to find Harry Potter memorabilia, she now has to work hard to find the right pieces in a saturated market.
She said: “In the beginning when I first got into it, in 2011, you couldn’t really buy things in shops.
“Now, it’s kind of everywhere. The franchise has really expanded. It doesn’t matter which shop you go into now, you’ll find Harry Potter stuff.
Janice’s collection is solely focussed on Gryffindor – a wizarding house at Hogwarts school which she feels most closely fits her character.
She said: “I always felt that I was Gryffindor, and then I got sorted into it on Pottermore – the Harry Potter fan club.
“I don’t have anything else to do with Slytherin, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw. It’s just Red and Gold – that’s it!”
Janice is most proud of her miniature displays, which depict scenes from the films in amazing detail.
She said: I’ve got the Great Hall and The Gryffindor Common Room, which has been made by a company called Valentines Miniatures.
“They are going up in value at the moment, so I’m very proud of them.”
In her attic, Janice also has a purpose-built fireplace, similar to the one found in the Gryffindor common room.
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She said: “We built a fireplace in the attic. It lights, and it does actually look very cosy when you’re sat up there – it looks like a proper room.
Her collection has now spilt over into other parts of her house, where she has placed a range of one-of-a-kind furnishings.
She said: “The little bedroom is kind of a replica of the Gryffindor boys’ dormitories.
“The furniture that I have got in there, I’m lead to believe, is a one-off piece, which was all on display in Harrods. “
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