Built for a Galaxy Far, Far Away
When Becky Schoppe started planning her son's bedroom, she had a clear brief: a room that looked like the interior of Anakin Skywalker's Starfighter from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. A custom focal wall. A 3D frame with depth and shadow. LED strip lights that react to music. An exciting project, but definitely not a weekend job.
What followed was a three-month build with vendor headaches, wallpaper revisions, and structural changes that knocked the design sideways more than once. The one thread that held straight through the whole thing was Cutshop®.
The room wasn't just Star Wars-themed. Becky's reference point was specific: the interior of Anakin Skywalker's Starfighter from The Clone Wars — curved shapes, layered depth, the kind of detail you'd normally only see in a film set. Pinterest boards and movie stills became the design brief. The challenge was translating that into something a factory could cut and a family could build.
The Concept: One Wall, One Chance to Get It Right
The centrepiece was a frame modelled on the cockpit windows of Anakin's Starfighter — an intricate shape that needed to sit proud of the wall, with a 12mm channel routed around the outside to house LED strip lights. Behind it, custom wallpaper printed to align exactly with whatever shape came back from the factory.
That last part was the critical detail. If the frame and the paper didn't line up perfectly, the whole effect would fall apart. Zee, the Cutshop® designer on the project, solved it before cutting a single panel: he sent DXF files directly to Becky's graphic designer so the wallpaper could be built around the exact shape of the frame.
“Zee quickly made any changes we needed as the project evolved. He sent DXF files for our graphic designer to ensure the frame lined up with the wallpaper perfectly.”
Getting other suppliers to understand the vision was its own battle. Most couldn't see past the complexity of the shape. Zee at Cutshop® got it immediately — and more importantly, knew how to execute it.
“We struggled to get other vendors to see the vision, but Zee and the team immediately understood and executed perfectly. It was truly a pleasure.”
Why the MDF Had to Get Thicker
The original design had the entire wall clad in 12mm MDF, with a circle cut out and the Starfighter frame mounted on top. When the decision shifted to wallpaper, the wall panel came out and suddenly the LED lights had nowhere to go.
The fix was to rout a 12mm channel around the outside of the frame itself. To do that structurally, the MDF needed more body: the panels went from 12mm to 25mm. Cutshop® adapted without missing a beat.
“There were so many challenges with this project, but zero problems with Cutshop.”
The Frame Goes Up
After months of delays, the day finally came to install the frame. Becky had been holding it in front of the wallpaper, imagining the finished result. Seeing it fixed to the wall was something else entirely.
The finished wall does something the mood board could never show. When the LEDs are running and the lights react to music, the cockpit frame shifts from a design feature into something closer to a film set piece. Her son now has a bedroom that would make most adults jealous — including his mum.
“The final results are absolutely amazing. It is truly a one of a kind design that our son will love for many years. I am very jealous that he gets it in his bedroom and it’s not in my own room.”
Her advice to anyone sitting on a similar idea? Move on it.
“These kids grow fast, they only have so many years they can enjoy a special room like this.”
