Entry #716, October 22, 2011

Happy DIY Saturday… we are counting down to Halloween and if you enjoy decorating your home like a haunted mansion, today’s post is for you. Often times money is the reason many of us don’t decorate our homes. Today, look at these ideas from the archives, on how to create a haunted house on a budget!

Original Entry #309, October 23, 2010

I have always marveled at neighbors that get into the feeling of Halloween… I just saw my neighbor take his dead flower bed and stick tombstones in it to make it look like a graveyard! Nice Halloween curb appeal, ha!

We’re taking a slight departure from our usual DIY Saturday on Stagetecture and we are talking about decorating for Halloween. There are many ways to decorate, but here are tips for decorating your haunted house on a budget. Wikihow gives you tips!

Make your home scary, on a budget!

YouTube video from Fine Living Network for simple haunted house ideas for your home.

Tips for saving money & supplies to decorate your home:

• Gather up your supplies: Old pieces of cardboard, colored paper, markers, and glue are some of the things you can use.
• Take cardboard and cut out bat shapes (use a stencil if you need to): After you cut them out, use markers or paint to add color. Black bats look great hanging with a bit of fishing wire or string.
• Make fake tombstones out of cardboard: Just cut out the shape, paint it gray, and write RIP or other sayings on them. They can then be placed in a window, or in a place where they won’t get wet.
• Use yarn or crepe paper to create giant spider webs for windows
• Use colored paper to cut out pumpkins, black cats, or other Halloween pictures: These can be placed in windows, or on walls.
• Recycle old costumes and clothes: Old masks can be used to make life size monsters with just some old clothes and newspapers.

Tips:

• Keep scraps of fabric and old clothes throughout the year. These will come in handy to make scarecrows or other life size beings.
• Alternatively, instead of the yarn spider webs, you can purchase bags of “fake webbing” for very little cost, these often include small plastic spiders and the occasional glow-in-the-dark ones as well.
• For a bonus, change out your front porch light with a black light. It gives an extra creepy glow.
• If you happen to be a gardener, save any dead flowers and plants. Putting out some dead flowers and plants can make your house look haunted (just get rid of all the dead plants after Halloween!)
• Stick bin-bags to front windows and stick CSI tape to front of the house to make it seem deserted.

For more Halloween ideas on Stagetecture, click here.