Halloween projects convert home to fright site
Halloween projects convert home to fright site

It's trick-or-treat time again, so why not get in the spirit of this spooky season with your very own haunted house. With a little decoration, imagination and do-it-yourself know-how, you can be the talk of the neighborhood. If you've got kids, most of the suggestions below are super-easy projects you can take on together.

Your haunted house can begin by transforming your yard into a makeshift graveyard. Build tombstones by shaping plywood with a jigsaw. Even if you don't consider yourself skilled with a saw, don't worry. Varying sizes and shapes only adds to the spookiness. Sand down the wood pieces and then paint them with dark paint. Using white or grey paint or chalk, add names to the "headstones.”

Use the leftover scraps of wood to shape stakes with the jigsaw. Then nail the stakes to the graves and stick them into the ground. It's OK to let the graves lean a little; it makes for an older-looking cemetery.

Add "inhabitants” to your cemetery. Using a few pieces of wood, hammer together a rudimentary stick figure. You can build your "body” so that it is standing up, keeping watch on the graves, or sitting, and later prop it against a tombstone. Cover the figure with clothes and stuff with hay, dried leaves or foam batting. Staple a scary mask to it and maybe even splash on some fake blood. Now you have the undead living in your yard.

If a whole body seems like too much work, cut a sleeve off an old flannel shirt and attach an old glove to it. Stuff the "arm” with leaves or old rags and attach it to one of your graves, as though it's reaching up from the ground. You can buy all sorts of fake limbs at a costume store and scatter them over your lawn.

Other props for your bone yard can include plywood coffins. There are many patterns online from which to draw inspiration. Or you can make a less-sturdy version with cardboard. Visit your local home improvement store and ask a salesperson if you can have an unused refrigerator box. Cut a pattern out using a razor knife and hot glue the coffin together. Paint the coffin with black spray paint. Cover the coffin in fake cobwebs and put one of your "creepy creatures” inside it.

Since many trick-or-treaters will be ringing your bell Oct. 31, your porch is a good place to add some frightening detail.

Invest in fake cobwebs, plastic spiders, and other critters to adorn your porch.

Make hanging ghosts by using a soccer-ball-size Styrofoam ball, old white sheets or gauze, and fishing line. To build your own ghoulish ghosts, first, bore a hole through the Styrofoam ball using a drill. Tie fishing line to a hanger (to use as its "shoulders”), and pass the line through the bottom of the ball with a needle. Place a white sheet over the ball and feed the needle and fishing line through it, tying it in a knot and leaving some extra line, so that you can hang the ghost. Cut the bottom of the sheet in a jagged pattern so that it looks tattered. Hang your ghosts from your porch or trees and let them sway in the wind.

Mini ghosts can be created by using lollipops and muslin (or tissue). Simply cover the candy with the muslin and secure it with fishing line. To hang your ghosts, pass fishing line through the "head” of your ghost using a needle and tie the two ends with a loop. Fray the bottom of the muslin and hang your mini ghosts inside or outside. Feel free to draw scary faces on your ghosts to give them petrifying personalities.

It just wouldn't be Halloween without pumpkin carving.

Instead of giving your pumpkins those run-of-the-mill triangle jack-o'-lantern faces, get creative. Pick up a variety of pumpkins and gourds to make your haunted house a reality. A pattern book with outlines of different scenes can be purchased quite inexpensively at the grocery store and will make you look like a pro. (You can also download patterns for free online).

Make copies of the patterns so that you can use them year after year. A pumpkin carving kit will make the detail work much easier, though you can also use utensils lying around the house.

Ice cream scoopers are great for removing pumpkin innards, cookie cutters make great patterns and an ice pick can double as a poker.

Painting faces on your pumpkins is a good time-saving option, though you won't get those glowing faces once night descends. Remedy this by using outdoor lighting in different colors to highlight your creepy decor. Candles and decorative hanging lights are also good for setting the mood, but don't go overboard. Limited lighting keeps things spooky.

Here are a few great and inexpensive ways to light up your Halloween decor:

•Strobe lights. Strobes always have an eerie affect especially when combined with a creepy soundtrack.

•Black lights. For just a few dollars, you can buy a black fluorescent light kit that will accentuate light-colored objects and give them a haunting glow. If you don't want to worry about installing or buying a whole new light fixture, consider temporarily replacing your white fluorescent bulbs with black light bulbs.

•Colored lights. You can add color gels to any white light to give your lights a whole new look. These are specifically made to handle high heat without melting. You can usually find them at camera supply shops.

If you are throwing a Halloween party, make costumes mandatory.

Add ambiance with scary music, such as a compact disc of horror movie themes, and consider spooky sound effects in a few rooms of your home. A number of outdoor speakers are available, so you can bring those sound effects to your front yard as well.

For refreshments, pumpkins carved in half, gutted and lined with plastic can serve as mini-coolers, or fill them with dry ice instead to create a haunting fog and cook up some scary recipes to serve to your ghoulish guests.

By spooking up your front yard and the inside of your home, you can make a memorable Halloween for you and your guests. You'll be surprised by how wonderfully responsive your friends and family will be. After all, you're getting into the holiday spirit! (Get it, spirit?) But, hey, Halloween isn't just for kids anymore, so have fun.

For detailed information and more great projects ideas, go online to www.BeJane.com.

Heidi Baker and Eden Jarrin are co-founders of BeJane.com, an online community and resource for women's home improvement

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