# How do you decorate the outside of your actual *house* for Halloween?



## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Not your yard .. But the house it's self. 

To me getting the actual.house to be congruent and jive with the Halloween theme can be hard. 

Anyone have pics they'd love to share of their homes on Halloween?


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## Jenn&MattFromPA (Sep 4, 2013)

I agree that decorating the house & having it tie-in with the yard is tough. I have a lot of ideas for it, but they aren't always possible because we have an open-house event for friends & family on Halloween that means that the front door area & walkway see a lot of traffic. One day I'd like to put faux boards across the windows, and I have eventual plans for our house to have shutters & windowboxes, so I'll decorate those in some way too. 

For now, we do have a pretty good solution (I think) for the front of our house that's easy to do, but it doesn't necessarily tie in to our overall yard display. We have a wood cutout of a witch and we put one of the blue/purple fire & ice type lights on her and it projects a big shadow on the front of our house.


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## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Jenn&Matt .. What a neat idea to play with shadows. Love your witch .. Very cool. Our house would be considered a 'cute' cottage type of house and it's painted sunny yellow. I struggle with getting it to be menacing or even really fit in with the yard decorations.


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## offmymeds (May 26, 2010)

I did this for the front of the garage, and hung green canopy type curtains for the Carnevil party. You can kind of see it behind the clown and I hung my Freak show posters on the house




















I made these for the Asylum for my two front windows














pirate party


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## Hilda (Jul 31, 2011)

I'm afraid of heights so it's not been easy to figure out what to do. We have tried to tie it into the whimsical yard display.


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## craftygirl (Jun 4, 2012)

I don't know if you call what we do decorating but we cover the house in landscaping fabric so it fades away and gives a nice back drop to our props.

















Sometimes I cover the bushes that are on the side of our front yard with cobwebs and spiders to give it a spooky look.


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## sneakykid (Sep 19, 2010)

While I'm still in apartment life, my parents have these two blow-ups that they put in their yard (pictures from internet of what we have).

New this year - I'm excited to see how tall it actually is!








It makes sound and everything!








Otherwise, not much else is done. I can't wait until I can get my own house one day! The neighborhood won't know what hit 'em! And hopefully it'll get me some trick-or-treaters.


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## GobbyGruesome (Sep 14, 2005)

ˆThose kids are so photoshopped.


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## sneakykid (Sep 19, 2010)

GobbyGruesome said:


> ˆThose kids are so photoshopped.


Haha!

I'll have to take a picture when my parents actually get it up. It's _supposedly _taller than our house? We'll see about that...


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## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Awesome pics everyone! Thanks so much for taking the time to post them. Each idea is effective in it's own way and creatively solves the house feeling disconnected issue.

I messed with some fire and ice spot lights last night to light up the interior of the house .. Which might help .. At least at night time. 




.


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## Silver Spike (Sep 29, 2010)

Well I'm in the UK, so many people completely ignore Halloween, let alone decorating the front of the house. I always attempt to do something but compared to other posters on here It's positively primitive. 




























I made the wreath myself from scratch.


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## wickedwillingwench (Sep 16, 2011)

Silver Spike said:


> Well I'm in the UK, so many people completely ignore Halloween, let alone decorating the front of the house. I always attempt to do something but compared to other posters on here It's positively primitive.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 love the wreath!!! i bet that grm reaper keeps the hooligans off your porch! lol


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## Silver Spike (Sep 29, 2010)

Thanks. It's sound activated and says a few phrases, so It does the job nicely.


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## 6-paq (Sep 30, 2014)

Silver Spike said:


> Well I'm in the UK, so many people completely ignore Halloween, let alone decorating the front of the house. I always attempt to do something but compared to other posters on here It's positively primitive.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Your porch looks great, especially that wreath!! You did an awesome job! Very nice!


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## osenator (Nov 3, 2009)




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## printersdevil (Sep 7, 2009)

Nice job, silver spike!


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## sneakykid (Sep 19, 2010)

Silver Spike said:


> Well I'm in the UK, so many people completely ignore Halloween, let alone decorating the front of the house. I always attempt to do something but compared to other posters on here It's positively primitive.
> 
> I made the wreath myself from scratch.


Hey, you're doing better than half the people in the States!


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## GobbyGruesome (Sep 14, 2005)

sneakykid said:


> Hey, you're doing better than half the people in the States!


Agreed - you'd easily be in the top .1% with your setup. And that wreath is way nicer than anything I've seen in the stores.
(Pssst. You don't want to go competing with posters here - these are the crazy people  )


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## spiney99 (Nov 1, 2010)

With a short throw projector and some great minds on this site (check out Icepick"s posts regarding house mapping..Haunted neurons also has a post about projecting an old weathered facade) you can project a whole new look


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## spiney99 (Nov 1, 2010)

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/132788-projected-facade-old-weathered-house.html
http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/133035-halloween-projection.html


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## Icepick (Nov 24, 2013)

spiney99 said:


> With a short throw projector and some great minds on this site (check out Icepick"s posts regarding house mapping..Haunted neurons also has a post about projecting an old weathered facade) you can project a whole new look



Thank for another shameless plug spiney99. I'm a little late, but yes. Projection is one way to go. I don't have any photos readily available, but there is a link in my signature that will lead you to some tips, as well as some examples on my YouTube channel.


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## 6-paq (Sep 30, 2014)

Icepick has spent much effort and produced an excellent mapping tutorial on youtube! 

I have always loved this effect, but I'm not able to do a projection mapping this year. It's something on my list for Halloween and Christmas 2016. I just need a short-throw projector first and that's not in the immediate budget.


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## Icepick (Nov 24, 2013)

Finally cooler weather here, and not so humid. I got to test my new house projection tonight. Here's a couple snapshots. Not sure how I feel about the columns. 

















Sheesh. I'm gonna give up posting pics. Takes me forever to get them right side up. Already put everything away for the night, so for now you'll have to tilt your head.

Edit: Added a daytime photo for comparison.


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## Forhekset (Oct 23, 2014)

Jenn&MattFromPA said:


> I agree that decorating the house & having it tie-in with the yard is tough. I have a lot of ideas for it, but they aren't always possible because we have an open-house event for friends & family on Halloween that means that the front door area & walkway see a lot of traffic. One day I'd like to put faux boards across the windows, and I have eventual plans for our house to have shutters & windowboxes, so I'll decorate those in some way too.
> 
> For now, we do have a pretty good solution (I think) for the front of our house that's easy to do, but it doesn't necessarily tie in to our overall yard display. We have a wood cutout of a witch and we put one of the blue/purple fire & ice type lights on her and it projects a big shadow on the front of our house.


That's awesome, probably one of the coolest things I've seen on here.

As for our house, I usually just put some lights in the windows, plus my Hallowindow projector in one of the windows (I seem to move it every year). Last year I put up strings of those flickering candle-shaped lights in the windows. I think they're understated and give the house kind of a "vintage" feel. I also bought some blood drip lights last year from Home Depot on sale after Halloween, so this year I'll put those up, I guess. I had thought of putting fire & ice spotlights in the windows this year, but I'm not sure if I'll do that or just the regular lights around the frame of the windows.

I used to put up those window covers that stick to your windows and come in different designs, like a vampire, spiders, etc., but they fall down constantly in the Texas heat, so I quit putting 'em up. I agree that it can be difficult to do stuff with your house that doesn't clash with your yard, or detract from it, so that's why I just stick with lights plus a decoration or two in the windows. It doesn't take long and looks pretty nice.

I bought one of those window peepers from Grandin Road last year (http://www.grandinroad.com/life-like-scary-peeper/549861) and stuck him to the glass on our front door. Scared my wife several times and scared the hell out of a couple of trick or treaters, too. They have a version now that taps on the window as well, but it seems to be sold out.


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## Melanormal (Aug 15, 2012)

This is not my actual house, sadly, but I'm thinking of trying red tissue paper in all the windows this year. Maybe it will be a cool effect.


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## Frightshow (Sep 14, 2015)

Jenn&MattFromPA said:


> I agree that decorating the house & having it tie-in with the yard is tough. I have a lot of ideas for it, but they aren't always possible because we have an open-house event for friends & family on Halloween that means that the front door area & walkway see a lot of traffic. One day I'd like to put faux boards across the windows, and I have eventual plans for our house to have shutters & windowboxes, so I'll decorate those in some way too.
> 
> For now, we do have a pretty good solution (I think) for the front of our house that's easy to do, but it doesn't necessarily tie in to our overall yard display. We have a wood cutout of a witch and we put one of the blue/purple fire & ice type lights on her and it projects a big shadow on the front of our house.


Love this effect!


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## Pretty Little Nightmare (Aug 12, 2013)

Craftygirl- Your yard is amazing. I am green with envy over all of your amazing NBC props! I would kill to have some of them.

Jenn&MattFromPA- I love the simplicity. It looks great and the huge shadow is spooky, I love this idea!


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## Frightshow (Sep 14, 2015)

Melanormal said:


> View attachment 255883
> This is not my actual house, sadly, but I'm thinking of trying red tissue paper in all the windows this year. Maybe it will be a cool effect.



Last year, we did green plastic in all the windows and had lamps plunged into an audio oscillator to make them flicker. Looked like the poltergeist house. However, I like this looks of the red windows better. Great idea!


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## cmerli (Nov 27, 2009)

I moved to a house with a bit smaller front yard but the house itself is brick. This means I plan to put a great deal of effort into incorporating the house as part of the haunt. One of the first things I built were stained glass windows. I will shoot them at night once we get the set up started so that you can actually see the stained glass effect. I am also working on turning the garage door into a crypt that still allows us to use it as a garage door.


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## Forhekset (Oct 23, 2014)

Melanormal said:


> View attachment 255883
> This is not my actual house, sadly, but I'm thinking of trying red tissue paper in all the windows this year. Maybe it will be a cool effect.


Very ominous and foreboding. For some reason, gives me The Omen vibes.


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## MrNightmare (Mar 2, 2009)

[/QUOTE]This is not my actual house, sadly, but I'm thinking of trying red tissue paper in all the windows this year. Maybe it will be a cool effect.[/QUOTE]

Try using Red CFL bulbs in all the rooms that have windows. The red glow from the walls and rooms will cast a great effect looking from outside.


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## hopelesslyinsane (Sep 6, 2013)

I did something similar to my house last year except I used green. I can only find the test picture though.


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## Ari Anna (Sep 17, 2015)

Halloween is not celebrated in Italy , so there is little material available . This is how I decorated last year.




































Fog is true , unfortunately ...


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## mrincredibletou (Sep 17, 2007)

I hope your starting a trend!


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## MC HauntDreams (Jun 6, 2013)

Altering the house was actually the first project we started a couple years ago. We have slowly created styrofoam castle walls and toppers that transform our plain jane Florida house into something Halloween worthy...


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## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

MC HauntDreams said:


> Altering the house was actually the first project we started a couple years ago. We have slowly created styrofoam castle walls and toppers that transform our plain jane Florida house into something Halloween worthy...
> View attachment 256162
> View attachment 256163
> View attachment 256164
> View attachment 256165


I love what you did .. It looks wonderful! 
I wanted to do a castle this year to go with my dragons.. But my house doesn't lend it's self to it ( like yours does) .. So the only thing I could figure out was to cover it completely and then the project became very costly.


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## MC HauntDreams (Jun 6, 2013)

We have managed to do ours for almost $0. The styrofoam itself is all salvage - some from old lake floats (12"sq x 48" L) and the rest from trailer hitch support blocks (18" sq x 24" L.) I collect and stock pile in a hidden corner of the yard, LOL. The paint was leftovers from friends mixed together to make grey and some leftover white. Most of the wood supports to connect all the styrofoam to were more salvage cut into thin strips. Metal strapping and some screws to anchor the panels at the top - again leftovers we had but cheap either way.
The only real costs a gallon of Gripper to glue stuff together, two wood posts for the panel on the left (where its out from the house and we went with stronger), and my $3 huge wrought iron candle sconce that I added last year! Total for our castle - a ton of time and $21.


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## drevilstein (Mar 25, 2014)

Tried to use the spiders and webs to tie the house into the yard last year


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## MC HauntDreams (Jun 6, 2013)

And truth be told we bought the Gripper for tombstones so it shouldnt even count on this, but I did anyway!


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## MC HauntDreams (Jun 6, 2013)

Drevilstein, that looks great. All I could think was that down here (S Florida) our funeral parlors look like your house - you could add a sign and have fun with that!!!


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## printersdevil (Sep 7, 2009)

Devilstein, love the decorations. I have two witches holding trays and all I could think of was candy and didn't like the look. Never thought of spell books. Thanks!


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## drevilstein (Mar 25, 2014)

Thanks guys, that's just one half of my yard, the other side has scarecrows, reapers, ghosts, skellies, and a vampire in a coffin up front.


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## Trex (Nov 6, 2010)

This was from 2013, but it will look similar this year, we are adding more skellies above the garage facade and the driveway fence.


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## HalloGeekHalfrican (Sep 1, 2013)

WOW! Compared to you guys, my house looks _way_ under-dressed! We usually don't do anything to the actual house. We're simple folk with two simple jack-o-lanterns. But sometimes less is more, right?

But really, all of your houses look super awesome!


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## halloweendarkangel (Aug 29, 2008)

:d


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## Frightshow (Sep 14, 2015)

We moved into our new house 2 weeks before Halloween last year and didn't have much time to prepare our usual haunts/surprises. So we did a quick window treatment. Aside from some inflatables and props, the window treatment cost a whopping $12.

- Green plastic roll from PartyCity (plastic tablecloth roll) and taped to the inside of the windows.
- Cardboard "boards" from moving boxes to board-up the windows
- (Optional) Audio Controller with Microphone input - essentially a box with a microphone that allows lights to be plugged in, thus flickering the power to the lamp based on the sounds entering the microphone. A big "clapper" from the 80's. 

Here's some photos of the front (daylight, night, and with a video):


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## Goog (Sep 3, 2012)

We forgot to take pictures, but last year we set up some props inside and lit it so it was really creepy looking from the street. We have talked about doing more with the windows and maybe the door, but otherwise we have a two story house and it would be tricky to cover it all. I've seen some large scale spider web things that I've liked too.


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## disembodiedvoice (Sep 24, 2011)

hopelesslyinsane said:


> I did something similar to my house last year except I used green. I can only find the test picture though.


hopeless, did you use green tissue paper or green plastic sheeting? I think I have to do this, love it. Anyone used red? will the light shine through it as well?


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## disembodiedvoice (Sep 24, 2011)

Frightshow said:


> We moved into our new house 2 weeks before Halloween last year and didn't have much time to prepare our usual haunts/surprises. So we did a quick window treatment. Aside from some inflatables and props, the window treatment cost a whopping $12.
> 
> - Green plastic roll from PartyCity (plastic tablecloth roll) and taped to the inside of the windows.
> - Cardboard "boards" from moving boxes to board-up the windows
> ...


Love this Frighshow ! Do you think red table cloth would work out the same? would the light show through as well?


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## booswife02 (Apr 2, 2013)

Love everyone's pics. Looks great!


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## Miss Hallows Eve (Aug 2, 2015)

So fun seeing how everyone decorates their houses. Sadly, we do not decorate the outside much since we live so far off the road, no one would see it. We do, however, have Halloween themed things in our yard that we enjoy 

When I lived in CA, I used to do up the front yard. Was the 1st in our neighborhood to really do any type of decorating for Halloween (this was 23 yrs ago so Halloween wasn't as big for decorating) and I had a blast with it.

Looking forward to seeing more house/yard decorations as time draws closer


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## Frightshow (Sep 14, 2015)

disembodiedvoice said:


> Love this Frighshow ! Do you think red table cloth would work out the same? would the light show through as well?


I do think red would work. I pick up the huge roll from Partycity (plastic tablecloth) and just cut my sheets to tape up. This year, I'm doing a pirate theme on the porch with candles (casting an orange glow) and will do the upstairs windows in purple (complimentary colors). I'm considering red as well and the plastic is just thin enough to cast a nice glow. Can't wait to see your photos!


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## Silver Spike (Sep 29, 2010)

Thought I'd post up some more of my old stuff. This time Halloween decs on the cheap. 

One year I had no money to spare so made this Reaper from wire and old cloth and a 25P plastic skull which I painted up. The body and hands were made from gaffer tape and painted up to look more rounded.

Daytime..










And at night.










Add the traditional pumpkin with a few leaves.










So you don't always need tons of cash to do at least something on the night.


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## Forhekset (Oct 23, 2014)

Frightshow said:


> We moved into our new house 2 weeks before Halloween last year and didn't have much time to prepare our usual haunts/surprises. So we did a quick window treatment. Aside from some inflatables and props, the window treatment cost a whopping $12.
> 
> - Green plastic roll from PartyCity (plastic tablecloth roll) and taped to the inside of the windows.
> - Cardboard "boards" from moving boxes to board-up the windows
> ...


This looks great, especially for "we just moved in 2 weeks before Halloween and didn't have much time". Still looks more impressive than 99% of what people in my neighborhood do, if they do anything at all.

I wish had a big ol' porch and some wide steps to use for decorations.


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## moonwitchkitty (Jul 22, 2012)

Love this it is awesome


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## 6-paq (Sep 30, 2014)

Silver Spike said:


> Thought I'd post up some more of my old stuff. This time Halloween decs on the cheap.
> 
> One year I had no money to spare so made this Reaper from wire and old cloth and a 25P plastic skull which I painted up. The body and hands were made from gaffer tape and painted up to look more rounded.
> 
> ...


This has a real creep factor and looks great! Nice spooky atmosphere. You have lots of talent and creativity to take a few items and be able to pull this together! Looks wonderful!


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## disembodiedvoice (Sep 24, 2011)

Silver Spike said:


> Thought I'd post up some more of my old stuff. This time Halloween decs on the cheap.
> 
> One year I had no money to spare so made this Reaper from wire and old cloth and a 25P plastic skull which I painted up. The body and hands were made from gaffer tape and painted up to look more rounded.
> 
> ...


Oooo Silver Spike ! I love this, everything about it. Love your windows ( or door?? I can't tell) the whole thing just goes together really well. Is he sitting inside? is the ivy inside?


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## Silver Spike (Sep 29, 2010)

Thanks to you both and glad you like it. 

It's sitting inside the hallway as It's only a small size. The windows are on either side of the front door as in this photo from another years display. The ivy is in a pot inside too. 










All very primitive of course compared to all the other gorgeous work posted on this thread.


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## lisa48317 (Jul 23, 2010)

I just do lights. Still working on them to really get how I want.


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## Krystalcore (Sep 22, 2015)

I would love to see that garage door idea!


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## HalloScream (Jul 31, 2011)

I've accumulated a few more Halloween items since last year. I'll have more stuff out and a better yard display imo. 
I started putting my decorations out this past weekend. Their is another house in my community who started on their yard last week. They kind of got me starting on mine early lol. I'm getting weird looks already lol. Here's my work in progress..



















I got a couple of lanterns I'm putting about my garage and a few more decorative items (spiders, rats, cloth) out.


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## aviator24 (Aug 26, 2015)

Just getting started...A lot going on here with the lights but I had em so I used em. The display in the upper window is a work in progress. Projector I purchased from a link on this site for $50. Pleased with the results.


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## ErrKILLkill (Sep 5, 2012)

The epic sadness is our apartment community does not allow many decorations outside (nothing affixed attached or screwed in to the building structure, no outside lights or inflatables etc.) So my Haunts have to be inside the garage. I can have lights inside shining out through the window though!


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