# creepy house ideas



## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

what about putting up shadow people. ghosts. lots of spiders


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## savagehaunter (Aug 22, 2009)

suspend some faux candles with "invisible string" so they seem to float.


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

good ideas, keep em comming please.....as for the candles i did see that idea too and LOVE IT 

am going to deco. the kitchen like a bloody butcher shop where all the yummmmmy food is comming from


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## blackfog (Oct 9, 2008)

for my party last Halloween I had different colored lighting in each room. I made my pictures crooked. I made curtains out of black tablecovers in every doorway and had them to the ground with tie-backs. If you check out my albums you will see more ideas. I just love decorating the inside for Halloween. Don't forget about your props and tombstones to. Love all the ideas ya get from a thread like this.


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

For my costume party last year, I decorated my bathroom like a murder scene. Had a bloody shower curtain with a red mini strobe light behind it (real fun walking into that when you're drunk lol). I also had bloody hand clings on the mirror, a toilet lid cling that was a zombie hand coming out to grab you, and a hand & foot above the toilet. Wasn't too extravigant but pretty cool.


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

great ideas everyone... thanx for getting the juices flowing lol.......... i guess i had a brain fart and couldnt quite figure out how to get started on planning the deco lol
more .. more... give me more PLEASE


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

2 big things that will dramatically change your house interior:

Get all of your normal decorations and knick-knacks and put them in a closet. It's totally cool if you like sports memorabilia or have a collection of beer mugs on the mantle, but having normal stuff out in what is supposed to be a creepy old house doesn't hit the right note. So take down all the smiling family pics and stuff. (or creep them up!)

Lighting. Open flames are a bit dangerous if you have a crowd, so use these with caution. Get the party bulbs (red, orange and purple are my faves - candle light is an orange-yellow so I do tend to use more of the orange) and remove most of your lights and just have a few around the areas with these bulbs or with battery-op candles in creepy holders. The party bulbs generally tend to be equivilent to 40 watts, so they are low light, and the color will automatically make things look just a bit more creepy than white lights. DO NOT USE OVERHEAD LIGHTING. If you have a living room ceiling fan, don't bother changing them out - just leave them off. Overhead lighting - unless it's from a chandieler that you can switch out the bulbs on and drape cheesecloth/webs over isn't "scary" at all. It will not cast good shadows, and it will severely limit the creepy effect if you use it.









This is a good example of what I mean. This lamp (a genuine antique that I got for free on Freecycle cause the top globe had broken) has a 25 watt bulb (regular white light, but it's really dim compared to normal lighting AND the blood drips on the globe turn the light ruddy). I usually have a regular table lamp and some normal stuff on that table, but I removed all of it and put a creepy little arrangement there instead. The book is a collection of gravestone epitaphs. This looks brighter than it was but it was a nice creepy little area. 

OTHER STUFF:
You can do dried flower arrangements (I go get old looking vases and either use as is or spraypaint black and use dead flowers - I buy wilty flowers from the grocery well before the party and just don't put them in water so they are nice and dead ) and buy as much cheesecloth as you can stand and use a tea stain on it, shred it and use it to drape over tables, in doorways, as "curtains" that are falling apart... really this stuff is pretty awesome. I hang it from my ceiling fan and dining room light even if I don't use the lights themselves for a decaying drapery.

Print out some old photos and put them in cheapy frames you can find at thrift shops. I again age those with black spray paint. If you have some family photos, just printing them out in black and white and putting them into your existing frames (draping them with cheesecloth or webbing) will creep them up nicely.

I am always on the lookout at thrift stores and dollar stores for things that could be creeped out. I've also had good luck at garage sales - found a cutsy brass bird cage (not a real cage, just a decoration) and used black spraypaint on it to lightly spatter it to look tarnished and then had a flock of ravens perched all around it with a dollar store hand hanging out. Found one of those white plaster columns and again with the paint made it old and used it to display a JoL. Got a taxidermied puffer fish and made a fake museum mount and a aged label. Even found a skeletonized version of Billy Bass and he is AWESOME without even being on. Really just look for stuff that is weird and if it can be aged or painted with black spray paint... it might be a keeper. 








Most of the stuff in this pic is either from yard sales, clearanced for being slightly messed up (thus really cheap) or handmade (that spellbook was an awesome Secret Reaper gift!) 

I don't think I'd use flour to simulate dust. I just stop dusting the month before.  Rather clean that after the party than worry about food stuff being all over the house.

Oh - and anything permanently part of the structure that looks really out of place in a haunted creepy old house - try to come up with something that can disguise it to make it blend in. My house was build in the 1980s and has that bar passthrough from the kitchen to the living room and really annoyed me since we started having a party, so I made a bar-soleum crypt front to fit in that space and made the bar's counter the little spot where you put flowers, offerings and candles burned "in remembrance" of the dearly departed. You could also do this (stack them top to bottom) for a doorway you want to block off or in front of something else you'd like to hide from view....









Still arranging stuff so this is a bit cluttered, but you get the idea... and the stereo stuff was covered up with cheesecloth for the party. 

There is so much more I want to do for party prep, but I tend to run out of time and energy unfortunately, so each year I add a little more cool creepy stuff and get a little bit closer to the really spooky old house look.


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

Awesome displays Frankie's Girl


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## hallorenescene (Dec 28, 2007)

frankies girl, i love what you've done with the place. and i agree with open flames and flour. 2 do not dos. one thing i am going to try this year, i am going to put flicker bulbs in my ceiling fan, then i am going to take some white cardboard ghosts the size of the fan blades i got awhile back from currant, and attach them to the blade, and have them going in circles. they would also be easy to make. one could also wrap gauze material around chairs so it looks ghostly.


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

WOW! FrankiesGirl thanks! i love those ideas  soooo many wonderful things to do. im sooo glad i asked lol........ i was also wondering about ways to BLEND some old creepy house decor into our regular everyday living so this really helps me to get thinking of ways that will work out great 

i also started a thread about deco. ceiling fans and peeps gave some great ideas..... a skelly propped up on the ceiling fan w/webs etc. and another was bat wings on the blades, and also clip on lil colored LED lights facing up and down for effects

http://www.halloweenforum.com/party-ideas-experiences-recipes/102424-ceiling-fan-dilema.html


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## GhostMagnet (Jul 14, 2009)

Frankie's Girl is right, I always pack up all my regular decor and replace with all my creepy thrift store finds. It's makes all the difference in the world.

I need to check out that ceiling fan thread, I never know what to do with them.

I'm looking forward to this year. We were going to have a big party last year, but ended up canceling. I've been pouting ever since!  

Good luck with your party plans!!


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

ive already started buying frames from thrift stores and copying classic "monster" photos from internet. now i need to start finding several shadow box frames to display cool lil props 

thans everyone! keep em comming please


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

@ Frankies Girl.... i love the table with the bust and giant spider on it.... where did you get the bust at? did you make the spider? i want them too lol... im sure i can duplicate the spider ( i hope )


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

hollowscreamer said:


> @ Frankies Girl.... i love the table with the bust and giant spider on it.... where did you get the bust at? did you make the spider? i want them too lol... im sure i can duplicate the spider ( i hope )


The bust is from Michaels (was something like $15, but I had a coupon for 40% off) and the spiders I think I got them at Garden Ridge, but I can't remember for sure.


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

those are great, i'll just add them to my To-Do-List of props to make  the spider will be a lot easier than trying to make the bust tho lol...am thinking paper mache' for the bust....hmmm wonder if any tuts on making busts?


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

GhostMagnet hope you find some helpful ideas from the "ceiling fan dilemma" thread. 
and hope your party goes great! i know what ya mean about "pouting" lol cuz i did a few yrs. ago too when i couldnt have a halloween party  so i cant wait for this yrs. ive never had one b4 except 1 for the kids many many yrs. ago and that was b4 i found this site and started learning how to make alll this cooool stuff ! 

this is soooo much better than the feeling a kid has on Christmas Eve when they cant sleep lol


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## LadyRohan (Oct 20, 2010)

Last year for my daughters Halloween Birthday party I brought a bit of the outdoors in. I went out to the woods and cut a big branch off a tree. Stripped off the leaves then put it standing up in my dining room. Put some web on and and sat a big spider on it. The kids loved it.


Oh.... and it anyone has a pic of the "floating candles" in action I would love to see it.


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## savagehaunter (Aug 22, 2009)

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-crafts/98308-faux-halloween-grubby-candles.html#post967727

Here is an idea of the floating candles.


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## Trinity1 (Sep 5, 2009)

I've always thought about how creepy it would be to set my house up like it was just left in the middle of an event....or some horrid crime happened while the family was eating dinner. Plates...even food were left covered in dust and cobwebs. I had even thought about getting the Christmas tree out (we have a fake one) and decorating it with halloween ornaments but having it look like it was just left the way it was the day something terrible happened complete with presents under the tree and everything. Hopefully I'm explaining it right...I have it pictured clearly in my mind...but sometimes I have a hard time describing.


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## ldyaleena (Sep 18, 2008)

A quick cheap way to make a house look creepy is to add "holes in the walls". I will try my best to explain this. All you need is a sheet of black poster board and some wood grained shelf paper. Cut strips of the shelf paper about an inch thick and add them to the poster paper every couple of inches. Then cut the poster board into odd shaped pieces and stick up on the walls. It looks like the plaster is broken off and the foundation is showing. It really looks real, especially in poor lighting.


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## katshead42 (Aug 5, 2010)

Its all about lighting and sound effects IMHO.


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

i agree about the lighting... so far i have 2 strobe lights and 1 small black light, im going to make various kinds of PVC candles and some floating tube candles too. my dinning room has an adjustable dimmer switch so i'll put maybe red bulbs in that fixture. any other lighting ideas that will work?


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

http://pumpkinrot.blogspot.com/2009/07/witch-jars.html

http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-step-step/95594-witch-jars-halloween-lanterns-whatever.html

You could use real candles in both of these since they technically are shielded from being brushed against (no open flames). I'd just hang them or set them out of the way so no one messes with them or could knock them off a table....


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

ok so we talked about deco and lighting....so now what about sound effects??? whats the BEST CD to get?


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## neka4ok (May 24, 2010)




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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

ldyaleena said:


> A quick cheap way to make a house look creepy is to add "holes in the walls". I will try my best to explain this. All you need is a sheet of black poster board and some wood grained shelf paper. Cut strips of the shelf paper about an inch thick and add them to the poster paper every couple of inches. Then cut the poster board into odd shaped pieces and stick up on the walls. It looks like the plaster is broken off and the foundation is showing. It really looks real, especially in poor lighting.


this sounds FUN. i can do it while everyone is sleeping b4 the party and wake everyone up by screaming and banging on things and with being 1/2 asleep they will come running out of bedrooms to see wtf is going on. i cant wait to see the looks on their faces when they see all the wholes in the walls


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

Lmao screamer. Please oh please have a video camera rolling if you do that!


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

neka4ok said:


>


bloody bandages everywhere... hmmm gives me an idea. since im doing deco. of a Zombie Dr. / morgue thing i love the idea of having bloody gory bandages all around the house 

thanks


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## ondeko (Oct 14, 2008)

hollowscreamer said:


> those are great, i'll just add them to my To-Do-List of props to make  the spider will be a lot easier than trying to make the bust tho lol...am thinking paper mache' for the bust....hmmm wonder if any tuts on making busts?


OK, I haven't done this. Making a bust could be easy if you start with a foam or paper mache skull [or head]. If you go for life size you can use an old dress shirt to give the shoulders and neck a pattern. I'd use an oatmeal box as the pillar section, maybe find a cheap circular wood plaque to give the bottom of the base a decorative edge, and use a chicken wire armature under the shirt/blouse. A Victorian style woman's neckline would be great since the high collar would cover a lot. you could stiffen the cloth parts with only paint, but a little plaster or paste or monster mud would be better. Remember to weight the base so it isn't top heavy-- maybe fill the oatmeal box with plaster. To make something scaled down, I'd start with one of those miniature plastic faces you can find in the feather/glitter aisle at Michaels or maybe a doll head. I hope that's some help.


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## Ophelia (Nov 3, 2009)

I take a slightly different route than Frankie's Girl. (Partially because I'm still building my stash.  ) While I take down the overtly "ordinary" items, I do leave a fair amount of my day to day decorations up. I have a transition period that begins with autumn decorations, then flows into Halloween decorations.

Anyway, I mix in my Halloween decorations with my regular stuff, but it does need to blend well. I like the: "Normal, but something is off" look. Yes, there are very obvious things, like our empty fish tank turning into a large spider terrarium, and the bats and colored lights in the bathroom. But, other things are more subtle, like changing the living room curtains, replacing an elephant candle holder with a black cat candle holder.

I also like to use scent around the house to help add to it all(candles or wax melts). Sound, I haven't found the right thing yet, so I'm no help for that.

I'm still not nearly as into decorating as I'd like to be, but like many of you, far beyond what most of the people we know are. While some looks cheesy to me, friends seem to be impressed.

Ophelia


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

i know what you mean about blending the deco. in with everyday living. thats what im working on too. my likes are gothic/victorian/celtic , so i love shopping at yardsales and thrift stores 
im learning a lot on here and am collecting items to create great things that will be on show all year round


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## Frankie's Girl (Aug 27, 2007)

I keep Halloween stuff out year-round, so my normal decor tends to be slightly off anyway... but I totally get what you mean, Ophelia! 

I haunt (an intentional pun) things like Craigslist and yard sales in the summer to see if I can find weird decor items. I just missed out on an antique wheelchair (dithered around about the price, and then it was gone once I decided  ) that would have awesome in a corner of a room... and probably would have been a year-round display too. 

I search through craigslist just looking in the antiques - something I found recently that really helps is the craigeasy site - http://craigseasy.com/. You just bookmark it, and then do your searches over on craigslist, and then click the craigeasy bookmark, and it pulls up all of the craigslist results SHOWING THEIR PICTURES so you can flip through them really fast and see whether it's worth it to inquire about the item. 

Bought several photos from the early 1900s at a consignment/antique store. So I'm on the lookout now for interesting frames to put them in.


As far as sound... well on that I'm not sure you'd want my input. I do playlists of songs that have a running theme (either title or the whole song's sound) that works with Halloween/horror. BUT when I'm doing themed ones - I'll take songs I like that just might happen to have a title that works:

Running theme is "black"
Black Celebration/Depeche Mode
Black Moon Creeping/Black Crowes
Black Cadillac/Joyce Green
Paint it Black/Rolling Stones

Running theme is "dead"
Dead Flowers/Rolling Stones
Dead Girls Don't Cry/Nekromantix
Dead Man's Party/OingoBoingo
Dead Men Tell No Tales/Motorhead
Bela Lugosi's Dead/Bauhaus

Running theme is "monsters"
The Boogie Monster/Gnarls Barkley
Freaks In Uniform/HorrorPops
Monster Movie Fan/Nekromantix
She's My Witch/Kip Tyler
Witchcraft/Frank Sinatra
Frankenstein/New York Dolls
Dracula/Gorillaz


So in between all of the music, I put in things like Vincent Price reciting poems - I've got several of him and Karloff reciting things like "The Broomstick Train" and "To Raise The Dead" 

All of that runs in the background of the party. Loud enough to hear if you're listening, but not loud enough to interfere with talking. I've had people burst out laughing when they realize what's playing and realize that there is a method to the music selections.


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## MHooch (Jun 15, 2007)

What I discovered last year were small "pot" lights that I placed on the floor casting light up from the floor, I used red and green (and surprisingly enough no one thought about christmas lol) and placed them behind furniture and under tables and such. Even on top of cabinets. Dim enough to keep the atmosphere dark and light enough for safety. I'll see if I can find a pic and post.


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## Ophelia (Nov 3, 2009)

I'd love to be able to keep things up year round, but DH isn't "there" yet. He hadn't really participated in Halloween since he was a child when we got together. He's come really far, and has found that it can be a lot of fun as an adult too, so I try not to complain. Plus, I've got my dance room, which he let's me do whatever I want to do to it. It's the only way I don't have belly dance inspired things all over the house.  As for Halloween inspired items(and my dark tastes), I do love candles and have them all over, so I suppose I do get to keep some things out all year.

Anyway, I'm sure I will get it to that point someday, just not now. He does worry about others' opinions, and I think that does affect the decor.

Hmm...I just had a thought about creating a great atmosphere for a creepy house. Has anyone created their own cold spots? I think a couple of those in different areas of the house would be a little unsettling to walk into. I just have no idea of how to go about creating one. 

Ophelia


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## hollowscreamer (Feb 25, 2011)

hmmmm what exactly do you mean about "cold spots" ? sounds interesting.
the paranormal cold spots is like a cold area and seeing your breathe kinda thing and getting a creepy feeling like someones watching you.
what else is concidered "cold spots" ?


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## Ophelia (Nov 3, 2009)

Yep, that's what I was talking about. Mainly the sudden temp change in one area, as that(to me) would be difficult enough to create. I'd have no idea on how to make some feel like they're being watched, short of hiring people to hide in corners and stare. 

Ophelia


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## TrickRTreater (Mar 24, 2011)

MHooch said:


> What I discovered last year were small "pot" lights that I placed on the floor casting light up from the floor, I used red and green (and surprisingly enough no one thought about christmas lol) and placed them behind furniture and under tables and such. Even on top of cabinets. Dim enough to keep the atmosphere dark and light enough for safety. I'll see if I can find a pic and post.



Wow, that's a great idea. Didn't even think of that!

I bet that'd go great with the Jack O Lampshades I made!


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## SimplyJenn (Jul 29, 2010)

I always have people inside the house on Halloween and I want the lighting to be different (I've just kept regular lighting on when certain people come over). If I keep it dim or in color, some people don't always like that when socializing and want the regular lights on. What can I do to keep most of the area in sync with the decor, but then have enough light when they want to eat and socialize... Esp for the partial Halloweeners. Thanks for any responses.


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## MissMandy (Apr 18, 2011)

SimplyJenn said:


> I always have people inside the house on Halloween and I want the lighting to be different (I've just kept regular lighting on when certain people come over). If I keep it dim or in color, some people don't always like that when socializing and want the regular lights on. What can I do to keep most of the area in sync with the decor, but then have enough light when they want to eat and socialize... Esp for the partial Halloweeners. Thanks for any responses.


Maybe drape cloth over lamps and such. Either a sheer black material or even black lace.


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## SimplyJenn (Jul 29, 2010)

That's a good idea. Thx.


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## bl00d (Aug 26, 2010)

Turn the bathroom into a murder scene! fill the tube w/ blood and toss in a body or organs.


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## Witchful Thinking (Jun 3, 2011)

bl00d said:


> Turn the bathroom into a murder scene! fill the tube w/ blood and toss in a body or organs.


I have heard that it will stain or leave a tint on the porcelain - is that nonsense? Please tell me its nonsense, I have always thought this would be a great idea but don't want a pink/red tub.


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## Skullea (Sep 1, 2009)

Red food coloring does tend to stain porcelain. I've heard of people using cooking spray first and then using it; I didn't want to even attempt it. I purchased red H2Goo for our tub last year, and it worked great...nice "gel" effect, too.  http://www.thinkgeek.com/geek-kids/e6d1/


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## boogybaby (Jun 6, 2011)

heres a few practice pics i took to see where im at and what else i can do to get a creepy dinningroom effect.
i still need to make "holes" (faux of coarse) in the walls and make a haunted portrait and cob webs all over and for lighting i will see how some red bulbs will work in the light above the table and the candle on table is a LED light.
also thinking of placing some lighting under the table which will be softened with a longer black tablecloth drapping down.


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## kmb123 (Oct 6, 2009)

Wow boogybaby, your display looks great! 

I too am going for the same effect. I want everything to look as natural as possible, like an old creepy house really would look back in the day. I've been looking up various old horror films and paying attention to the surroundings in the background which has helped, along with all the great advice from the good folks here as well. 

Good luck...you're off to a great start!


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## marigolddesigns (Sep 5, 2010)

I am the queen of repurpose...i've revamped an old chandelier from our friends remodel by replacing all the lightbulbs with flicker bulbs and hanging it in the center of our garage...Club Morgue...for dancing, etc. I've also hung old window sashes from the garage ceiling to add visual interest and hung from them the old gauze clothes. Cuttings from leafless shrubs, tree branches can be sprayed anycolor and suspended with fishing wire anywhere in the house to give that old creepy look, you can also use that to hang spiders from or anything else.
We had a friend of ours make us a lifesize oldfashioned style coffin out of insulation sheets. I sprayed it with a gray primer and faux painted it. Last year it was in our living room as a funeral parlor, this year I'm repurposing it by lining it with heavy plastic and making it a cooler at the bar. 
also for the bathroom, I'm considering buying some red pool dye, and adding it to the tank, everytime someone flushes...red water...kinda creepy and gross. Have fun! I also love all the ideas people post!!!


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## marigolddesigns (Sep 5, 2010)

...also .....I love BLUE lights! gives a very eerie look, give em a try!


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## rosella_au (Sep 23, 2010)

boogybaby said:


>


Love all your serving pieces! I'm jealous...  Your display looks great


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## printersdevil (Sep 7, 2009)

I was in Goodwill yesterday and they had an old decrepid looking silverware box with some odds and ends pieces of silver. It was really tarnished and looked rough. I thot, who would buy that. Then I smiled and thought "it would be a great prop". I didn't have an interest in it, but I am kicking myself for not buying a small silver or plated teapot.


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## boogybaby (Jun 6, 2011)

thanks everyone 
i guess i am on the right track to getting it to start looking creepy??
all the serving pieces and even the deep red curtains amd the cherub i painted to look like stone are from goodwill lol

i also have a old wooden box for the silverware along with just a few tarnished forks and spoons, but was trying to figure out what to do with them since i dont have many pieces. i thought about placing it on the sideboard i have on the other side of the room with a creepy surprise waiting in it when a nosey someone opens it lol......like maybe a half eaten bloody rat with guts hanging out 

blue lights.....hmmmm.... i think i have some in the shed from Christmas...i'll give it a shot and see what it looks like ... thanks for the idea


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## BlackCat4 (Jul 19, 2009)

Frankie's Girl you have some great ideas! Love the pics! I take down most of my 'normal' stuff and replace it too. One thing I like to do, is take pictures from previous parties...print them out in black and white (usually 5x7) and put them in cheap frames. I look for the strangest pics, where someone is making a scary face, or doesn't even know they're having their picture taken. You can crop them too to make the effect better. And people love seeing themselves (and our other friends) displayed at the party.


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