Halloween House Designs When I was younger, nothing gave me more pleasure than doing a really good job in decorating my house for Halloween. It always had a theme, and was always awesome. Granted, in retrospect, it was clearly done by a child, but it was still one of the better decorated houses in my neighborhood. The reason being, for a while I made (on paper) designs of my house and then drew on the decorations. I then simply went with the best one. Simple enough. After a ew years, I didnt need the designs anymore. It became second nature. That was in Westmount - gigantic old tree in front, big old house, very shadowy entrance, etc. It had a lot going for it in terms of Halloween.

Then, when we moved to Howie Centre, the idea of decorating our new, yellow house with no trees at all seemed kinda futile. Nothing could really make the place look creepy. So, for many years I kinda stopped caring about Halloween decorations. The second nature aspect of decorating has faded from me, in a way. *Sigh*

But now! Now Im in a new old house! One with an old tree out front and a shadowy entrance! This is my year for a comeback! However, Im not going into this without a plan, which is why I went back to my old idea of designing it on paper first and then picking the best idea. So, I give you here, my so-far designs for my house in town!

Idea #1

This idea is called Massacre House, for fairly obvious reasons. Actually, all my titles are fairly obvious. No point in being subtle with them. This was, obviously, the first idea I had. However, I got the idea before I got the idea to go back to drawing them (which is the only one in this series that has that). The entire idea is based on the fact that we have a big picture window right next to our front door, right on the street. I saw that window and said - a few weeks ago, I believe - Im going to write something on that window for Halloween. In blood! The question then became, well what do I write? The original idea seen there is HELP although there are a few alternates under it such as: RUN, BEWARE, and a cut off version of the first, HEL with bloody finger marks after it, indicating that someone was dragged away before the message could be completed. I think Ill end up going with RUN as its kinda weird. The idea then just became a bloody mess with body parts everywhere, making the design not just one window and an otherwise normal looking house. So yes, lots of blood on this one. Probably fake.

Idea #2

This is one of my favorite ideas of the set. Its called Spiders Killed Everyone. I got the idea from the blood idea, actually. I was trying to think of something else that I could just maek the whole thing one thing (like just blood) and I thought to myself, Hmm... lots of people use that fake cobweb with spiders stuff, but no one uses TONS of it! so thats where this idea comes from. Literally just cobwebs all over EVERYTHING. Inside, outside, on the roof, in the tree (which isnt pictured, but oh well), etc. Filled with those little spiders that double as rings for tiny fingers. However, to make it better, I decided to add body parts. It was originally just going to be a hand sticking through the web in the window (to make it look like someone was reaching through) but that looked cool on its own, so I added a few more parts (ears, eyes, etc.) which then gave me the idea to add them everywhere. I particularly like the foot dangling from the eavesdrop in the front. On the roof would be a giant spider - possibly the spider queen. Like from Arachnophobia.

Idea #3

Idea #3 comes from my creepier childhood designs. I got bored of making props and such that werent actually scary. It took a lot of time and energy for very little results. Occasionally a oh, that werewolf is cute or something like that. I then got the idea that not-scary could be REALLY scary if there was one thing out of place. One thing that is legitimately creepy that people arent sure theyre supposed to be seeing. Two of my better displays of this from youth were a big wad of raw meat at the end of the walk. It was mostly just gross. The other was a bunch of really fake bats hanging from the ceiling - looking all happy and flying - and then one very realistic looking fake bat, just hanging there, looking dead. As if I just hung up a dead bat. And all that usually worked, and fun times were had by all. This design is the next step in that. Yes, idea #3 is titled Regular Halloween w/ Creepy. The decorations are very simple. A dangling fake bat and spider; a very typical pumpkin design; maybe a Happy Halloween banner. Etc. The topper is the tipped over baby carriage in the walkway with just a few drops of blood around it. Should it be there?! Was there an accident?! Are there babies bleeding somewhere?! Why wont something be done?! Why, oh why?!? Fun!

Idea #4

This idea was actually Erins (she might as well have a say - she lives here too). Its a more concrete theme - the Mad Scientists Lair (or lab... whatever). Basically the idea is to make the small porch area look as little like a porch as possible. More so, you guessed it, a mad scientists lair! Basically it would require a bunch of props to do so, as well as a smoke machine. Ive always wanted a smoke machine (purely for Halloween purposes... otherwise I hate them). There would also be a green light outside (giving everything a somewhat creepy glow, I think, which is always a good thing) and a flickering red light on the inside, giving the impression of some kind of bloody experiment. Blood seems to be a theme this year. Probably because I watch so much Dexter.

Idea #5

Idea #5 - the final idea of this series - is another more concrete theme. A staple, if you will. Using a dungeon or torture chamber is usually overdone, but at the same time, its not usually done well. Usually its just a hanging skeleton with some shackles, and then a cardboard banner that says Trick-or-Treaters Beware! But my dungeon would be different. Thered be at least 3 skeletons, as well as many more assorted bones (probably from a fourth skeleton) all in different stages of torture, and then simply left to die/rot to the bones. One shackled to the front, another using our walkway railing as the rack, and then at least one more in some other torture device on the inside. Again, some lighting will be utilized for this one - a red light on the outside this time. I guess the idea there it to cast some light, but a fairly dark one. Dungeons tend to be dark. And red, for some reason. I wouldnt want to mess with tradition. Sadly, while I do really like this idea, both it and idea #4 would be kinda expensive, seeing how its all fairly elaborate props. Oh well! Theyre still possible!

So, for now those are my options on how to spookify my house for the coming Halloween. Maybe you could pick one for me? Post it on the main page, or in the forum or something. It means that, in some way, you helped decorate an awesomely decorated house! Then you dont have to actually do anything with yours! Convenient!

Oh, and if you want to know which one I DO go with, just come around on Halloween and give it a look! A scary look! Boooo!