Halloween 2007

Halloween is my favorite holiday; better than Xmas!  Yeah Xmas has gifts, but you have to put up with all that good will towards men crap, and you always end up spending more on gifts for others than you get for yourself.  Halloween has candy, lots and lots of candy, and you get to scare the crap out of people (or at least have fun trying.)

Five years ago, about the time I realized it was scary in not a good way for a grown man to be playing dress up, I started decorating the house.  Each year, hampered only by my lack of money,  limited imagination, and mediocre art skills,  I add a little more to the yard.  By September 1st, I've stopped taking care of the front yard to give the house that abandoned look.  October 1st I start building stuff, and a couple of weeks later I'm usually ready to start putting stuff out in the yard. 


Before

After
(please ignore the step ladder I forgot to put away)

 

This year I added a second column to my porch and clad the front of my house in grey painted foam.  The paint is a special mix of tempura white, black latex, joint compound, and sand.  The sand and joint compound give the paint a semifinished stone texture when rolled on with a 1/4 inch nap roller.  I thin it way down for the first coat so it fills in all the voids in the foam with color.  I roll on a thick second coat which gives it a good surface texture.  An uneven finish actually makes it look better.  Next year, I'll probably add  a boarded up windows effect and cover the top of the house.

 

I built a fake wall on the left side to hide my sound effects (aka a boom box with a scary sounds CD) and fog machine.)
I cut in a window and hung last year's costume in it.  I have an orange light shining on it at night to light it up.   In front of the window is an LED mini fogger,
Detail of the mini fogger

 

More pictures in no particular order:
   

 
 

about Joe's Diner

some Photography

from the Kitchen

crazy for Halloween

make Contact