The Party Begins

Today I managed a few more hours on the Haunted Hangout. The skeletons are each playing his or her role, and many little touches have been added.

In the living room, two of the skeletons are having a cozy fireside chat. The picture over the fireplace is a sticker from the Dollar Tree. The tub of pumpkins are more putka seeds. The little mirror by the door is an embellishment that has been in the stash for some time. The little column table by the sofa was an old lipstick tube. It was ivory colored, so I toned it down a bit with my favorite raw umber and a little Seminole green. I see a piece of blue tape on the fireplace and a slot neat the ceiling that needs attention. That might be a good place for a spider web.

The ground floor room on the right is the game room. Two of the skeletons are getting ready for a game of checkers, while a third one has made himself comfortable in the bow window as he reads the Kansas City Star. The bench under the window sports a book on playing card games. There are some cards to be added to the scene. One of the pets thought he had hidden his bones here until they were uncovered when the table moved. The skirted table is one of those plastic triangle thingies that keep the box lid from falling on the pizza. I'm not pleased with the way it turned out. I believe I'll replace it with a rectangular table. A skirted table in that spot is good as it covers the ghost light wires as they come in  through the window and go under the floor.

Above the game room is another comfortable place to hang out. This skeleton is deep into something with a cup of tea at his elbow. The cupboard has a variety of jars and cans, although since they lack stomachs, I'm really not sure how skeletons eat. (The potential mess from the coffee and tea has also occurred to me, but hey -- let them clean it up.) The pot of what looks like dead flowers is actually peacock feathers. I think Heidi made this for a swap a while back; it hasn't aged well, which makes it perfect for this house.

The other upstairs room has a coal stove rather than the fireplace called for in the original plans. The wonderful chest was a gift from Lynette Lowery (nuttiwebgal) many years ago. The pumpkin in the corner and the bench were gifts from my friend Linda. I'm not sure what activity this skeleton is enjoying. Perhaps just some quiet time to think is what's happy for him today.

Up in the attic I added a new larger-than-life owl found at Michael's. The chest was scratch built by a lady here in Marshall who died a few years ago. The snakes in the chest are Lemax. The attic isn't quite this light when viewed in real life. The snakes in the shadows are something extra and unexpected for viewers.

While rummaging through the stash I found an unpainted birdhouse. A little raw umber and a slash of black for the opening and voila! -- a bat house. The bats are from a scrapbook packet.

The last skeleton is out on the porch, enjoying a pipe. The other skeletons sent him outside. This isn't a very good photo as the railing blocks his legs.

I needed to get a shot of his legs for you. They were one of the more challenging poses. Did I mention that it turned out that a combination of E6000 and super glue gel  were what was needed for the orthopedic work.

Here's a shot of the outside with a raven on the chimney. He's another larger-than-life character. He balances the big witch on the other side of the roof. (You can see the bat house on the far side of the attic window.)

A few more tchotchkes were added, but I'll save them for the final round of photos. The goal is to finish this house tomorrow. I haven't decided whether to add curtains or not. Stay tuned!

Orthopedic Surgery in Mini

So much to do, so little time! And so little space to work in. What a cluttered workspace! Click on a pictures to see a larger version.

I spent a good part of today working on the skeletons. A combination of E6000 and super glue gel plus tiny bits of tape seem to be doing the trick. While waiting for glue to dry, I managed to finish some other items but somehow didn't manage to get them photographed. Well, you'll see them later.

This fellow is going to be sitting in the bay window, reading his copy of the Kansas City Star.

This one is relaxing with a book. Note the spider web in the window. It's from a bag of Hallowe'en confetti.

This one is enjoying a cup of coffee and keeping an eye on one of the house pets.

And this one is getting ready for a game of checkers.

Considering that this building has no kitchen, no bathroom, and no bedroom, it appears to have morphed from a Haunted House to a Haunted Hangout.

Haunted House Trim

I'm getting closer to working on the inside, although there was a slight bump in the road. A few days ago I went downstairs to work on the Haunted House but was distracted by a pile of boxes under the stairs that held a lot of books about the American Civil War. In one of my former lifetimes I was a book publisher. The boxes hold copies of books that my company published as well as some from my private library.

This is just part of the books. I opened a seller's account on amazon.com and moved some of the better books upstairs to the "salesroom". Some boxes remain under the stairs and some have moved to another part of the basement. I finally got the table cleared off this afternoon.

I added channel molding to the raw wall & ceiling edges, and worked on one of the two fireplaces that come with the kit. I used mini vinyl tiles on the fireplace, painted the mantle, and put black-painted cardstock on the back the under to form a small hearth. I don't think I'll use the 2nd fireplace. The rooms are small, and I have something much more fitting to put in its place.

Here you can see how nice the back looks with the channel molding in place. I cut some shapes from a piece of siding to glue over the three slots in the base of the gable & will paint them. I think the whole gable area will get a thin coat of the raw umber. I must say, the raw umber has become my go-to color for haunted houses!

I mentioned filling in the space beneath the house, but have had a change of plan. (This is news? lol) I glued a lazy susan on a piece of board to use as a base for the house. I'm going to make a skinny bit of landscaping the width of the house that will block the openings. It will be easily moved when I want to pull out the hidden cord for the ghost lights.