Now that things are winding down I'm anxious to get back to the shed and continue working on a few projects. Here's a little update on the to-do list:
*Review last year's setup photos and find the areas needing the most improvement
-Done! After reviewing last year's photos, it was easy to find areas needing improvement. One of the biggest flaws involved lighting. The interior lighting shining through our curtains kind of ruins the spooky effect. See our big living room window. I don't think floral curtains really add to the ambience:
I will address this by hanging blackout fabric on the interior to block out the interior light.
The floodlights need to be disconnected on both sides of the house. That well-lit area where the cars are is a whee bit out of place.
Another issue is the normal appearance of the house itself. I aged everything around the house but the house was more or less left untouched. This year I plan on adding webbing (and maybe spiders depending on budget) to the house.
I want to add skeletons to the roof but will only do so if I can figure out a way to not damage the roof in the process. The gargoyles need to make it to the roof because they looked strange sitting on the porch last year.
*Make a general layout sketch for the 2014 display
-Kind of done! I haven't actually sketched it out but I do have a general layout in mind. For the front right tree I plan on doing a spider-focused theme. I'm imagining the tree covered in webs, spiders of all sizes, spider eggs, and a "spider victim" hanging from the tree. The left tree will feature a witch display, the center of the yard will still have the graveyard. I need to figure out what to do with the upper left portion of the yard but chances are that there won't be room in the budget this year to add to it.
*Clear out the shed to make room for prop building
-Done! See last post. :)
*Research and purchase a digital projector
-Done! After much research I settled on an Epson. We love it. It has already been used for an outdoor movie night, several indoor movie nights, and it has all the features needed for the ghost window projection.
*Research lighting ideas/information
-I have tried, but lighting is still going over my head. After reading several forum threads I am still confused and will have to research this further.
*Re-do the foam "boards" for all 5 windows
-Haven't started. Need to purchase sheets of foam before I can start on this. I can start by measuring the windows, though. That's free.
*Carve and paint tombstones
-Haven't started. I did acquire a huge lot of styrofoam (for free!) and tested out my jigsaw on a scrap piece. It cuts amazingly well. I can't wait to dive into this project.
*Prep the existing tombstones so that they stay in place when staked
-Haven't started.
This list doesn't include any of the great prop ideas/tutorials I've stumbled upon. Those won't be addressed until this list is checked off. There are 3 months left until setup but a lot of this involves lengthy prep time (glue drying, paint drying, etc.) with multiple steps. My time is already somewhat limited with a full time job and toddler so I really need to crank some of this out.
