Cheap Halloween Decorations: Dollhouse to Haunted House

Transform a worn-out dollhouse into a frightfully fun Halloween decoration with spray paint, craft supplies, and creepy miniatures.

Medium budget

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This guide shows how to turn an old broken dollhouse into a spooky haunted house for cheap. Using flat black spray paint, acrylics, glitter, and miniatures, you can create a detailed Halloween centerpiece. The project is kid-friendly and lets everyone add their own creepy touches like gauze curtains, moss-filled window boxes, and tiny props.

Directions

Put on gloves and a face mask, then grab a can (or two, depending on size) of Krylon flat black spray paint and give your old dollhouse or playhouse an even coat. Be prepared for overspray.

Use acrylic paints to add color: paint around three windows with orange (you'll likely need multiple coats), the front bushes green, and the window boxes plus top trim purple.

Sprinkle on some sparkle with purple, orange, and black glitter. Note that the black glitter will appear as a very dark purple once it's on the surface.

Let the kids join in by placing fun miniatures from dollhouse, Halloween, or scrapbooking sections. Drape white gauze in each window to look like curtains.

Finish with details: pop a little ghost into the top window, tuck Spanish moss into the window boxes, stick a “Spooky” sticker on the railing, glue a creepy coffin to the back wall, hot glue a pumpkin and broom to the left of the porch, hand-paint a name on the mailbox, and hang ghostly portraits in the windows.