17 days till Hallowe'en - Fence Part 1

So, here's how the fencing began, as a big giant pile of wood furring strips and PVC.  That rug on top is not for Hallowe'en, that's for my bedroom so my silly little dog stops sliding around my bedroom like a fuzzy little hockey puck. One of these days, she's going to dislocate a hip.

So, what you see there is 55 - 1" x 3" x 8' furring strips. Generally, they are $1.89 a piece at Home Depot, but because I agreed to take the picked-through ones in the carrel, and not make them bring out a fresh pack of them, the manager discounted them to .99 cents a piece. Woot.

The PVC is 1/2 inch schedule 40. They are in 10 foot lengths and are $1.89 a piece as well, but I got a bulk discount, so take off, $10.80. Woot again. On the bottom of the cart is 4 -10 foot lengths of 1 inch PVC, at $3.64 per piece.

Since that wouldn't fit in my car, I rented a truck at Home Depot for $19.99. Such a deal, you wouldn't believe.


Then, from King Architectural Metals, I ordered these plastic fence finials. They were .33 a piece at a grand total of $40.

I also bought some screws and brackets, they came in at about $20.

I had a bunch of random black spray paint (from whence it all came, I know not) which I completely used up, so I did have to buy a bit more. I will probably buy even more. I'm not going to include that in the price yet, so stay tuned for more pricing.

The pumpkins for the end pieces were $3.00 at Target, so $21 total on those.

Here's the breakdown:

Furring strips - $55
PVC 1/2" - $216
Truck rental - $19.99
Pumpkins - $21
Finials - $40
Screws and brackets - $20
Never having to build Hallowe'en fencing again - $priceless

So the total so far for fencing was $372. Compared to 120 feet of pre-made metal fencing at $1,200, it's quite the bargain, and with this, I can take it down and stack it up in the garage for next year rather than having a cemetery fence around my property year round, which I'm sure my lovely neighbors would just adore.

As I noted before, I've tried cheaper options. They were cheap, they looked cheap, and frankly, they didn't work. So I'm pretty happy with this outcome.

Stay tuned for the build in progress, helpers, and well, that "measure twice, cut once" is a real thing that should probably be followed a little more closely by people like me...

Countdown to Hallowe'en - 30 DAYS!!!!!!

It has begun!  The big countdown!

Despite working my ass off the last couple of weekends, I am definitely not ready to start setting up the yard yet. Not until the fencing is finished and in order for the fencing to be finished....

I'm gonna need a lot more black paint. A LOT MORE.

I'm doing 120 feet of fencing which is actually going quite quickly. I've set up a little system for running off the holes - not sure if you can see it but each piece of fencing will have 3 cross bars - so I've tied the three together with zip ties so that they are all in line with each other for the vertical posts.

These are nearly finished and it's a matter of painting and then screwing everything together.

I should be able to set up by the 11th of October. That's relatively late for me, but not too late. Of course this weekend is, once again, going to be in the high 90's in the Valley. So I will likely start work early in the morning and get inside before 11 a.m. to work on the other props inside until it's cool enough to work outside again.

Tomorrow I'll share some of the props I've been working on inside the house.

Happy October everyone!

Prop production

So, this year's theme is coming together. I, of course, decided to completely change up my theme somewhere around the first of August, which gave me about 2 and a half months to prep for Hallowe'en. Since August, I have been madly trying to finish the projects I was going to work on anyway, whether or not I changed the theme - lighting and fencing. In between working on these projects, I've been squirreling away time working on the little props that are going into making the new theme work.

Michael correctly stated that it was a lot of little detail and I wasn't really looking at the bigger picture. The bigger picture is a lot of little detail! I think people will be amused.

Personally, I like to inject some humor into my creepy. I always like to make people laugh at a little joke here and there. This year's theme has it's tongue firmly planted in cheek. I'll be giving away little clues throughout the next couple of weeks and hopefully by the end, it will all make sense (or it will be a giant mess, but who cares, it's not like we're landing on Mars!).

Here are the first steps on one of my props:

 Doesn't look like much yet, but it's coming together!

4 days til Hallowe'en!!!!! No, really this time...or is it 3?

Whatever. It's getting close and I have about a billion and 30 things to do before the big night. Adding up days is not one of them.

But, sparking from the sick pit that is my brains (braaaaaaiiiinnnnnnsssss), here is our front yard as it stood yesterday.

 

It's so pretty.  And at night, sooper spooky!  Notice the mass murder that occurred inside the house.  Lemme tell you, when the sun sets and shines in the windows, it's a total gorefest in there!

This is one of the 5 new tombstones for this year's Senior Prom themed Hallowe'en.  Poor Parker, touched down in heaven on the day before his 16th birthday.  Wonder what happened there???

People cannot pass our house without stopping to gawk.  LOVE IT!!!

I'm having a blast this year!

4 days til Hallowe'en!!!!!

Holy Hallowe'en Batman!!!  How did it suddenly get this close!!!!!

Actually, I've been out back building up a storm...

Did you know I had brick columns in my front yard?  Neither did my neighbors until last night! This is the first photo.  There will be more coming tonight and tomorrow. 

18 Days until Hallowe'en - Updates

Candlery 

I'm about 50% finished with the candles - those should be finished tomorrow night. Last year I made my candles out of toilet paper and paper towel rolls.  They were awesome but they definitely did not hold up.  This year I'm making them out of PVC pipe.  More expensive, less recycling, but at least I'm not wasting a pack of glue sticks every year. These should last for a couple of years at least, and next year I'm definitely going to be reusing them.

I got the idea from Dave Lowe and then Ghoul Friday, two of my favorite Hallowe'enie bloggers. 

Major glitch.  

I special ordered some materials at Home Depot for my cemetery columns and they called me at 8 p.m. last night to let me know that they wouldn't be able to get them in.  Aaargh!!!  I must say, this does put a crimp in my activities.

I love my Home Depot.  Pretty much every time I go in there, they are helpful and friendly and have what I need. This time, they failed me. 

Grrr, I say. Grr. 

Costumery

People keep asking me what I'm going to be this year, but I'm not telling.  It's an '80s theme, so one can start there. The Mr. and I are, as usual, going as a pair.  The year before last we were Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett.  Hmmm. Who might we be???

I hope to have photos of the columns in progress and the completed candles this weekend.  Stay tuned.

21 days til Hallowe'en - prop building

Aaaah!!!

I did a lot of work this weekend.  Got the framing of all of the columns built and got my new gravestones.  Unfortunately, it's going to be 20 billion degrees in Burbank this week, which is great for paint drying but not as great for me being outside actually putting paint on things.  So I'll probably be working in the garage a bit and then doing whatever I can indoors.  I have candles and signs to make, both of which can be done indoors (though it would probably be easier outdoors, but oh well).  I can also put a first coat on the gravestones and have those dry in no time flat.

The guys at Home Depot are starting to recognize me...