Thread: Witches kitchen

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Hi guys, I was hoping I could pick your brains. I wanr to turn my kitchen into a witch's kitchen for halloween but i'm having trouble thinking about what a witches kitchen would look like. Also i don't know if i can make my kitchen scary enough. All the cabinets are very light wood and the tiles are multicoloured in bright colours! Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Sorry for any typies, I am writing this on my phone

For starters turn all of the lights off and only use candles to light the room. That should get you started. Look up witch jar tutorials as well. Mason jars are pretty much and its a relatively easy project to do. See if you can find one of those misters that you plug in and drop in a bucket/cauldron of water.

I also am doing a witches kitchen for starters i am filling up jars (pickle jars and such) with different colored liquids (water with food coloring), and eye balls and spiders and different things like that, I also have a toad statue that we bought to put in the garden this summer but i thought it would go perfect for the theme and i no how u feel about the light colored cabinets...i plan on putting a bunch of l.e.d candles around and replacing the light bulbs of my lamps with purple light bulbs

One year I went to the dollar store or wal-mart and bought a bunch of the cheap plastic tablecloths, I covered the cabinets with those and even though it was cheap it totally changed the look. A witch would have lots of jars and candles and odd baskets or trays of things, almost think Tia Dalma's house in the 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Don't forget a good broom, old worn table cloths on your dining table if you have one in your kitchen. Dyed cheesecloth looks awesome draped over things. Also reference Hocus Pocus, they had a very witchy house. I like using movies as reference points.

I'm not a haunter so I'm not talking from experience but what I would do is the aforementioned witches jars which can be filled with any liquid labeled as a potion. Also you can fill some jars with fake eyeballs and claws and name them whatever you choose. Also put up some fake webs because apparently witches aren't good housekeepers. I'm not sure what to tell you about the cabinets. If you're not willing to paint over them you can just put some wallpaper up and take it down when you're done with it.

WeirdRob, my house is rented so I can't make any major alterations. I'd even be worried about putting wallpaper on the cabinets in case it's really hard to get off and they're left all streaky.

Get either black plastic tablecloths (the really cheap thin plastic ones - I've found them at the dollar stores) and/or cheesecloth. Give it a soak in some tea or coffee for a yellowed effect (it's mostly BRIGHT white when you purchase it), and then SHRED it, pop holes in it, pull the threads and get a lovely shreddy cobwebby effect. Drape the cheesecloth over the cabinets (if they are the type that have a space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling, then that's easy, just get a ladder and use pushpins or masking tape on the top of the cabinets where no one would even see the attachment areas). If you've got all the way to the ceiling cabinets, then pushpins IN the ceiling right in front of the cabinets to hang. (get a small tube of white caulk to repair holes after if they are noticeable from the floor). For the plastic, I'd try ripping/shred it into strips (but not while hanging as it would just pull right off the pins if that's what you end up using). If you go with the cheesecloth, snag some plastic spiders or even snakes into it!


Lots of potion/apothecary bottles like these:
Homemade Apothecary Jars
What's in your potion bottles & apothecary jars?

Check thrift stores - old oil and vinegar bottles and perfume bottles turn up at mine frequently. If no luck, try the craft stores (any place that stocks vases for decorating should have at least a small assortment of cork bottles. You can also save old pickle, jam/jelly and other interesting jars, soak in hot water to remove the labels and spray paint the lids to get lots of interesting glass bottles and jars for filling and decorating.

A cauldron or two, or three, (party stores hopefully would have some of the plastic cauldrons in your area) filled with bones, snakes and body parts (not sure what the availability is on those in your area, but even spiders and eyeballs or something would be great!).

A hat rack with various witch hats on it would be quite in keeping with the theme too... and if you can locate some black cat type decor (either a life-sized one, or just images and other type of decoration) that would also work with the theme.

Brooms. It isn't that hard to make an old fashioned witchy looking broom if you have access to trees/woods. Sturdy handle, straw or twigs, and twine to secure it to the broom handle. Use scissors to clip off the unruly bits of straw/twigs and shape the broom sweep end. It doesn't have to look fantastic, but it would definitely be cool to have a few of those leaned up against an alcove in the kitchen...

Put a string light or two (green would be great!) up on top of your cabinets if the are the kind you can put things up on, especially if you use the cheesecloth drape. Make sure you can't see the actual string of lights, so they are up there, casting an eerie green glow.

A few witch cookbooks and spellbooks would be really cool to make (do a search on here for spellbook) and have out on the counters...

Originally Posted by Lea32R

All the cabinets are very light wood and the tiles are multicoloured in bright colours! Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

Don't worry about the colors! You can turn it to your advantage. Don't forget the story of Hansel and Gretel, the witch had a home of candy and cakes. You could have candys and cakes around along with your cauldron and witches brooms. And don't forget to change the light bulb to one of those color bulbs. That can make a huge difference.

Originally Posted by Lea32R

WeirdRob, my house is rented so I can't make any major alterations. I'd even be worried about putting wallpaper on the cabinets in case it's really hard to get off and they're left all streaky.

What about making a frame out of VERY thin wood....like 1x3 or thinner if you can find it....then attach to the cabinets using those 3M sticky-things that are supposed to come off easily? Or make a frame out of funky picture frames & plexi-glass?

Could you send us some pics of the kitchen in question? I have some tricks for what I do to my own kitchen each year but want to see the spot for inspiration.