Thread: Do you "detail" your display?

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Kind of a two part question;
for those who set up a display, do you take extra pains to detail the area? That is to say not just setting up props, but adding things for extra atmosphere; Spanish moss in trees or hanging off tombstones, creepy cloth or burlap for layers/texture. Gnarly tree branches laid out or even staked upright in the graveyard to simulate old dead trees? I guess over the years we've attempted to step it up on these little details that a lot of people notice and that add a lot of depth and interest to a scene.

On a related note, do you take time to make your haunt look less like your house and more like a creepy place?
Things such as removing potted plants fron the scene, putting away lawn furniture, garden hoses, non Halloween flags, grills, political signs, etc.. These can really detract from an otherwise great haunt scene. I've seen pics of some nice spooky graveyards and cool light schemes but brightly colored potted mums on the porch and an American flag hanging out in front (it's okay to take it down for a night!) or a propane grill on the side of a house where guests are walking. We stash all of this stuff away on Halloween night to remove added clutter, and to "de-houseify" our house, making it look spooky.
Anyone else do this stuff?

My biggest slow down is I build during daylight and make my props more than they need to be to be seen in the dark. And so I overwork more than it really needs to be.

Absolutely!!

The week before Halloween I bring out branches, moss, stained cheese cloth and burlap, etc. I try and do as much as I can to make it NOT be my house. Some burlap from the garden section and a few well placed floods really makes a difference. Fog machines are also nice.

I move the cars out of the driveway and actually park them a far distance from the house. and mask or obscure anything I can't just move to the backyard. The only thing I can't move is a dark blue pot fountain near our front porch, but on Halloween, I put in a heating coil and drop in chunks of dry ice so it looks like a bubbling cauldron.

Yup! Forgot to mention moving the cars. We have neighbors who let us use their driveway each year, since ours is part of the walk-through.

With my yard on the small side ,I detail the heck out of it.
I used to think no one noticed, until people commented on things they saw.
Yes, we put the cars in the garage,hide the garden hoses, ect.
Having desert landscaping kinda helps the old west theme anyhow.....

A pro-haunt might be all about location, location, location, but a home-haunt is all about details, details, details. I even found some real tumbleweeds for our ghost town.

Howdy Wyatt!

Yep, I do all the things you mentioned. Plus, I take half of the house letters down and the few remaining I have them hanging off so the house looks more derelict. I also hang shredded garbage bags and burlap from the house lights. Oh, also replace the house lights with flicker bulbs and replace the landscape lights with red bulbs.

Finally, on Halloween night, we 'crash' our two cars together in the driveway, wrap police tape and have skellies hanging out of the doors.

yes & yes; I boarded my windows, put up 'haunted shutters'; hung swamp moss in the tree, etc...

im into a lot of painting, like shading and stuff, and honestly, the shading i do, to make something look old and worn out, you really dont see at night. One year i had a friend going to cape cod and i made him find a whole bunch of mussle clam shells. I took them a glues a lot of them to the underside of the ship and i took some great stuff foam and put them sitting up to make a clam bed. I put it in various places on the ship deck. The funny thing is nobody noticed it, until the next day when people came by who came the night before and were amazed by the detail.

I would love to add the little details like moss and such... just run out of time.

I do get everything like hoses, planters that don't fit, etc.. put away. I would love to move my car, but there really isn't a good place to move it, so it stays in drive and I keep wanting to decorate it too (hubby's goes in the garage). THIS year I have two nice skellies, so one of them is going to be driving.