[jasonmmiller1975]

Hi all! I've been meaning to get back on here, but I've been so busy building stuff. Anyway, now that I'm finished with my latest idea, I thought I'd post some pics and videos.

Since I already have two 42' TVs with media players that I use in my outdoor Christmas decorations, I knew I needed to use them in my Halloween stuff as well. Also, I've been wanting to make a mausoleum/crypt wall out of my garage door and thought I could somehow combine everything. After looking at the latest offerings from AtmosFX (I already have their Jack O' Lantern Jamboree) I settled on the Eerie Eyes videos. I was pretty sure it would be perfect.

First I had to frame up my garage using 2"x2" lumber and four-4'x8' sheets of 1" insulation that, by now, everyone has used. Getting everything leveled was tricky because my garage was not, in any way, square or level.





After I got everything relatively level and made some lines, I had to take it all back down so I could draw everything out.



As soon as I had all my grout lines laid out I started routing. I used a small Ryobi rotary cutter and a straight edge and went to town.



Then I laid out the names I was going to use. I decided on some Bart Simpson classics. I had to be careful with my choices because here in the Bay Area everyone gets offended and I'm not trying to piss off my neighbors.



I also had to cut out the holes for the TVs so I took a bunch of copy paper and laid them on top of the TV so I could trace exactly where my cutouts were going to be. Then I transferred the papers to the insulation board.



Then it was time to start painting. I HATE painting! I started with the recessed grout lines, names and dates. I used flat back.


Then I used a light grey to go over the entire thing. I really liked the way the whole thing looked in light grey. What does everyone think?


To be continued...

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

I'm going to put all the pics and videos up and write a brief description after. When I put the pics in between sentences like I originally had, they turn upside down!

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

More pics. I really wish they'd stop posting upside down!!

I wish I would have taken pics of the making of the fleur de lis. I love the way it turned out. It's just a piece of 1" foam cut and shaped and then glued onto another piece of 1" foam. I really wanted to put a gargoyle, but the ones I could find that I liked were either way too small or super expensive and there's no way I would ever attempt carving a gargoyle.


to hold the TVs in place I used the existing screw holes to attach the 2"x2" to the back. I was originally going to just set the TV in place and then screw a piece of wood in to hold it, but I was afraid it would put too much pressure on the foam and could possibly push through the front.

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

I'm not happy with the paint and may change it. It looks much worse in these photos. The only part that looks realistic is the fleur de lis. That turned out great. I have like 4 of 5 coats of different colors.

The torches on each side were ordered off Amazon and are fantastic! They look really good, are solar or micro usb powered, have multiple brightness and flash settings, and seem like they're overall really good quality. I just got them though so I don't know how well they'll hold up. Tttttttttime will tell...

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

I wanted to add some videos, but it looks like I need to upload them to YouTube first then put the link in here?

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

I'll update this tomorrow. Having to post everything 4-5 times just to get one stubborn pic to turn upright is a pain in the butt...

 

[JCO]

Great effort. Lots of imagination and detail.

 

[weevil6772]

That's freaking awesome!

 

[LouNroxLuv]

I agree weevil! It is freaking awesome. Great work and frantasic imagination. I really love the entire thing.

 

[sp900zxi1]

Awesome job!

 

[Malicious]

Really turned out fantastic!

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

Thanks guys! I had a lot of fun building it. It was pretty straightforward except once I was done I found out that I couldn't turn the TVs on or off or control the volume without removing the TVs and, because the media players were inside the garage, I couldn't scroll through the menus while looking at the TV screens! My solution was to cut a small hole through the foam where the IR receiver was on the TV and make it look like a crack. And to be able to use the media player remote from the front so I could see the screens, I bought an IR extender and recessed that into the rear of the foam and then cut a small hole in another area of "cracks". Turned out pretty good and is much easier to use now instead of having to walk around the house to see what was on the screen each time I pressed a button

 

[Torgo]

That looks amazing. I did a similar thing last year with Eerie Eyes looking out of cracked stone but it was on a much smaller scale. Yours is some next-level awesomeness. Can't wait to see the entire scene!

Edited to add - are there pics of your Christmas setup? I want to see how you integrated digital in your display!

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

That looks amazing. I did a similar thing last year with Eerie Eyes looking out of cracked stone but it was on a much smaller scale. Yours is some next-level awesomeness. Can't wait to see the entire scene!

Edited to add - are there pics of your Christmas setup? I want to see how you integrated digital in your display!

Thanks Torgo! I saw that a bunch of people were doing tombstones with Eerie Eyes using computer monitors and stuff and I figured that I could go a little bigger since I already had the TVs left over from Christmas (They're supposed to be in our spare bedrooms, but I never put them back!)

Anyway, here are a few pics of my Christmas stuff. The Santa House is 8' long by 5' high and I think around 12" deep with the TV acting as the window. The Elf Workshop is a 5'x3' rectangle by 5' tall with, again, the TV acting as the window.

For these effects I used AtmosFX's Santa's Workshop for the Elf Workshop and their Singing Santa: Three Christmas Carols for Santa's House. I have it timed where Santa comes out and sings a song while in the other house it's just the workshop background and 10 seconds after Santa walks away the Elf Workshop comes to life and they go through a skit while Santa's house has the fire crackling and burning in the fireplace and 10 seconds after the scene is done in the Elf Workshop, Santa comes out and sings another song and it goes back and forth like that for all the scenes. I did it like that because there are a few scenes where Santa is in the Elf Workshop and I didn't want him to be in both places at the same time. It works really well. Especially at the end when Santa gets in his sleigh and flies off. Then there's about a 30 second wait for everything to start again. The whole scene takes about 25 minutes or so.

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

Here's a few pics of some of the yard and a close up of Santa's House

 

[jasonmmiller1975]

And here's a couple of my daughter and some of the neighborhood kids passing out hot chocolate in the hot cocoa stand I built for them. She gives away free hot chocolate for a couple hours every Friday and Saturday evening the entire month of December. It even has a heater so the kids can stay warm even when the temperature drops way down into the 70's here in California.

The "HOT" in the Hot Cocoa sign flashes just using regular christmas lights.

 

[Torgo]

Thank you so much! The little houses are wonderful and I bet they really stopped people in their tracks!


I love your Hot Cocoa stand! I wish I'd thought of that back when I was in a neighborhood with foot traffic. This is our first year in a townhouse after many years in a house in a Halloween-crazy neighborhood and I'm not sure what to expect but I'm trying to adapt!

 

[kindo]

Superb work! everything is really well done. excellent work!

 

[Tavisteam]

This is tryly awesome!

 

[Bryan316]

Dude.... okay the Halloween setup is truly great, but I'm paying more attention to your printed log walls and stone walls on those Santa Workshops! I never thought to use pre-printed wall decorators as wallpaper for a prop!

And I just so happen to have access to 36" wide color plotters...... hmmmmmm.... !!!!