[Grim Acres Terror]

My husband and I run a haunt to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. We recently moved to am acreage to expand our possibilities. We were very fortunate to find a perfect property that had an old farm house that we converted to a haunted house for this past years event. My question is, do you think we should paint it, stain it or distress it some more to make it extra scary or do you think the yellow color with peeling paint is fine? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Grim Acres Terror]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vcfmnu4qgibye3p/2015-06-08 19.41.40.jpg?dl=0

Here is another picture of the front of the house

 

[Scatterbrains]

If you are doing daytime haunting...maybe distress. However that would be really low on the priority list. But for nighttime, I think lighting would be a better investment and higher on the priority list

 

[Grim Acres Terror]

It will be night time haunting. We currently are using green lighting, but nothing for up lighting at the moment. Do you think a different colored up lighting would be better?

 

[J-Man]

Yep, I agree with SB. Green lighting should work great, the only thing I would add to the house exterior would be some weathered boards on the windows. There's been a few threads on making them out of foam but in this case you may be able to use real boards.

 

[nosefuratyou]

Wow! a house just for haunting cool. I think the yellow with appropriate up lighting would be fine. Unless of course you have a sandblaster which would make short work of distressing. Personally I would ditch the modern storm windows unless you need to heat it year around. And watch Craigslit for old shutters. Sometimes you can get them cheap. Even the fiberglass\vinyl ones can be made to look old.

 

[Grim Acres Terror]

We have boarded up the windows since this photo was taken and had them done for our 2015 haunt. I love the idea of shutters though. I will have to keep an eye out. If sandblasting would take it down to the bare "old look" barn wood, it would be very worth the effort

 

[Beaver State Rich]

Distressing is cool, however dont ruin your investment by sanding to bare wood. Paint's purpose on a house is not cosmetic its to preserve the home. If you want a weathered/ aged finish add a faux treatment over existing paint. Dry brushing brown/gray will give a great look without causing massive harm.

 

[spiney99]

Option C: Project an old weathered facade onto it?

http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/132788-projected-facade-old-weathered-house.html
http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/145868-2015-projected-facade.html
http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-and-step-by-step/133936-projection-mapping-tutorial.html
http://www.halloweenforum.com/halloween-props/145936-yet-another-projected-house-mapping-attempt.html
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i3s0mPj7qDE

 

[Grim Acres Terror]

Wow! That projection mapping is amazing. I would love to attempt that, but people need to go in and out of the front door, so they would break the projection. Might be a really good option to convert our actual house on our property.

Out of curiosity, how many hours did it take for you to do that spiney99?

 

[spiney99]

With a standard projector shooting far away from ground level I can see that would be a problem..

Capt Pete has a similar situation I believe (2015 projected facade link above).. On page 2 he shows the scaffold that he uses and projects down onto the house from above. With a short throw projector you could potentially minimize that because a short throw projector only needs half the distance to fill the same space..Shooting from above also won't allow people to cast monstrous shadows all over the house.
Take a look at his post above and hopefully he can give you an idea on crowd control etc..

My first year I only projected a static image onto the house..That was relatively easy (if you are familiar with photoshop).. IcePick has a great mapping tutorial series above that pretty much walks you through what you need to do.

I say I have about 10-20 hours two years later, but mostly because I play around with different ideas all the time..

 

[lilibat]

The windows and doors need some love. Something that looks old would be good. Put a fake Dormer or two on the roof. I'd say paint it grey, and then maybe use a testured roller to make it look distressed so you could do whatever with lighting. You don't want to just remove the pain because that would leave the wood unprotected.

 

[Tconahaunter]

My husband and I run a haunt to raise funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. We recently moved to am acreage to expand our possibilities. We were very fortunate to find a perfect property that had an old farm house that we converted to a haunted house for this past years event. My question is, do you think we should paint it, stain it or distress it some more to make it extra scary or do you think the yellow color with peeling paint is fine? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

I like the idea that others are mentioning regarding painting the house. I would go with several darker colors (grey's, even black) use layers and textures. You could also use a semi transparent stain and allow it to drip down the facade. As well, one trick to "dirty up" the windows is to go to Dollarama and get some brown shoe polish. Rub it over the glass, this will give the glass a dirty look. I would never use this at home, but on a dedicated haunt house it would probably be fine.

On a side note, whats the name of your haunt? I'll try and check it out this year.

 

[Grey Lady]

Wow, nice!
I would add paint for distressing as well, dark greys, greens and blacks running down from the windows etc, and as grim acres mentioned some boards on the windows. Ripped curtains flowing out the windows.
I agree as well though that the inside is priority, if the scares don't work it doesn't matter what the outside looks like. You have to prioritize with a project of this size.
Good luck!

 

[Attic Hatch]

Looks great already . Boarding up the windows would add a lot of creepiness. There's a house near me (Tuillson Street) that does removable boarding :