[screamqueen2012]

you know if you dont want them walking up the ramp, use teh ramp to decorate on, you could make a foam board coffin and if you have skellies let them be carrying it up the ramp to your house, like a viewing on the porch, palor, hit good will and dress them up, use pvc to make stands....could make a cute scene on your ramp if you have the props....do a grave to the right of your walkway for the coffin to go into etc...throw colored lighting everywhere. so many ideas. you could even have your monsters walking up to the party on the porch.........pirates..........tons of ways to go with this, its a good stage!!

 

[Grey Lady]

Reading your explanation of how you got the ramp, reminded me there are truly, good and decent people in the world! Thanks for that.

Regarding the excellent idea of using tree branches to cover the ramp, you could contact a local tree service and see if you could get tree branches from them just in time to decorate for Halloween.

 

[LairMistress]

Yes! I never answer the door, because people always contact me before showing up. But for some reason, I didn't think twice about going to the door when the lady rang the bell (although I chastised myself as I opened it, sure she was selling something). So I was doubly pleasantly surprised when she explained that she wanted to help.

I ran this idea by my other half tonight, and he actually likes the idea!

I like the skeleton funeral procession idea, too. I used to have 5 Bluckys and 2 more realistic skeletons (one Bucky, one Walgreens). I'm not sure if I still have all of the Blucky parts, but I can check. I'm trying not to spend a whole lot this year, so buying 3-4 more skeletons probably isn't going to happen, unless I get a super deal somewhere. I still like it, though!

What's more funny, is that we're across the street from an old funeral home!

 

[screamqueen2012]

im going to do my front porch like a turn of the century home palor this year, found a picture maybe on here or pinterest that i loved and thought id do the curtains, sign.......foam board coffins are super easy to make and paint look at this pic....

 

[LairMistress]

I love that! I bought curtain rod hooks at Dollar Tree last year, specifically to hang curtains on the porch, and then I never did. I bought a couple of nice black lace Halloween curtain sets from a friend a few years ago, and I had a bunch of old rods laying around to hang them from.

I can't decide what would be best to build my temporary enclosure with. Originally I wanted to do plywood, because it's sturdy. Then I thought about pink foam (I don't see blue here?). Last, I considered just buying king size sheets and decorating them, but I wouldn't be able to hang anything from them, unless I leave my Dollar Tree portraits in their original frames. Storage wise, sheets would be the way to go! Then I could make two "layers"; one along the outside of the rails, to make it look a little more like a real enclosure (of course it wouldn't be very convincing, but I kind of like the semi-cheesy/vintage haunt look), and an inner layer of sheets decorated like wall paper. The rails of the porch would be "sandwiched" in between the sheets, and hidden that way.

My other half wants to permanently enclose the porch, and I didn't at first, because I thought that it would take away from the charm of the design (for Halloween as well as day to day). It would be easier to accomplish the haunted parlor if it were permanently enclosed, so I'm considering it.

The company that is installing the permanent wheelchair lift (provided that we actually need it), is talking about wanting to put it on the back porch because we use that as our main entrance. So eventually, we won't have a ramp or lift out front at all. There is still the possibility that my son could walk again, and not need the lift too, which would be awesome! They're kind of waiting to see how his recovery from this latest surgery goes, before they do anything, hence still having the ramp for awhile. And who knows, if he's walking by Halloween, we'll give the ramp back before then, but it seems like he won't be walking independently until closer to Christmas, if even then. He hasn't walked independently for almost two whole years, because of all of the surgeries and procedures that he's had. So, while I hope that he's walking independently soon, I also kind of hope that we get to keep the ramp through Halloween. Considering that it's so close, I really think that he will still need it then.

 

[printersdevil]

Lair Mistress, you could even use the huge rolls of plastic from the party stores or the black ground cover from the garden stores for your enclosure.

My hubby enlosed our covered back patio several years ago and screened it. He made the support poles (actually not support, but places to anchor the screen. He made them the same space for windows in case we decide to totally enclose it later for a room. I love the screened porch. So that may be an option for you.

 

[Jenn&MattFromPA]

I can't decide what would be best to build my temporary enclosure with. Originally I wanted to do plywood, because it's sturdy. Then I thought about pink foam (I don't see blue here?). Last, I considered just buying king size sheets and decorating them, but I wouldn't be able to hang anything from them, unless I leave my Dollar Tree portraits in their original frames. Storage wise, sheets would be the way to go! Then I could make two "layers"; one along the outside of the rails, to make it look a little more like a real enclosure (of course it wouldn't be very convincing, but I kind of like the semi-cheesy/vintage haunt look), and an inner layer of sheets decorated like wall paper. The rails of the porch would be "sandwiched" in between the sheets, and hidden that way

Another option for you would be to use those roll down plastic or wooden/bamboo blinds, like this ~

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n:1055398,k:vinyl roll up blinds

You could hang them from the inside edge of your porch and they could act as walls for Halloween, but perhaps be privacy or sun shades through the rest of the year. If you were to install some O-ring type hooks to the support columns of your porch, you could string fishing line between each post and then use the fishing line to hang things "inside" the porch like portraits.

Another option is buying sheets of the rigid vinyl flooring on clearance (or foamboard) at a home improvement center, then cut it into long panels. Drill holes in the tops & bottoms of the panels and then use hooks to attach the panels to the inside top & floor of your porch. You can paint the vinyl/foamboard to look one way inside the porch, and another way on the outside façade. Like you could paint a window on the outside or even actually create a cut-out to BE a window, KWIM?

In trying to illustrate what I mean, I found this picture ~

http://www.masterfinisher.com/7.html

Look at the Side Wall Panels image & imagine that you could do a foamboard overlay panel on your existing porch columns like the columns here. Then, you could create larger long panels like the tan brocade sections to hang from your porch roof to create the walls of your porch. The inside could be wallpapered or painted like you are thinking, but it would likely be thick enough to devise a way to hang some stuff off them.

I mostly am thinking of temporary things because you have such a lovely porch and my opinion is not to enclose it permanently! Of course, I don't live there so it's easy for me to say! LOL!

 

[printersdevil]

Great ideas, Jenn!

We have one of those blinds on one end of our screened porch for a sun shield.

 

[screamqueen2012]

lair, i am dying old sheets black or i may just paint them and using them, im either going to staple them on a thin board and just hang that board up ....ive got nails up already for xmas lights under the porch so you could also hot glue them on a 1/2 inch pvc and hang that booger right up, im making it easy one thing going up to take down.............yes that porch has alot of possibilities to work from...very cute whoever did it.

 

[LairMistress]

I'll have to get official measurements on the height, and choose the cheapest option from there. I will need to consider how easy it will be to store, too. I'm pretty much out of room already, and I'm adding PVC fence this year, too.