Haunted house book case

I love customising anything and everything, and when I came across this plain white 'doll house' style book case, I thought is would be perfect to turn into a haunted house. This took a few days waiting for different sections to dry, but although it took a while it was very straight-forward to create.

Back of the bookcase

The use of black and white Poska pens worked well with this. The black creates holes, cracks and deeper sections of the house, whilst the white brings details forward. Heres how to make it.

I started with a coat of gray paint. The texture of the dolls house was plasticky, so this took a few coats to build up and it took a while to dry each time.

Once the gray had reached a stage where it looked even, it was time to start mapping out the detail. I drew dark gray lines on the house and tried to keep them all a similar width.

As you can see here the lines are rough and messy, but these are only guides so it doesn't matter too much. I then mapped out the length of the beams by drawing vertical lines. I wanted the panels of wood to be long. I then mapped out where I thought holes in the house would go. I tried to place them within a good distance from each other, so each area didn't look too crowded or empty. I also didn't want lots of holes, as I didn't want the house to look too run down.

Once I painted in the holes, I added white to the 'wood panels' surrounding them. This helps create depth and makes the overall appearance start to take shape.

I took the roller, rolled it into the dark gray paint, and rolled most of the paint off onto a piece of paper. Then with the remnants, I gently and lightly rolled it over the house, to create a speckled messy effect. I did the same again with a lighter gray paint. Then I took a small paintbrush and re-painted the outline back into the house

I continued to build up the paint until I felt I had a good enough base.

Then with a white Poska pen I highlighted certain parts of the wood, and drew some creepy eyes looking out of the gaps in the house.

I mixed a light 'glow in the dark' looking green with acrylic paint, and painted on some simple windows. I gave the windows two coats before adding window frames.

Just before I drew in the window frames, I got my white Poska pen again and drew simple wood lines on the house. I then used a thick Poska to draw around the windows.

In the inner roof section of the house, I drew a large cobweb.

The roof was painted black and a simple pattern was added.

The house also has a bottom section that was painted black too. And voila! A spooky house created with household paint, acrylic paint and Poska pens! I had some leaf lights that I thought could look like ivy on the house, and also double up as a nightlight!