Haunted Houses and Home Improvement

October is here, and with it comes that most hallowed of holidays, Halloween. When you think about it, aside from pumpkins, ghosts, and bats, there may be no image more associated with this spooky celebration than the "haunted house" or the dark, foreboding mansion on the hill. Hopefully, your own home bares no particular resemblance to the Addams Family estate, but if it does, this is the one time of the year when that actually might come in handy.

For the rest of us, though, our dedication to proper home improvement means that creating the right Halloween ambiance will require a little more work. Toward that end, here are some popular suggestions for getting your home in the ghostly spirit.

• remove light or pastel-colored furniture and accessories, and stick to black, gray, or blood-red to set the tone of the house
• use candles, blacklights, or colored bulbs for the main lighting scheme
• Decorate furniture, walls, and door frames with fake webbing
• set up plastic spiders, bugs, life-size skeletons, zombies etc. in different rooms to keep up the theme
• purchase or create a scary soundtrack for your home to play when company is over – a mix of shrieking cries, hooting owls, creaking doors, or a compilation of horror movie scores works nicely.
• fill platters and fake cauldrons with questionable looking treats like green punch and red or black cakes and candies
• Set up fake tombstones, skulls, and jack-o-lanterns in the yard and by the front door

That ought to get you started. However, if your Halloween party guests don't seem to notice any difference between your spooky house and your regular everyday house, it might be time to consider shining a little light on those home remodeling projects you've been holding off on. After all, there's a bunch more holidays coming up, and broken door knobs and mysterious wall stains aren't exactly as forgivable at Thanksgiving dinner. If it's time to repair worn-out kitchen and bathroom fixtures, outdated floors, and damaged roofs, contact a professional home contractor in your area. Otherwise, those little projects might haunt you forever!