Haunted Boarded-Up Windows
Transform your cozy home into an abandoned, haunted asylum by boarding up your front windows. Instead of using heavy, damaging real wood, this brilliant DIY craft uses lightweight, painted foam insulation sheets or cardboard to create incredibly realistic “wooden” planks. These faux boards can be easily attached to your window frames with damage-free outdoor mounting strips, giving your home a dramatic, derelict appearance without causing any structural harm.
To create the faux boards, purchase sheets of rigid foam insulation from your local home improvement store. Cut them into planks of varying lengths and widths using a utility knife. To simulate realistic wood grain, run a wire brush firmly along the surface of the foam, creating deep grooves and knots. Spray paint the planks with a base coat of brown or gray, and once dry, use a dark brown or black wash of acrylic paint to highlight the faux wood grain and weathered edges. Write spooky messages like “Keep Out” or “Beware” on a few of the boards, and mount them diagonally across your windows for an instant haunted house transformation.