Centsational Style

I had this idea to create a spooky little village painted black and lit up with black tealights to create Halloween mantel scene. I’m not big into decorating my whole house for Halloween especially since my teenagers aren’t as enchanted as they were when they were little. But I do like to do creative projects that get in the spirit of the season.

This is a simple scene that only took me an hour to assemble and paint. The concept works for any mantel or shelf and looks especially cool in the evening with the little tealights lighting up the scene.

The supplies are simple, to recreate a Halloween village you’ll need: set of wood houses; black LED tealights; mini plastic trees; a few sets of wood chopsticks; hot glue & glue gun; drill and drill bits; black spray paint.

Step One: purchase (or cut) length of ½” x 3” thick wood for base to fit your mantel or shelves, anywhere from 3 to 6 feet. Create visual layout of houses on top leaving space for trees in between.

Step Two: Break chopsticks into small pieces to support the back of the wood houses. Use the hot glue to attach the chopstick to the board base, then more glue to attach the house to the base so it stands up straight. Be sure to allow room for the LED tea lights to sit behind each house on the wood base.

Step Three: Drill ½ inch hole for each tree, apply hot glue to the holes so trees stand straight.

Step Four: Spray paint entire village with matte or gloss black spray paint. Allow to dry 24 hours.

Step Five: Add LED tea lights to the back of each house. Small battery operated black LEDs sit behind each of the houses, add real candlelight for more ambiance!

I cut the mantel piece in two to create a similar scene split between two bookshelves, so the idea works equally well for a mantel or any open shelves.