Haunted Mansion Decor Ideas

Even before anyone stepped inside, the party started at the front yard.

I built a set of red-brick gates with wrought-iron fencing to mimic the entrance of Disney’s Haunted Mansion. Then hung these Haunted Mansion plaques on the front.

It set the mood immediately. A grand, slightly spooky welcome that hinted at the happy haunts waiting inside.

Okay, they weren’t real brick. They’re actually this brick scene setter* taped around the columns of one of my garden arbors*.

But they did look pretty awesome!

For all the details, stay tuned for an upcoming post on my outdoor haunted mansion decorations.

One of the most iconic scenes in the ride is the stretching room, and I couldn’t resist recreating it.

But I didn’t have room in the house for it.

So I set it up along the side of the house where people come in.

The actual implementation is really easy. I bought these stretching room portraits* and hung them from the siding.

Of course, if you have more space, you could do this in your entry hallway to make it more like the ride.

In my entryway, I created a portrait gallery by hanging blue velvet drapes around the walls, putting up stern-looking Victorian portraits and some gold candle holders.

With the pictures on both sides of the hallway, it definitely has spooky Halloween vibes.

And I put my favorite Halloween mirror in the middle. It looks like a real mirror until someone walks by.

Then it sounds like it is shattering and a ghost appears where the mirror was. It’s pretty cool! (This exact one isn’t available anymore but you can find a similar one here*).

I couldn’t resist greeting my guests with the classic Haunted Mansion phrase “Welcome Foolish Mortals”.

So I hung this neon sign* at the top of the entrance curtains to my living room.

And it almost looked like the sign was floating in midair.

Just daring everyone to step inside and join the other foolish mortals already gathered.

I created the look of the library by hanging up this antique bookshelf backdrop* over the front of the actual bookshelves I have in the room.

Then draped white creepy cloth* across the front of it to look like spider webs.

You could just hang the backdrop on the wall for a similar effect.

But the big advantage of having a bookshelf behind it is you can back light it easily. Which really makes it stand out at night.

To give a nod to the ghostly organ player in the ballroom, I dressed a pose-able skeleton in this Victorian gentleman costume.

And made it look like he was playing the piano.

Adding a whole bunch of these rechargeable candles* around him really made him stand out at night.

I used a purple shower curtain with bright green eyes* behind my dessert table.

This was held up by another backdrop stand*. Yes, I own quite a few of them 🙂

Then decorated with these spooky-looking Victorian portraits.

Since I used quite a few of them, I had them printed at Staples and then framed them with inexpensive frames.

One of my favorite details to recreate was the Haunted Mansion’s endless hallway.

I happen to have a long hallway that leads to a couple of bedrooms and the guest bath. So I had the perfect spot to set it up.

I stapled red damask fabric* to the walls, hung a red and black curtain over the doorway, and replaced all the light bulbs with red ones.

Then hung a plastic candelabra from the ceiling with fishing wire at the end of the hall.

My original plan was to hang a tall mirror on the door at the end of the hall to create that “endless” look. But I ran out of time.

Of course, you can’t have the endless hallway without the knights guarding it.

I took the easy way out on this prop and bought a cardboard version* that I pinned to the wall.

He was big enough to make a statement and didn’t take up any floor space. Which is always a bonus for my parties since my house isn’t that big 🙂

To set up Madame Leota’s Seance table, I put a blue velvet table topper over a lace table cloth on a small round table.

Then added a purple globe, an animated spell book, a feather-tipped pen and some candles in the background.

This table already has a pendant light over it, so I swapped out its light bulb for a blue one that matched the haunted vibe.

Constance Hathaway (the black widow bride) is one of the most memorable features of the Disney haunted mansion.

And I just happened to have a life-sized ghost bride I bought a few years ago who was perfect. (I knew there was a reason I needed her!)

To make sure she glowed at night, I put these LED uplights under her dress. With the lights, she definitely made a statement!

I ran out of time to do a complete attic scene around the bride, so I only had a few accessories around her.

A spooky wedding portrait draped with creepy cloth, some busts and a few spooky stacks of books still got the point across. (Although I would have loved to do a more detailed setup!)

And of course some cool lighting, provided by a blue light bulb in the floor lamp that’s covered with the creepy cloth.

You may or may not have noticed it, but I also added some background details that helped to set the scene for the haunted house.

I hung gold damask fabric across the walls to mimic antique wallpaper, instantly giving my rooms that rich, old-world look of Disney’s Haunted Mansion.

White creepy cloth was draped here and there to look like thick cobwebs, stretching across bookshelves and corners as though the ghosts had been at home for centuries.

And of course, lots of candles. These are all battery-operated taper candles* so I didn’t have to worry about anything catching fire.

To make the decor feel even more authentic, I added a few accessories from Disney’s own Haunted Mansion collection.

Like this table runner.

These gargoyle candle holders*.

And this library bust*.

To be honest, I did not actually create the singing heads (I couldn’t figure out a good way to do that in the time I had).

But I did do singing pumpkins. They sound quite similar to the singing heads, are quite easy to set up and were a huge hit with everyone.

If you’re interested in doing something similar, take a look at my Singing Pumpkins tutorial for all the details.

Out on the lawn, three very familiar faces were waiting: Phineas, Ezra, and Gus, better known as the Hitchhiking Ghosts.

These are actually skeletons that I dressed up with costumes and masks on so they look like the ghosts. (Although if you don’t mind spending some extra money, you can actually buy them as an animatronic here*).

Stay tuned for my upcoming post on all of the outdoor decorations I did for this party!