The ultimate haunted house! Artist transforms her home into a menacing monster for Halloween

Well the Americans really can do Halloween! When we came across this masterpiece on Instagram, we just had to share

Welcome to Christine McConnell's
Halloween inspired home: an eight eyed raging monster equipped with gnashing teeth, a labyrinth of cobwebs and an eerie green glow.

halloween home with grassland and sky

(Image credit: TBC)

As an artist, photographer, baker and author, Christine has long been creative, and her enthusiasm for old-school horror classics has allowed her to outdo herself at her favourite time of year.
Inspired by everything creepy, macabre and decrepit, we invite you to Christine's home. Read on if you dare...

painting and craft

(Image credit: TBC)

Inspired by Sony Pictures'
haunting cartoon, Monster House, Christine set about the design, which took ‘three solid days to create the pieces and decorate and then a full day to photograph it.'

By lacquering foam-core insulation boards in exterior latex paint, she was able to create bold, weatherproof features that personify Sony's living creature. Think stealth-like eyes watching you as you dare to cross a boundary of fangs.

halloween house with grassland and light

(Image credit: TBC)

As you can imagine, the masterpiece is becoming a local celebrity, with ‘tons of people stopping their cars to take pictures,' Christine told us. 'Kids are dragging their parents down the street to get a closer look. Even a few older neighbours who I've known since I was little, were in awe of it.'

Christine's 2013 Halloween creation received similar acclaim, epitomizing Tim Burton's Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare Before Christmas:
a stitched burlap sack whose shadow fills the moon each night.

Why not create a similar masterpiece this year? As Christine gets her inspirations by ‘binge watching every creepy movie imaginable during this time of year,' try transforming your home into a thrilling movie set by embodying barren mansions and murky graveyards.

Equally, decorate your garden and porch with ghostly silhouettes in dimly lit rooms or by piling up pumpkins to create an eerie lantern glow. These creepy visuals will give your sugar-ravenous guests a real treat.

halloween house with black background and spider web

(Image credit: TBC)

After years of decorating her family home, Christine says this is ‘one of my favorite projects that came out even neater than I had planned,'
so why not give it a go too?

Follow Christine on Instagram for more haunting inspirations and seasonal bakes @christinehmcconnell.

Ginevra Benedetti
Deputy Editor (Print)

Ginevra Benedetti has been the Deputy Editor of Ideal Home magazine since 2021. With a career in magazines spanning nearly twenty years, she has worked for the majority of the UK’s interiors magazines, both as staff and as a freelancer. She first joined the Ideal Home team in 2011, initially as the Deputy Decorating Editor and has never left! She currently oversees the publication of the brand’s magazine each month, from planning through to publication, editing, writing or commissioning the majority of the content.