# 2008 at Skullcroft Manor



## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

Well Halloween 2008 came and went and even though it is extremely tardy, I still want to share some pics . I wanted to get more projects complete and in place - some of these were literally done in the last hours before the kids started their rounds. This year I will hopefully get started earlier and/or get more "garage time" before the big event.










This is Brutus the Gargoyle sitting his new plywood and foam plinth. All I had time for was to get the gray primer down although I wanted to do some stonework on it. The paint was still wet when it went out!

The pink ribbon came from a neighbor who tried to sneak in and plant it on him, but I caught her in the act and scared her... haha! The ribbon stayed though.










The pillars were intended to be finished with foam, but time didn't permit. I did find some cool cast iron lion's head towel holders that look pretty good in place on the two entry pillars.










This is a wider shot of the front yard with fogger running. It was an extremely warm day (T-shirt weather is not normal in Calgary at the end of October!) and I had no chiller in place, so I think the fog was pretty thin.










A closeup of the fence, stones, and "weeds" which are nothing more than some shredded cardboard material that came as packing material in some plumbing fixtures boxes.










A rendering of the house and yard to see what it may have looked like.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

oooo that looks like a serial killer could come running out of it.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

Nice! I like the lion head towel holders on the columns. Neat idea.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

I like the fence and tombstone shot the best.


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## Dixie (Feb 18, 2009)

I agree with Jdubbya... the towel holders were a great idea, they looked fabulous on the columns... thanks so much for sharing the pictures!


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Nice job, looks great!


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## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

Thanks all - yes I like the lion's heads too. Hopefully I can make them more of a feature on the finished pilasters. I also picked up two sitting lion resin statuettes courtesy of the local garden center that can be added as well.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Very nice fence... I noticed your crossbars are round, not square. PVC? If so, congratulations on successfully drilling it, that must have been a bear. Did you use forstner bits? I learned the hard way that PVC pipe tends to explode when you try to drill it with spade bits. Looks great with the pilasters; it'll be really sweet when you give them the finished paint job.


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## naberhoodhaunts (Mar 29, 2008)

really nice job. thanks for the pics, really like your fence


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Nice work....Hope you will show us 2009 pics too


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## deathstaste (Apr 20, 2007)

I've got to try spade bits on pvc! booom! hahahahahahah


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

That bow on the gargoyle is just precious! LOL Love the columns and fence. Good idea on the weeds too!


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## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

The fence is actually metal (steel) - I used 1" and 1/2" EMC that would normally be used to feed electrical wires underground or through walls. To drill I used a hollow core bit and was generally straight forward, but really had a time getting the plugs out from inside the bit afterwards (pry with a small screwdriver)! Originally I tried 3/4" as the larger horizontal rail, but soon discovered the difficulty in trying to put a 1/2" hole through a ~0.75" OD conduit (i.e. there ain't much left afterward!), so I switched up to 1" diam for the horizontals. It's not too expensive - about 50-cents per foot for the 1/2" and $1.15 for the 1" here in Canada (85-cents per foot for 3/4'). Then I just used a small sheet metal screw to hold them together (which is visible in the close-up at the fence).

The finials were actually the big trick - I just assumed that a 1/2" finial would sit on a 1/2" conduit except the conduit is measured ID and is closer to 5/8" OD. To set the finials, I then had to cut small lengths of 1/2" wooden dowel and glue into the base of the finial and screw thru the back of the conduit into the dowel.

The paint was just good ol' Tremclad flat black. The "dead" ivy was originally green/gold/orange plastic and fabric ivy and picked up for 2 pieces of 4 feet for $1 at the dollar store. I think I got about 12 lengths total and then just spray painted several coats of black, dk. green, and brown (I found a bunch of spray cans being cleared out for a $1 or $2 at a local discount store). I would love to have had about 2 or 3 times more to make it appear fuller and deader!

I can post plans of the rail and pillars if anyone wants.


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## Hellvin (Jul 6, 2008)

Scary Godmother said:


> That bow on the gargoyle is just precious! LOL Love the columns and fence. Good idea on the weeds too!


I was going to photoshop the photo of the Gargoyle to have a red Santa's cap and snow in the background and put it on the X-mas card to the culprit neighbour... maybe I still will!


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## HauntDaddy (Apr 14, 2009)

awesome job love the towel holders


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

I love the look of the windows in the last picture.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

The boarded up windows give the house a demented scary look. I like your columns, nice job.


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