How to Make the Walls Look Like a Cave for Halloween

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Things You'll Need

  • Curtain rods and brackets

  • Screwdriver or electric drill

  • Screws

  • Gray or brown sheets

  • Spray starch

  • Curtain hoops with clip attachments

  • Rolls of gray or brown paper

  • Removable adhesive putty

  • Gray or brown crepe paper garlands

  • Fake cobwebs, spiders, skeletons, candles (optional)

A dimly lit cave makes the ideal venue for a creepy Halloween party. If you're looking to give your home better atmosphere for the ghoulish holiday, it's also a fairly simple and economical approach to party decor. Once you have the basic cave walls in place, you can get really creative, hanging bats, spider webs or even skeletons to haunt your cave.

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Using Sheets

Step 1

Identify areas of the room or house where you wish to install the most cave-style decorations. Choose at least one wall per room for full cave-style hangings. In rooms where you have tall bookcases, high-backed chairs or high curtain rods, use them to suspend your cave walls. Move bookcases and tall furnishings, as necessary, to hang cave-style drapes if you prefer not to mark the walls.

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Step 2

Measure your walls to determine bracket placement so you can install additional curtain rods over doorways or along the tops of your walls, wherever you wish to hang extra "cave walls" made from sheets. Use a stud finder to locate studs and orient your curtain rods accordingly. Drive in screws to support the brackets and curtain rods.

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Step 3

Spread your sheets on the floor, crumpling them or scrunching them together to create lots of random folds and creases. When the sheets are highly crumpled, spray them with a thick coating of starch. Expect to use several times as much starch as you would for normal laundering, spraying the sheets until they are completely saturated.

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Step 4

Let the sheets dry completely, opening a window or leaving them outside if necessary to hasten drying. Affix the sheets to the curtain rods using the hoops and the clip attachments. Drape sheets directly over chairs, bookshelves and other furnishings. Add decorations such as fake cobwebs, spiders, bats or skeletons. Set out candles or small lamps to create dramatic lighting and play up the rough texture of your cave walls.

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Using Paper

Step 1

Tear off lengths of paper from your roll so they more than run the full height of your walls. Crumple the paper so create random creases and folds. Continue crumpling longer for a more finely textured cave wall surface or make fewer, larger folds for a craggy look.

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Step 2

Dot one side of your paper with many small bits of adhesive putty, evenly spacing them along the paper. Use a ladder if necessary to hold the top of the paper against the top of your wall. Press the paper against the wall, applying pressure against the putty. Add extra pieces of putty, as necessary, to prevent any areas or falling or gaping away from the wall.

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Step 3

Hang crepe paper garland in repeated rows along the ceiling to create a continuous pattern of undulated curves. Let some pieces of crepe paper hang straight down to emulate stalactites.

Warning

Avoid placing candles, lamps or electrical cords too close to your paper or starched fabric cave walls.

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