Make a reversible decoration with a haunted house on one side and a gingerbread house on the other side.
I’m back with another reversible craft today. You guys loved the wood slice snowman and pumpkins and the candy corn Christmas tree crafts so much, that I started thinking I should try making another reversible craft. Once I came up with the idea of a haunted house gingerbread house combo, I got so excited and immediately made an emergency trip to the craft store.
This was absolutely SO FUN to make! This craft has some of the fun elements of a dollhouse, but way less commitment. I loved making it and I think you will have a blast making one too.
Materials Needed
- 1×12 Wood Board (at least 30″ in length)
- Two Wood Screws
- Sandpaper
- Wood Shims
- Wood Glue
- Paintable Caulk (optional, but recommended)
- Craft Paint
- Halloween Pink Background Color – DecoArt Cotton Candy
- Halloween Pumpkin Colors – DecoArt Squash Blossom and DecoArt Warm Sunset
- Gingerbread House Background Color – DecoArt Oyster Beige
- Gingerbread House Door and Shutters – DecoArt Sea Glass
- Black Craft Paint
- White Craft Paint
- Dollhouse Pieces
- Gingerbread Candy Accessories
- Mini Wood Pumpkins
- Hot Glue Gun + Glue Sticks
- Misc. Craft Supplies (Adhesive Vinyl, Glitter, Craft Foam, etc.)
Instructions
Step 1: Cut a 1×12 wood board into the shape of a house with a peak shape on one end. Mine measures 24 inches tall at the top of the peak and 16.5 inches on the outside edges. You can make yours whatever size you want.
Step 2: Cut a 4 inch piece from the same 1×12 board. This will be the base piece that makes it so the house can stand up.
Step 3: Center the house piece onto the base piece, then screw it together going up through the base piece into the house piece, like this:
Step 4: Attach wood shims to the roofline to make a roof. I used wood glue and layered two shims on each side and made sure they hung over equally on both sides of teh house since both sides need to look good.
Step 5: I would consider this step optional, but I caulked the seams along the bottom edge and between the roof pieces just to give the whole craft a tidy, polished look.
Step 6: Now comes the most fun part of all… painting and adding all of the cute embellishments and details! Wohoo! I used paint pens, adhesive vinyl, craft foam and glitter in addition to the wood pieces that I bought and painted. Go wild! The fun is in the details!
One thing I wanted to point out is that the moon and one of the ghosts on the haunted house side hang over the edges and are visible from the other side, so I attached them with velcro dots so they’re removable when it’s time to switch to the other side.
So what do you think? I am tickled pink with how it turned out. It’s just so fun! Everything is cuter in miniature, right?!
VIDEO TUTORIAL
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Comments & Reviews
So cute!! Love it
Very cute idea. Love it Barb
I love this idea. I think i might make mine Fall, & Christmas so I can leave it out longer.
Adorable! I love the pastel colors!
Oh my gosh this idea is SO cute, and clever!! Thank you for sharing!
This is so cute! Love it and will be making myself one. Thank you for sharing the instructions.
These are super cute!!!
Do you sell a kit for the houses?
Nope, sorry!
How did you make the shutters on the gingerbread house?
Craft foam. I cut it to shape, then used the flat side of scissors to dent the lines into the foam.
What did you use to make the shutters?
Craft foam. I cut it to shape, then used the flat side of scissors to dent the lines into the foam.
Oh no! Hobby Lobby doesn’t sell the Christmas items anymore (peppermints, gingerbread, etc), or at least the links don’t work! Do you have any suggestions?
Also, did you paint the swirls on the house or did you use a cutting machine?
They still have them! They just change the bar codes every year. I saw them up in my store today! And the swirly designs are white vinyl I cut with my Silhouette.
Thank you so much! Would you be willing to sell the vinyl decals so I can cut them with my cricut?
I don’t sell product. I’m sorry! Try going on a site like Cricut or Silhouette Store and looking for a swirly design pack you can buy.
We couldn’t find any of the Halloween items at HL. Any other suggestions?
The windows and door are from the dollhouse section. The Jack-O-Lanterns are unfinished wood and with the fall crafts. The other pieces I cut out of craft foam.
Can you list the pain colors please? They are beautiful. Thank you.
Great idea. Will be making this.
This was just so adorable! You did an amazing job on all of the details, especially that gingerbread house!
This is so adorable! My daughters & I just ordered all the supplies to make the gingerbread house – we can’t wait! Can you please tell me the paint colors? They’re so perfect – we would like to use the same colors. Thank you!
This is so cute! Can you please tell me the paint colors? I want to make it exactly because it’s so beautiful! Thanks!
I’ll add the colors used in the instructions so others can see them too.
Thank you so much! My kids and I are making ours right now – so excited!
I’m going to be making this soon, love the idea. Just wondering what color(s) did you paint the sides?
White!
Thank you!
Amazing! Love the idea! Thank you for sharing it. I can’t wait to be creative with this idea!!
I wonder what kind of special spray to cover the real candies and gingerbread white frost for last for years? I don’t remember so called the special spray, but I think it’s look best than white paint on the wood.
Loved it great idea!! I think the candies in orange and purple would be cute to add to the Halloween side also. An idea for windows would be to check out Dollar store Christmas ornaments. So many ideas to embellish!!! TFS!!
How did you make the spider?
It’s a black pom pom and I used a paint pen to draw the legs directly onto the wood behind the pom pom.
How did you do the white embellishments on the Christmas side? We’ve been trying to hand draw them and have probably repainted our houses 20+ times because it’s too difficult to freehand. If you used a Cricut, can you share how you made them on it?
I did use my Silhouette machine for that exact reason. I just found shapes online that I thought would fit, measured what size the space was I had to fill, then cut the shapes out of matte white adhesive vinyl and stuck them on.