A Two-Sided Halloween House with a Potions Shop in the back
Front view of Weber and Judd's Apothecary Halloween Shop. Potion bottles and specimens and miniature books are in the back
Weber and Judd are the purveyors of fine Halloween potions, spell books, and interesting specimens in the miniature Apothecary Halloween House. The concept behind this specific Putz house is the combination of a little Halloween house and an apothecary cabinet all rolled into one - a fun DIY Halloween decoration. The pattern is in my resource library now.
Here is a brief outline for how to make Weber and Judd's Apothecary Halloween House:
- Download the pattern from the resource library
- Cut out the pattern
- Decorate the outside of the house
- Decorate the apothecary cabinet - the inside walls of the miniature house
- Make shelves for the apothecary cabinet
- Glue the house together
- Install the shelves
- Add the shingles or roofing
- Figure out the Halloween elements like miniature apothecary bottles with halloween labels, specimen jars, miniature spooky books, etc.
- Plan the location of your Halloween potions bottles and other special decor
- Glue down the Apothecary cabinet decor arranged like you want
- Make a sturdy base for your miniature Apothecary shop
- Decorate the base
- Glue your Apothecary shop to the base
- Add Halloween decorations such as miniature pumpkins or moss around the base of your spooky shop
- Finally, place your mildly spooky, gently haunted Apothecary Halloween house where everyone can admire it
Because of time constraints (that means working at my real job), this post is an introduction to the Apothecary Halloween house. You'll find full detailed instructions on how to make the miniature Halloween house outlined in the next post.
Decorate the Outside of the Apothecary Halloween House
Choose the colors and texture for the outside of the house. For this house, I chose to make a simple stone texture.
Stenciled slate on the surface of the darker grey paint mixed with sand
Add more detail with streaks of black and white, different colors
I knew that all the windows would obscure many of these details so I really didn't worry about being precise.
Decorate the Inside of the Apothecary Cabinet
Because of all the detail on both sides, this house needs to be STURDY. So I added a reinforcing layer when I made the wallpaper details inside the house. In other words, I cut out a slightly smaller piece of cardboard, covered it with my wallpaper and glued it to the inside of the miniature potions shop. Each piece of cardboard needs to be smaller than the side it goes on. For instance, these wallpaper pieces were about ¼ inch smaller than the width of each side. That allows the house to fold together easily.
Can you see how each piece is smaller than the cardboard house pattern below it? I left about ⅛ inch on each side to allow room to fold the cardboard house together.
Below you can see how the wallpaper cardboard reinforcements are smaller than each side by just a smidge - about ⅛ inch. Also you can see the pins that support the sign protruding through the walls. After curling each pin around needle-nose pliers, the excess wire was trimmed. With all the potion bottles and specimen jars and miniature spell books, the wire is hidden.
Pins supporting the Weber and Judd sign in the front poke through the house
Make Simple Shelves to hold the Potion bottles and Specimens
The bottom shelf is about 2 inches wide, the next one is 1.5 inches wide, then the top one is 1.25 inches wide for better visibility through out the miniature Apothecary shop.
To make wood grain, I got to put the new Tim Holtz 3-D Texture Fade called "Lumber" into use. I rubbed archival black ink into the folder, then colored the rest with brown Distress oxide shades. Pretty impressive wood grain, isn't it? The top shelf is actually the floor of the attic and I used leftover painted wood grain strips from previous little houses to make the flooring.
Glue the Apothecary Halloween House together
Glue Apothecary house structure together. Here I use binder clips to hold the roof line in place.
Front of Apothecary Halloween House
Install Shelves in the Apothecary Halloween Potions Shop
Note that the wires supporting the front sign are barely visible on the back.
Add shingles or roofing of choice
Whenever I add the shingles or roofing, I see an immediate transformation in each miniature house. To me the design comes to life with the addition of the roofing.
See how much more appealing the house is with the addition of the rough cut shingles.
Find Halloween Labels, Apothecary Jars, Halloween Potion Bottles and Specimen Jars for your Apothecary Cabinet
For the apothecary cabinet part of the potions shop, gather together all sorts of fun stuff like printable Halloween labels, miniature apothecary jars or bottles, little Halloween potions bottles, Halloween decor that will make up your specimen jars, miniature spell books, etc. You'll find this one of the funnest parts about making an apothecary cabinet or a mini potions shop.
Testing the cool little apothecary jars and spell books (in progress) and specimen jars on the shelves - do they fit?
Finally, I decided on all of my Halloween elements and glued all the tops on and figured out the placement for my mini Apothecary shop. Here is where you'll find the directions to make the mini spell books.
Spooky elements to be added to the shelves of the Apothecary Halloween House
And what is final arrangement for the Apothecary Halloween House? Here it is.
Of course, a ghost must be in the attic rattling a chain and a bat must be there as well
Side view of the potion shop showing how the shelves fit and potion bottle arrangement
Since I needed to have 3 shelves, I found that I had to make the house tall to hold all the Halloween decorations that I planned for. So the house is 7.5 inches tall at the roofline.
Side view of the Apothecary Halloween house showing how tall and narrow it is
All the final elements added to the Apothecary Halloween House - owl in an upper window, pumpkins by the front door
Want to Remember where you found the Apothecary Halloween House? Then Pin to Your Favorite Halloween Board!
Two-sided Halloween house with an Apothecary potions shop on the back
Free pattern to make this fun Halloween house which has an apothecary shop with shelves on the back
Two-sided Halloween house with an Apothecary Potions shop on the back
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Sara Emily Barker
Lucy, Lucy, Lucy! Do you know I have been staring at this for the past 24 hours? Well, that is just a bit of an exaggeration, but I have had it open on my computer taking it bit by bit for the past 24 hrs., so I can soak in every single detail. I can't say this is my favorite, because each of your creations is, but I can say that you have gone above and beyond with the siding, roofing (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE) and those richly grained shelves! (WOOOOW!) I've never seen such beautiful results from that Texture Fade, and I am thoroughly gobsmacked! And I can't believe you laid each of those planks to make the first shelf. Could you come install hardwood floors here? Each of the bottles are so cool and your books are amazing! I will be back to check of that post, so I can get to work on my own little tombs. You are such a creative soul! I can't wait for the day you get to quit that old day job and you get to craft to your heart's content. We are so blessed by your incredible talent! Big hugs!
Lucy
Sara, thank you for stopping by my blog again. I've never installed hardwood floors before, but I know I would like it except for my knees. You are always so encouraging - that means so much to me. Thank you.
Lynn
I really love the idea of a spooky apothecary house! So creative!
I'm amazed at each creation!
Lucy
Thank you, Lynn. I was pretty tickled when I came up with the idea. It's a miniature modification of a dollhouse really.