This Mom Renovates Old Dollhouses Into Mini Haunted Mansions

As if dollhouses weren’t sometimes creepy enough, one mom decided to bring the spookiness up a notch. Samantha Browning “renovates” miniatures into elegant haunted houses, which is terrifyingly perfect for the Halloween season.

Browning, who is an artist, recently went viral after she posted photos of her mini haunted mansion, which she bought as a bright pink dollhouse from a thrift store and upcycled it by spray painting the facade matte-black. But she didn’t stop there: Browning also added little details such as skeletons, gold accents, and candles.

Browning first found out about the technique after watching another artist on TikTok spray paint a similar doll house all black, according to Bored Panda. Inspired, she bought a doll house for $8 and went to work. After her first round of artwork received over 100K shares and 26K comments, she nabbed two more houses.

“The next two dollhouses were a bit more money,” Browning told Bored Panda. “I found them on the Facebook Marketplace for $25 but thought they were worth the money because the designs were really beautiful. The last one I found was only $1 and I haven’t started on it yet but I think once I do it will be one of the best. It has a very modern look to it so I can expand a bit more with the details.”

It takes her anywhere from 5 to 10 hours to finish painting a doll house, depending on the intricacy of the structure and the design she wants. “The first one was 5 hours because I didn’t plan on doing much more than the spray paint and a few details but the dollhouses have so many of their own designs molded into them that you can really spend any amount of time changing them to fit the theme you’re going for.”

Browning’s artworks are, unfortunately, not for sale. Her example, though, has shown that with a bit of resourcefulness, patience, and gender stereotype-breaking attitude, anyone can upcycle their own haunted doll house. You can see more of her work on Instagram.