Any fans of Stranger Things?

I really wanted to spice up my Eleven costume with a great prop for this year's Halloween. Building the Stranger Things wall from Will's house felt like a good way to accomplish that. Not only does the wall showcase the infamous lights and letters, but it also has a secret creep factor.

Step 1: Materials

Here's everything you'll need for the creepy wall:

Duct Tape
Stapling Gun
Staples
Spandex fabric (large enough for the wall dimensions you'll be using with a little extra)
Posterboard (preferably white)
Battery operated Christmas Lights
Batteries for lights
Cabinet hardware handle
Wood (5 pieces total, 2 for length of wall, 2 for width of wall, and one for support bar - dimensions will depend on how large/small you're making the wall)
Black fabric paint
Small paint brush
Thumbtacks

Most of the above items can be purchased online through Amazon or at a local hardware store like Home Depot or Lowe's. The only trouble I had was finding spandex fabric that resembled the wallpaper from the show. I'd suggest looking for this in advance as you may need to special order it.

Once you have your materials, you're ready to get started!

Step 2: The Build

To start assembling this, you should lay out your wood pieces to make sure everything fits the dimensions you want. Next, I took the posterboards and duct taped them to the wood frame I laid out. You can always glue the wood to the posterboards for more security too - although, I didn't run into any issues. You'll be duct taping two posterboards total - one at the top of the frame and one at the bottom. You should have an open section in the middle, just below the support bar. This opening is for the creep factor.

Once the wood frame is duct taped to the poster boards you can then lay the spandex fabric out flat on the floor. Place your wood frame with posterboards on top of the fabric. Wrap the fabric around to the back of the wood and being stapling. What you're doing in this step is creating the 'front' of the wall which will only show the fabric. After you've stapled the fabric all the way around the wood frame, cut off any excess fabric you have. The front of your wall should look like a true wall covered in fabric. The back should show the wood frame, where you stapled the fabric, the posterboards, the support bar, and the opening in the center.

Using thumbtacks, start placing the lights on the top of the wall where your letters will be written out. Once you have the lights situated, you can then paint the letters below each light. If there's a light where a letter won't be, simply remove the light in that socket of the string set. Using duct tape or glue, attach the battery pack from the lights to the back of your wall on the top posterboard.

Lastly, glue or duct tape the hardware handle in the middle of your support bar. This will give you an easy way to pick up and travel with the wall.

Optional step: If you'd like to make the back look less messy, you can always get black fabric and cover some of the areas by stapling that fabric in to the wood frame. I wasn't too worried with the back, but more concerned with the front.

Step 3: Creep Factor

Now that all your parts are together, I can explain the creep factor.

The purpose of the open section below the support bar is for a hand or a face to be pressed into the fabric. Here's a video explaining this step. I felt this REALLY kicked up the basic wall a notch.

Step 4: Optional Eleven Extras

For my costume, I used this prop to go with my Eleven costume. If you choose to do the same, here's some tips on the Eleven costume.

Eleven dress - There are a ton of folks on Etsy with the pink dress pattern. Do your research if you want to be more screen accurate.
Socks - There are similar gym socks on Amazon that go well with Eleven's dress
Fake Blood - Add some blood around the nose/eyes/ears for some added flare
Waffles - Yes, waffles. Buy a box of waffles and shellac one. Walk around with that box and waffle like the Eggo lover Eleven was.
Blonde wig - I found some great wigs on Etsy that were reasonably priced.
Have fun! - No matter what, have fun with it!

Hope this instructable offers some insight into how you can rock a Stranger Things theme! If you have any questions, feel free to post them and I'll be sure to address them.

Happy Halloween!