Free haunted house SVG files

Windows that light up

A haunted house is mostly a black shape, and the windows do the work. In these files every window is a hole with its glazing bars left in, so the bars hold the panes apart and nothing falls out. Cut a house from black card, stand it in front of a tea light or tape yellow vellum behind it, and the windows glow. On a real window pane, stick the black vinyl on the inside of the glass and the room lights it from behind after dark.

Every file is 100 mm on its longer side. The glazing bars are about 2 mm wide at that size, which is the finest part of most of these designs. For card and vinyl, 100 mm is a safe smallest size for the house on a hill; the leaning house is simpler and goes down to about 60 mm. For plywood, double those sizes.

Building a scene

The designs are drawn to be used together. Put the haunted house gate in front of the house on a hill, set the haunted forest along a mantel, and hang a few bats above. The house against the moon is the reverse of the others: a moon with the house cut out of it, made for yellow or orange vinyl on a dark window. The bare trees are grown by the code branch by branch, so no two are alike.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions