“Whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still — that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!” Oh Haunted Mansion, how I love you and your spooky monologue. If you’re trying to make somewhere feel spooky and haunted, one item you have to have is a candlestick. If you look around the Haunted Mansion they are everywhere!

So I decided to make a rustic candlestick inspired by the Haunted Mansion to stick in my house. I wanted to make one of these because it would add some nice height and contrast to the decorations on my mantle and I knew I could make one for pretty cheap. One trip to the craft store and an afternoon later and it was finished! So, here is my super simple and extremely fast DIY rustic candlestick I tutorial:

For my other spooky season DIY tutorials, click here.

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Supplies needed

» Candlestick- This is up to your personal preference, this one is close to the one I used or you could go for a more elaborate one like this one, but you can find lots of different styles on my Amazon storefront here

» If your candlestick isn’t black, you’ll want to coat it in black spray paint before you start

» Paint- I used off white, black, gray, and gold

» Candlestick candles- you could do off white or black

» Paintbrushes

» Paper towels

» Matches or lighter

» Spiderwebs

Step 1: Paint the candlestick

First things first, you have to get a cost of paint onto your candlestick as your base. Because my candlestick is black, I decided to go with off white paint for a nice contrast. If you’re candlestick had to be painted black before you started, you can use that as your base coat or you could do a second coat of off white so it looks like mine.

I took a small paintbrush and lightly coated my candlestick in the off white paint. I didn’t cover it completely, you can see i just did a quick, rough covering so there is still some black showing through the paint. Also don’t do too thick of a coat because it will make it start to look fake. By the end of this, you still want some of the actual candlestick to show through.

Step 2: Dab on a second layer of darker paint

Once your first coat of paint is dry, you want to do another layer of paint in a darker color to replace some of the contrast that you lost during the first step. I took black paint and mixed in a little bit of the off white and also some gold paint to get the color I used. Once I had my paint mixed I took a dry paper towel and dabbed it into the paint. This gives your candlestick more texture and makes it look more aged and distressed. Don’t worry about the paper towel being completely covered in paint either, the more uneven the paint looks the better.

I just randomly dabbed it around the base of the candlestick starting from the bottom and working my way up. You can see the difference between step one and step two here. Adding the dark paint seriously makes SUCH a difference!

After the base dried enough for me to touch it I moved to the arms of the candlestick and did those next. Make sure you get all around the candlestick including underneath the arms and in every nook and cranny. Below is roughly what it should look like after step two is done!

Step 3: Add gold paint

At this point I decided I wanted a little more color and a more antique look to my candlestick so I took some gold paint with a clean, dry paper towel and used the same method I used in step two to cover my candlestick. I didn’t use nearly as much as I had in step two, I just added it where I felt like it needed a little more contrast. This gave my candlestick a little more dimension and the gold really helped make it look kind of rusted and old. Once you get to this point, you can add more of whatever color it looks like it needs and touch up any spots that need it.

Step 4: Burn the candles down

After I had my candlestick painted the way I wanted, I worked on the candles. I wanted them to look old and used with wax dripping all down the sides. Now mine were taking FOREVER to melt so as soon as the wax would build up around the wick I’d tip them so the wax would run down the sides and help melt the candle down faster and get the look I wanted out of them. I also took a lighter and ran it up and down the sides of the candles to get it to melt where I wanted it to as well.

The goal is to try to get the wax around all of the sides of the candle and get them to about the same height so they look equally used. I also intentionally let the wax drip onto the candlestick and even dropped it down the base and stuff so it looked cohesive and intentional. You want this to look as old as possible by the end of it.

Step 5: String cobwebs

The last thing you need to do is add some cobwebs to your candlestick. I put my candlestick up where I wanted to display it before I added the cobwebs so that they wouldn’t fall off or get moved from where I placed them. I just took some spiderwebs you’d get at Halloween and pulled off small wispy pieces and strung them around the candlestick. I put some on the base but also strung them from each candle holder as well. You want enough to make it look old but still subtle so it’s not overkill.

And you’re done!

A super quick and easy rustic candlestick to add a nice touch to your spooky season decor! For more DIY tutorials, be sure to check out my DIY page to see all of my spooky season tutorials!