A salute to Menlo Park’s most Halloweeny house

We got a tip from Bob Holmes aka The Walking Man about a colorfully painted Halloween house on his street, so we swung by to take a look. We were lucky enough to meet homeowner Brandee Barker, who emailed us details about how the paint job came about:

“We moved to Hobart in early 2012 when my son was 1 1/2 years old. I had never been a fan of Halloween, though my birthday is just days before. That year was our first to experience the magic of the holiday on Hobart. We were inspired by the spirit and excitement of the whole neighborhood with so many houses decorated and families everywhere walking the street to trick or treat.

“As each year has turned, I’ve come to completely embrace the holiday and strive to make our house more and more festive. Last year we did a full haunted house in the garage with animatronic ghouls and goblins — it was terrifying and fun.

“Leading up to this Halloween, I was in the process of construction on my home and about to repaint it all. I couldn’t decorate it in the typical way, but didn’t want to leave it dark and uninviting. I thought long and hard about options and realized I had the perfect answer in my dear friend, Michael Kershnar.

“Michael is an incredible artist in San Francisco with a history in painting spectacular murals among other striking works. We discussed the possibilities of him using the front of my house as the canvas and the idea came to life. Michael brought along fellow artist Piper and on Oct. 17 my house was “tagged.”

“Their Halloween masterpiece took the entire day of spray painting with them scaling ladders and taping windows. It turned out better than my wildest dreams and almost feels like I made our house a temporary art installation for the community. Of course my son thinks it’s the coolest thing ever — I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to top this one again, but I’ll sure try!”

Photo by Linda Hubbard (c) 2016