How many of you have a whole room in your basement dedicated to Halloween decorations? If there is one thing my mother passed onto to me it is the love of holiday decor!
I have fond children memories of pulling out our Halloween decor from the basement and carefully laying it out around our house. The month was filled with Halloween parties to go to, haunted houses, corn mazes, and of course planning the perfect Halloween costume. Or if you were me, just throwing on a witches costume from the basement and calling it good! Seriously, I couldn't get enough of the holiday festivities, I was hooked from the start...
These days, I feel like I'm throwing my home together, as fast as physically possible, just to be able to enjoy it for two weeks at least. It's amazing how busy our lives can become during the holiday season. I feel like it's a race each year just to fit in a few of my favorite seasonal festivities.
This year I was able to take off a little time off for my younger brothers wedding, and spend some time with my family. We decided to try and fit in a few of our favorite things to do in October. We took my little niece to a fun Halloween carnival at Thanksgiving Point called Cornbellies. They have everything from a giant corn kernel sand box to tons of fun vintage activities for little kids to do. Then at night it is great for teenagers and adults to play in the corn maze. We also stopped by Gardeners Village for the annual Witches Festival. It's always a local favorite and a must see every October. I was so happy we were able to squeeze it in. I decided for sake of time I wouldn't blog pictures of either place, but if you're looking for some holiday fun go check them out!
This year, there was a lot of thought behind anything when it came to decorating my home. I just placed things, and when I was done I decided I loved how it turned out more than any other year. So heres some friendly advice about decorating...
First, always start with a blank slate. Every year I strip my room of all its decor even if I plan on using some of the existing pieces in it. It's easier to be inspired by a blank slate, then trying to fit items in when there is too much going on in the room already.
Next, just start by placing your favorite items in the room and build out from there. A lot of times I may have an idea of how I want the room to look, but as I build out it fits the room a little differently than I had planned out in my head.
Lastly, its ok if its not perfect the first time around. I'm notorious for walking away from a room for an hour or so and then coming back with fresh eyes to see where I might need to tweak something. I find that I can always see the problem area after I come back.
One last thing, never be afraid to get a second opinion. In the design world we know what we are doing, but it's always fun to bounce ideas off of other designers. Sometimes they catch things that I didn't catch before, or see something else that might bring the room together a little differently then I had planned. It doesn't mean that you can't do it on your own. You can take the same items in a room and give it to five different individuals and every single person would come up with a different look. Its great to always have people to build off of and expand upon ideas with. Typically, my favorite projects and designs I have done over the years have been collaboration projects with other designers.
This sign was my favorite addition to my room this year. I love adding a little Bethany Lowe piece every year to my collection.
Sometimes, you just need to add a little random character to the room. This little munchkin, is on top of my Tallboy. Hes actually hard to see, unless you are looking straight at him... Its like a "Wheres Waldo" kinda situation.
I'll admit, I'm getting a little lazy on the table scaping this season. Yes, I just repeated the same plates from my last tablescape but, seriously how perfect does it look with my Halloween! I just had to do it!
This is my Bethany Lowe item that i purchased last year from Gatehouse No. 1. Its a beautiful witch, sitting on the moon. I fell in love with it from the moment I saw it, I will always treasure it.
Another addition this year, are these fun mercury and glitter pumpkins. I displayed then in the kitchen and changed up the theme to be a little more classy. My Mom purchased them at TJ Maxx. I told her that I was going to paint white pumpkins with gold stripes and polka dots. My Mother, knowing me far too well, picked these gorgeous pumpkins up for me in September and reminded me that I wont have time to paint any pumpkins. She was right, I still haven't gotten around to painting them for my porch, and I have no intention to at this point.
Last year, I ran out of time before I was able to blog any of my Halloween decor. I decided to throw it onto this years post, to show a good example of how you can use the same items you have every year and change it up a little. Each year I add a little more and take away an item or two to mix things up a bit but, for the most part its the same thing year to year.
I went with mostly a vintage look last year in the main room. Using all these fun items I have collected over the years. The main room was mostly black and white, with little pops of orange throughout it.
My kitchen, on the other hand, had a witches theme. I used fresh pumpkins, sticks, and berries to fill the glass jars for the spell jars.
