I Decorated For Spooky Season! COME FALL WITH ME

Happy Tuesday, pumpkins!

Ew, wait, mental note: never call anyone "pumpkin" again. That is surprisingly creepy.

Uh...

Happy Tuesday, fleshy scarecrows!

 Much better.

So needless to say, I'm in a mood. A mood... OF SPOOP.  I blame those blasted, beautiful couch pillows I showed you last week:

John and I love these so much we decided the back room needed MORE Fall leaves. So we went to JoAnn's and bought a garland. 

Then I opened the Halloween craft bin to get my Pumpkin Head Babies, and realized some extra flowers would look great on the coffee table. Oooh, and wouldn't our old steampunk Jack O'Lantern be perfect back here?

Next thing I knew, I was decorating for Fall, y'all.

I refused to buy anything else, though, so lemme show you how I used what we already had to spread some Autumnal energy in our steampunk room, dining room, kitchen, and front sitting room. You're about to see a lot of past DIYs, let's see how many you remember!

Let the tour... BEGIN.

(Steam-punkin post here)

Starting with a rare daytime shot of our steampunk room.

Ah, let's see how many times Eva sneaks into my photos this post:


(Audrey II tutorial here)

"PAY ATTENTION TO MEEEE"

My main tip for seasonal decorating is to add rather than replace. Sprinkle a few pumpkins and florals around your existing decor, and it will automatically start to feel more like Fall.




I literally just added a single pumpkin here, ha. I love all the colors on this shelf, though.



And again, just a single Pumpkin Head Baby for a touch of 'Tumnal.
(Five points if you recognize those wine goblets! Hand sculpted by the amazing Kristi O)



My other two Pumpkin Head Babies are by the velvet chairs:


(I realize that red pillow is adding nothing stylistically, but it's SOFT and I LIKE IT, dangit.)

Then over on the coffee ta... Eva, we can totally see you.

"NO YOU CAN'T"

::sighs:: ::shoos cat off::

On the coffee table I added a few floral sprigs & Dollar Tree pumpkins to this existing mini plant:

I really like this idea: with a few sprigs you get a whole new arrangement! I'll definitely be doing this for Christmas, too.

Pro Decorating Tip: see that high-walled metal tray? It is PERFECT for corralling and hiding clutter. I throw all our remotes in there, a napkin holder, two big pill bottles, random pens, notepads, etc, and you can barely see any of it thanks to the deep walls and poofy plant.



I found my tray at Burlington for $10, but Amazon has lots of similar styles.

This room is my favorite - so cozy! - and check out the same view AT NIGHT:


Awww yeeeeeeah.

Now let's keep going; I have lots more to show you!

Quick stop in the kitchen where I added our Stay Puft-kin to the pass-through window:

I think I'll change some of those candies to pumpkins & corn, so don't judge my peppermints just yet.

And if that's too cute for you, look over about a foot to the right:


Awww yeeeeeeah. The clown baby head nightlight LIVES.

Oh, sorry, did you want the night view?

COMING UP:



John: "I have never hated-but-loved anything as much as I hate-but-love your clown baby nightlight."

(To be honest I think he mostly hates it, but figures it's better than the murder mobile of 2013.)


Meanwhile, over on the buffet, Eva is eyeing my current WIP:

"Maybe the ghost will pet me."

::more sighing & shooing later::

Ta-daa!

Most of this is unchanged. I only added my spooky terrarium DIY:

... a few pumpkins:

(In case you wondered where the clown's eyeballs went.)

... and this Dollar Tree plastic bat I stuck on with museum putty:

The mirrored piece is an old Christmas display from a craft shop. The bat is from a Dollar Tree garden stake (pics here). You'll also see a matching bat in the front sitting room; I like how it instantly transforms everyday objects into HALLOWEENY objects. Mwuahahahaa.

Onto the dining room!

This overall view isn't terribly exciting, which is my excuse for forgetting to take a photo of it 'til 5 minutes ago. The table is usually covered in mannequin parts and foam dust, THAT's the exciting part.

The room does have two fun areas, though:

FERAL MUPPET PLANT.

And...

MORE FERAL MUPPET PLANTS

These Dollar Tree pumpkin faces bring me such joy, gang.

You might recognize this spiky guy from our DIY paper topiary tree. (We took it apart last May to make a more traditional topiary, then had this ball left over.)

Fun geek reference: John's terrarium tombstone reads "Mostly Dead" and has the Dread Pirate Robert's mask draped over the pumpkin. So of course we have an ROUS beside it. As we wish.

Y'all remember my Audrey II - Audrey II, y'all.

That skull cloche is another Dollar Tree craft I made a few weeks ago, but never posted. It's a plastic candy bucket filled with moss and wooden shrooms. Super fun to age and paint.

Speaking of painting, I'm about 3 hours in on this beauty, so I have to show her off:


She's not quite done, just needs some aging and gloss on the eyeballs, but can we just appreciate DAT FACE?

I purchased this blank resin cast by Tall Tales Productions years and years ago, but I've been too scared of screwing it up to paint it. So this is a lil' celebration for finally Doing The Thing, and even better, liking the way it looks. Woot!

You're ok with this tangent, right? Cool, here's the back:


I promise better pics when she's officially done, if y'all help me name her. I need suggestions!

K, tangent over, back to our tour.

Last room, and my 2nd favorite spot in the house:

Our Wonderland room!

Although I've swapped out most of the Wonderland bits for now.

This is another DT craft I don't think I ever posted: 2 pumpkin frames zip-tied together and filled with DT florals. I should probably wrap the stem in twine to make it more visible, maybe add a bow?

On the wall I used some of my giant Amazon pack o' bats to make a lil' flight path:


Trying to place these was very nearly torture for this perfectionist, y'all. I don't do random.

(Hang on, don't scroll 'til you spot the cat! She's getting sneakier. :D)

Case in point on the random thing: I spent AGES tinkering with these decorations, 'til my friend Karen tossed some leaves on in exasperation, and suddenly it was PERFECT.

Wait, does this mean the bottom needs leaves, too?

Karen come back I need youuuuuu

(The skull bouquet is a DT craft, that's a $5 Walmart pumpkin on a thrifted candlestick, and the dragon gazing ball was a clearance find from At Home.)

Closer look at the top, because it's so purdy:

The only additions here are John's "Instant Pumpkin" potion bottle (with a pumpkin growing out of it, so cute!), my poison apple, and the little skull topper on the cloche.

Over on this side, the only new things are the foliage and pumpkins.

Oh! Nearly forgot the table between the red chairs:

That's another DT plastic bat stuck on with museum putty, the ceramic ghost is from DT, and the skull flowers and pumpkin are more of my Dollar Tree crafts.

Right! I think that does it for our front room...

...and that's the last of my photo tour! Phew. We made it.

I hope this shows you Fall decorating doesn't have to be huge: sometimes just a few leaves can make all the difference. Or, y'know, man-eating plants and glowing clown heads. :D Hey, it's your space, so use the things that bring you joy, no matter how silly or strange. Life's short, let that geeky, freaky flag fly!

And stay tuned to see how this ghostly lady turns out.

::eyebrow waggle::

Love y'all, go be sweet to strangers this week.

****

P.S. Don't forget to leave your name suggestions for my toad! I'm thinking old-timey names like Mildred, only not Mildred. :p