Getting Spooky

I was quick to decorate for Fall (and by that, I mean I started on September 1st), but somehow lost speed when it came to Halloween. Don’t worry – I got my butt in gear and finally got our apartment ready for Halloween! After all, this is the first Halloween where we’ll actually be able to host trick or treaters (in 2011 we were on a plane headed to the UK and 2012 we were displaced by Hurricane Sandy). Of course, there are still some small touches I’d love to add but they may be saved for next year.

The first Halloween-friendly piece that came out of hiding was this jack-o-lantern we were given last year for an anniversary gift from one of Joe’s aunts. He’s pretty cute and just hanging out on top of our card catalogs. I imagine he enjoys being able to see the entire apartment from up there. Or maybe he likes looking out the window.

Here’s the ever lovely view of our television area. There is so much Fall going on here, mostly because this is exactly where your eye is drawn when you sit down on the couch.

I cleaned the top of the bookcase up so that it didn’t look too cluttered. A few things have been rearranged, some added, some removed. The orange candles have been relocated to the dining table. New to the set up are the orange votives – which I got at Michaels while they were on crazy sale – and my zombie virus/vampire blood vials (you can download the logos for free here).

The left side of the TV seems like the more moderate side, but it’s still pretty fun. That witch photo on the top shelf is actually an old advertisement for those Halloween Oreos (and a pretty genius one at that!). I loved the ad so much that I clipped it out and have been holding onto it for year… and I also put it out about two weeks into September.

The shelf below features a piece of art I made with gold arrowheads I had found in a corn maze Joe and I tackled probably four years ago. It’s a simple piece that I whipped up with some construction paper and glue but I think it’s a fun touch for Halloween. Next to that is an image of a hen we snagged from a thrift store (which is sadly, not really festive for Halloween but it sort of works for Fall). There’s also our glass pumpkin, filled with excess faux leaves, and a funky glass vase filled with corks.

Not to be overlooked, on the left side of the bookcase, I created a fun little spider web with some excess yarn. I’ve had this yarn since my freshman year of college (2004 – yikes!) but it’s been too scratchy to use for scarves. Turns out, it’s perfect for spiderwebs – as you’ll see many times throughout this post!

On top of the lamp, we have a fun little raven just hanging out. I’m thinking of keeping him up for all of football season…

On the other side of the tv, we’ve got a few more Fall touches. The bottom shelf also includes another raven (I not-so-secretly want to buy 100 more and fill the apartment with them). The shelf above that holds our apothecary jar, filled with putka pods and faux purple dahlias, and two of the disc-o balls to add a little sparkle. There is also a giant spider web with one of Joe’s model planes stuck in it.

The shelf above is my favorite, possibly because it’s so simple. It’s basically a white IKEA planter with red, yellow, and orange dahlias, a black and white photo of Max (because a black cat is the perfect Halloween accessory), and a glittery, black pumpkin.

Like I said: simple.

Our dining table is also feeling festive for Halloween. Our orange candles and silver candlesticks have found a new home here. I also added an orange pashmina to keep the table from feeling too bare.

There are two more spiderwebs in the apartment. The first is in the doorway between the living room and butler’s pantry. The spider who made this was probably distracted by Clueless

(which I can totally understand because I, too, have to watch it whenever it comes on my TV). Turns out that I actually really like that this web isn’t like the others.

The second spiderweb is in one of our windows. The little poof-ball doesn’t look like a spider here, but it does from the street. It also helps keep that line of the web straight as I couldn’t secure it to the bottom of the pane (we love to keep our windows open so it would constantly need to be fixed every time we opened or closed it).

Our little mice (which are the Martha Stewart Crafts Mice Silhouettes

) made an appearance in our stairwell! I opted to put them on the wall instead of the stairs because, contrary to how it looks in the photos, the stairwell is actually pretty dark. Regardless, they are a fun touch.

Have you decorated for Halloween? What’s your favorite thing to decorate with? Are you expecting lots of trick or treaters?